Katrina Rathie

Katrina Rathie is Partner in Charge at King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) in Sydney, which has been named Best Law Firm in Australia for the fourth year in a row by the AFR. Katrina is a member of the firm’s senior leadership team and is responsible for leading KWM’s Sydney office.

Katrina was recently named the Winner of the Board & Management category in the AFR 100 Women of Influence 2019.

Katrina is a member of Chief Executive Women.

Katrina holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting & Financial Management)/Laws degree from UNSW Sydney (1985). She is a member of the Law Advisory Board of UNSW Sydney and is an Alumni Leader of UNSW Sydney Business School. She is admitted to practice in the NSW Supreme Court, the High Court of Australia and is an Attorney & Counsellor of the Supreme Court of New York.

She was celebrated in UNSW’s inaugural Creating Equality photographic exhibition and gave a keynote address at the UNSW Law Dean’s List ceremony in May 2019. Katrina has maintained strong links with UNSW Law and is proud that her son Jack recently graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce/Law (Honours) from UNSW Law in May 2019.

Katrina was named Woman Lawyer of the Year, Private Practice by the Women Lawyers Association of NSW and Intellectual Property Partner of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards 2018. She has a pre-eminent reputation in the intellectual property, advertising, marketing, brands, media and consumer law areas.

As the first appointed Mallesons Stephen Jaques Australian Partner with a Chinese cultural background 25 years ago, Katrina is passionate about cultural and intersectional diversity, inclusion and belonging. She is a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee of the Law Society of NSW, a member of the Managing Partners Diversity & Inclusion Forum and serves on the Advisory Board of Media Diversity Australia. She is a supporter and member of the Australian Asian Lawyers Association and the Women Lawyers Association.

Katrina is an independent non-executive director on charitable boards including Starlight Children’s Foundation of Australia and Osteoporosis Australia. She is a strong believer in the transformational power of education and as the mother of three boys, she serves as Councillor and Director of Cranbrook School and is Chair of Cranbrook Foundation.

UNSW Law is a world class law school. Two years after I graduated, I passed the New York Bar. I have had a successful and rewarding career at King & Wood Mallesons where I am privileged to lead the Sydney office. UNSW Law taught me critical analytic thinking skills, how to navigate the complexities of the law, how to win cases and how to give back by using my skills to help underprivileged members in our community. I met the most amazing cohort of women at UNSW Law – Shemara Wikramanayake (CEO, Macquarie), Elizabeth Broderick (United Nations (UN) women/male Champions of Change) and NEDs - Nicola Wakefield-Evans, Cheryl Bart and Maxine Brenner. We have each had an impact in law, business and increasingly on the global stage. The common factor is that we attended UNSW Law, there is undoubtedly something very special going on here. I was the first member of my family to study law. I was thrilled when my eldest son recently graduated with a Commerce/Law (Honours) degree from UNSW Law – a great mother/son double act! We both loved our time at UNSW Law – he represented UNSW at the United Nations and was part of the UNSW team that won the ICC mediation competition in Paris. He went on exchange to California and Tsinghua University, Beijing. As an alumni and parent, I can’t recommend UNSW highly enough.