Warwick Isherwood was born in Melbourne in 1952. He had an older brother, Rex, and a younger sister, Julie.
His formative years were shaped by a move between two state capitals. He began his law degree in Adelaide, and at the end of his first year he moved to Melbourne to complete it, which connected his legal education with the Victorian capital where he later practised.
Isherwood began a law degree in Adelaide and completed it at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws. He moved to Melbourne at the end of his first year of study.
The University of Melbourne was founded in 1853 as the first university in Victoria. For Victorian students it provided a local route into legal training, which suited a career spent in the state's commercial and legal centre.
He was admitted to the bar in Victoria in 1975. Admission marked his entry into practice in the state's legal profession.
Isherwood's professional career began after his legal studies, when he undertook articles of clerkship at a small firm. He then moved to Mallesons Stephen Jaques, where he reached the position of senior associate. The firm's Melbourne origins date to 1856, when the London-trained solicitor Alfred Brooks Malleson arrived in the city and built a practice that carried his name. The name Mallesons Stephen Jaques dates from 1987, when Stephen Jaques Stone James merged with the Melbourne-based Mallesons.
He later became a partner at Westgarth Middletons. The firm was formed in 1988 through the merger of Westgarth Baldick of Sydney and Middletons Oswald Burt of Melbourne, a combination intended to place it among Australia's top ten firms. Westgarth had been best known for building and construction work, while Middletons had specialised in transport and shipping.
Isherwood later moved from Middletons to Maddocks and then established his own firm, Warwick Isherwood & Associates. Maddocks was founded in Melbourne on 1 August 1885 by John Henry Maddock and Arthur James Johnson, both newly admitted to the Victorian Bar. The firm has since advised Victorian local councils for more than a century.
A 2016 tribute described him as one of the leading technology lawyers of his time. It credited his legal work with matters including the establishment of Vodafone and the disaggregation of the Victorian electricity industry.
A 2016 tribute described Isherwood as having a quirky sense of humour and as a terrific storyteller. It also described him as generous with his time and resources, helping people in need, and as someone whose clients often became friends.
Quotes from others about the person
In a tribute published in the Law Institute Journal in November 2016, his friend and colleague John Mann described him as outstanding both as a lawyer and as a person. Mann said that Isherwood guided younger lawyers by developing their abilities.
Isherwood married Deborah, and the couple had three children: Alan, Mark and Susan. A 2016 tribute described his family as the most important thing in his life.
His siblings were an older brother, Rex, and a younger sister, Julie. Professionally, he is associated with John Mann, a friend and colleague who prepared the 2016 tribute.
