Julian William Kennedy Burnside AO KC (born 9 June 1949) is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author.

He is best known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and has provided legal counsel in a wide variety of high-profile cases.

He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2009, "for service as a human rights advocate, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers, to the arts as a patron and fundraiser, and to the law.

After a conversation with Sir Richard Wild, the Chief Justice of New Zealand who had adjudicated, Burnside was persuaded that he should pursue a career as a barrister.

Burnside describes this case as one of his most memorable, and has stated that it convinced him that the survival of reasonable and responsible union representation is crucial if there is to be justice in the workplace.

[11] In March 2019, Burnside announced he had joined the Australian Greens party and would run against Josh Frydenberg for the seat of Kooyong at the forthcoming federal election.

In July 2016, Burnside published a blogpost in which he appeared to support statements made by Shady Alsuleiman, an Australian Muslim cleric.

He subsequently received criticism from opinion columnists in The Spectator Australia and the Herald Sun, with Rita Panahi (writing for the latter) accusing him of perpetuating the stereotype that homosexual people are responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In a follow-up post, where he referred to critics as either having "an intellectual disability" or "a reading disorder", Burnside said, "I do NOT disapprove of gay people: I think every human being should be able to live their own life, guided by their nature and instincts".

[15][16] Burnside claimed that his comments had been taken out of context, and that he was simply, "responding to a person who had said the Grand Mufti had called for gays to be killed", which was "plainly wrong".

[19] In April 2019, it was reported that Burnside has defended female genital mutilation; however, he has since stated that his comments were made as part of a "hypothetical legal argument", and that he believes both then and now that it should be banned.