Sarah Pritchard SC

Admitted as a barrister in 1999
Appointed Senior Counsel in 2012

Sarah Pritchard SC has been at the Sydney Bar since 1999. In 2012, she was appointed senior counsel.

In 1989, she was associate to Justice Michael McHugh upon his appointment to the High Court of Australia. In 1987, she was his Honour’s tipstaff/research assistant at the NSW Court of Appeal.

In 1994, she obtained a Doctor of Laws (Dr.Iur.) from the University of Tübingen, Germany (magna cum laude) (written in German). The dissertation was published in 2001 by Duncker & Humblot, titled “Der völkerrechtliche Minderheitenschutz: Historische und neuere Entwicklungen”, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-09925-7 (409 pages).  In 1988, she obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Tübingen (magna cum laude) (also written in German).
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She appears in the High Court, Federal Court and New South Wales Supreme Court, including Court of Appeal. She also appears regularly in the NSW Land and Environment Court.

Principal areas of Practice

  • Administrative & public law
  • Appellate practice
  • Commercial law
  • Constitutional law
  • Public & private international law
  • Environment, planning & property law
  • Aboriginal land rights & native title law
  • Human rights law

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts (UNSW) 1985
  • Bachelor of Laws (UNSW) 1986
  • Master of Laws (Universität Tübingen) 1988
  • Doctor of Laws (Universität Tübingen) 1994

Appointments

  • Adjunct Professor, University of New South Wales
  • Fellow, Australian Academy of Law
  • Chairperson, Law Council of Australia’s Human Rights Committee
  • Chairperson, NSW Bar Association’s Human Rights Committee
  • Member, Law Council of Australia’s Indigenous Legal Issues Committee
  • Former judicial member, NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal
  • Former member, NSW Legal Aid Commission’s Human Rights Committee
  • Environmental Counsel to the Environmental Protection Authority and the EPA Board.

Prior to coming to the Bar in 1999, she was an Australian Research Council post-doctoral fellow and then senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales. She is a former director of the Australian Human Rights Centre at UNSW. Between 1992 and 2013, she was a director of the Diplomacy Training Program, established at UNSW in 1989 by East Timorese Nobel Laureate and former President Jose Ramos Horta. In 2011, she was lead author of the report of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: “Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution”.

For further details or enquiries regarding Sarah Pritchard SC's areas of expertise, fees and terms of engagement please contact her Clerk.

CONTACT HERE
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