Banki's documented life centres on Sydney, New South Wales, where his university studies, admission to the bar, and legal career all took place. Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, is Australia's largest city and the setting for each stage of his professional life.
Banki studied at the University of Sydney, where he took a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar in Australia in 1983.
Founded in 1850 by an act of the New South Wales Parliament, the University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university. It opened in 1852 with a focus on the classics, sciences, and mathematics, alongside modern subjects such as French, German, and political thought, and it awarded its first degrees in 1856.
The university was founded on the principles of religious tolerance and admission on academic merit. In 1881 it became one of the first universities in the world to admit women on the same basis as men.
Banki became a partner of Phillips Fox, an Australian law firm. Phillips Fox formed an exclusive alliance with the international firm DLA Piper in 2006, and the Australian practice merged with DLA Piper in 2011 to become DLA Piper Australia.
In 1995 Banki left Phillips Fox to establish a new firm with his former Phillips Fox colleagues Richard Fiora and Kate Haddock. Banki Haddock Fiora was established that year with an office in Sydney, and Banki became one of its founding partners. The firm operated as a single-office Sydney practice focused on specialist work, a model that Banki contrasted with the larger national and global firms.
Banki's practice centred on intellectual property. He advised on, negotiated, and documented commercial transactions, and he acted for parties in intellectual property disputes. He also has broad experience in the publishing, digital, media, and entertainment industries. He represented litigants in a number of landmark cases in the Federal Court of Australia, the High Court of Australia, and the Australian Copyright Tribunal, the specialist body that hears copyright matters. He has been a member and chair of Australian and international committees on the practice and reform of copyright law.
In 2019 Banki trained as a mediator at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London, an organization that promotes and provides alternative dispute resolution. He now focuses on mediating disputes and is nationally accredited by the Law Society of New South Wales, the professional body for solicitors in that state, under the National Mediator Accreditation Standards.
