Mario practises exclusively in family law. He has a no nonsense approach and has earned a reputation for getting to the point quickly. If there is a way of resolving a matter, he will find it.

He regularly appears in family law trials relating to both property and children and has substantial experience in property matters concerning discretionary trusts.

Mario also has extensive knowledge and experience in intervention order matters both for the applicant and the respondent including successful appeals to both the County and Supreme Courts.

Most recently, Mario was sole counsel for the plaintiff in AAA v County Court of Victoria & Ors [2023] VSC 13 (31 January 2023) which changed the law for intervention order appeals in Victoria, and sole counsel for the plaintiff in DDD v Magistrates’ Court of Victoria [2023] VSC 89 (28 February 2023) which settled an ambiguity in the application of the law in relation to the courts power in certain Intervention Order applications.

• Swebbs v Magistrates Court of Victoria [2017] VSC 229 – this case clarifies the law in regards to applications to be deemed a non-prohibited person prior to the expiry of an intervention order in circumstances where the intervention order in question caused the person to become a prohibited person.
• Summers (a pseudonym) v McKenzie (a pseudonym) [2015] VCC – this case crystallises the law in relation to time limits for appeals in Intervention Order cases. The rational presented in this case was later upheld in the case of Carroll (a pseudonym) v Browne (a pseudonym) & County Court of Victoria [2018] VSC 253

Mario is a proficient and energetic advocate prepared to take a stand when necessary. An extensive and varied collection of life experiences including 3 years in the Australian Regular Army where he served with 3RAR and 4 years as a secondary school teacher have imbued Mario with an appreciation of, and respect for, people from all walks of life.

During the course of his practice, Mario appeared in criminal and civil matters in a range of jurisdictions, both state and federal, including interstate appearances in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.

Mario has had sole conduct of criminal jury trials in both the County and Supreme Courts leading to numerous findings of not guilty including a full acquittal in an attempted murder trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2015.