Dr 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). 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).
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She appears in the High Court, Federal Court of Australia, New South Wales Supreme Court (including Court of Appeal), NSW Land and Environment Court (in all classes of the Court’s jurisdiction, including Class 5 criminal proceedings), and Local Court of NSW (criminal proceedings), and Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal.  She also appears in inquests, royal commissions and inquiries. 

Principal areas of Practice

  • Administrative & public law
  • Constitutional law
  • Appellate
  • Public & private international law
  • Environment, planning & property law (including compulsory acquisition)
  • Aboriginal land rights & native title law
  • Human rights law
  • Criminal law
  • Inquests & inquiries

Qualifications

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

Appointments (selection)

  • Environmental Counsel to the NSW Environmental Protection Authority and the EPA Board
  • Chairperson, Law Council of Australia Human Rights Committee
  • Co-chairperson (with Phillip Boulten SC), NSW Bar Association joint working party on the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the New South Wales criminal justice system
  • Member, Law Council of Australia Indigenous Legal Issues Committee
  • Member, Law Council of Australia Indigenous Incarceration Working Group 
  • Member, Law Council of Australia COVID-19 Recovery Working Group
  • Fellow, Australian Academy of Law
  • Former chairperson, NSW Bar Association’s Human Rights Committee
  • Former judicial member, NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal
  • Former Adjunct Professor, University of New South Wales

Prior to coming to the Bar in 1999, she was an Australian Research Council post-doctoral fellow and 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”.

She currently holds and has previously held directorships with various not-for-profit organisations.

For further details or enquiries regarding Sarah Pritchard SC's areas of expertise, fees and terms of engagement please contact her clerk Ryan Coleiro by email or on (02) 9390 7777 or her secretary Samantha Gee by email or on (02) 8067 5507 (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri).

CONTACT HERE
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