Obituary: Phil Bisset

We were devastated by the news on Friday 3 April that our dear friend and industry colleague, Phil Bisset, Partner at Minter Ellison, unexpectedly passed away. Our deepest sympathies are with his wife Marianne, his three children Christopher, Andy and Adrienne and with the staff and partners of the Minter Ellison family.

Phil was a town planner and lawyer. Over his 40 year career he held positions at the Westernport Regional Authority, Deacons Graham & James (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and, for the last 20 years, at Minter Ellison.

For so many of us in the planning and legal professions, Phil was a mentor, friend, confidant, leader and a reliable source of wise counsel. Phil’s great skill as a lawyer was as a strategy tactician. His thorough preparation and calm style consistently resulted in highly regarded and respected advocacy in the hearing room. He was funny – we could always rely on him to make hilarious, dry, witty and eloquently expressed observations about an obscure angle in a situation or a funny story (and, not uncommonly, during a hearing)!

Phil’s skills and respect in the industry were formally recognised by VPELA in 2009 when he was made a Fellow of the Association.

He was acknowledged even back then as being one of the great solicitor advocates of the profession with a particular talent for distilling complex problems into succinct, simple propositions.

For me, well, quite frankly, Phil is the reason I became a lawyer. I met Phil while working as a planner in the 1990’s. He talked to me about how he had gone back to study law after also practising as a planner for some years. In that era, he was one of only a couple of people practising in Victoria to have done so. And since, so many of us have followed in his career path footsteps. He was generous with his time and encouraged me to also embark upon a career in the law. That conversation inspired me to return to university to study law and a few years later I commenced my own legal career, articled to Phil, at Deacons Graham and James. I’m so grateful to have had that opportunity to learn from and work with him. I know many others who were also inspired by him to embark upon the same professionally rewarding dual qualification path. They credit his intellect, his skills and his passion for his work as a planning lawyer as the foundations for their own ability to strategically and critically analyse planning and legal problems. He was always a trusted advisor for his clients and a friend to so many of them as well. He will be so missed by so many.

Vale Phil Bisset.

Tamara Brezzi, President