Michael Kingston

Michael Kingston is the Australian Government Solicitor, a position he has held since December 2016.

Prior to joining AGS, Michael was Chief Legal Officer of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for 8 years.

Between 1989 and 2003 Michael was a partner of Mallesons Stephen Jaques, practising in company and commercial law.

Michael has also worked as a solicitor with Slaughter and May in London, as a government lawyer in Papua New Guinea and as in-house counsel for BHP.

Brett Thomson

Brett has worked at the Crown Solicitor’s Office since 2007 and has progressed through the Office occupying the positions of solicitor advocate, acting director and acting assistant crown solicitor in the Criminal Law and Inquiries practice group, with a short detour via the Administrative Law practice group. He was appointed Special Counsel in May 2017. On 1 July 2020, Brett was appointed to the role of director of the newly formed Public Safety and Justice practice group.

Brett has appeared as an advocate in Local and District Courts across NSW, as well as either appearing or instructing in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Court of Criminal Appeal, the Coroner’s Court, the State Parole Authority and the Mental Health Review Tribunal. He has recently had carriage of a number of prosecutions on behalf of the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court against individuals for charges of contempt of court.

Penny Csenderits

Penny joined the Crown Solicitor’s Office (CSO) in 2004 in the Community Law practice group and was appointed as Director in 2018. She is an experienced litigator and advisor who supervises and has carriage of matters involving all aspects of work done in the group, including charitable trust law, discrimination, guardianship, public interest immunity and subpoena matters for a range of NSW Government agencies.

While at the CSO, Penny has also practised in children’s law including care and protection matters and succession law involving children. Prior to joining the CSO, Penny worked in private practice and in various roles at CCH Australia Ltd, specialising in workplace relations and employment law.

Aaron Tang

Aaron Tang has practised as a children’s lawyer for 20 years and is a member of the Law Society’s Children’s Legal Issues Committee.

He is a senior solicitor for Legal Aid NSW’s Children’s Legal Service.

He has previously been the manager of Legal Aid’s Strategic Law Reform Unit, a senior policy officer for Legal Aid NSW’s Criminal Division and worked for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and UNICEF Cambodia.

Professor Anne Twomey

Anne Twomey is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney.

She has previously worked for the High Court of Australia, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Research Service, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee and The Cabinet Office of New South Wales.

She writes about constitutional matters, including federalism, parliamentary matters and the exercise of executive.

Bruce Topperwien

Bruce Topperwien Dip Law (BSAB), LLM (Public Law) (ANU) is Executive Officer and General Counsel for the Professional Services Review (PSR), the Commonwealth agency responsible for the review and investigation of healthcare practitioners suspected of engaging in inappropriate practice in providing services under the Medicare, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Benefits schemes.

Bruce has been with the PSR since 2013 and is responsible to the Director of Professional Services Review for the day-to-day management of the agency of 25 staff, which includes 12 lawyers.

Previously he had been acting Principal Member, Executive Officer, and member of the Veterans’ Review Board, Director of Litigation in the Commonwealth Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and a senior legal adviser in the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Scott Alden

Scott advises private and public sector clients on major projects. He acts for owners, contractors and bidders in relation to all aspects of a project including advising on procurement and contracting methodologies and approaches to market, documenting the procurement process, drafting and negotiating the contract and also acting as probity advisor. Scott has specific expertise in government infrastructure projects, general contractual and legislative advice and the tendering process (at all levels of government).

Dr Jamie Orchard

Dr Jamie Orchard is the General Counsel of Ahpra and is responsible for leading Ahpra’s National Legal Practice, an inhouse practice of around 70 lawyers and support staff spread across the country. The practice handles all legal matters for Ahpra and the health practitioner National Boards including conducting disciplinary litigation and appeals, prosecuting offences under the National Law, handling all FOI, privacy and governance issues and providing strategic legal advice.

Jamie started his legal career as a prosecutor with the Commonwealth DPP before focussing on regulation. In his regulatory career he has held positions including Director of Enforcement at ASIC, Managing Director of Enforcement at the Dubai Financial Services Authority, Managing Director of Legal and Regulatory Compliance at the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, Executive General Manager at the Financial Ombudsman Service and currently General Counsel at Ahpra.

Jamie holds a Bachelor of Laws, Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, Masters of Law and a Doctorate in Juridical Science, all from the Queensland University of Technology. His doctoral thesis explored the application of natural justice principles in the course of dispute resolution.

Commissioner Don McKenzie

Worked from 1989 for the Western Aboriginal Legal Services in the NSW Central West prior to moving to Sydney in 1992 to work as a solicitor advocate in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Seconded in in 1994 as a Senior Lawyer to the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Services.

Seconded in 1997 as Legal Officer to the NSW Police Commissioner’s Executive Support Team.

Appointed in 1998 as Principal Legal Officer to NSW Police, Crime Agencies (State Crime Command).

Appointed in 2002 as a Principal Lawyer to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Afforded extended leave from the ICAC in 2011 to take up the position of Deputy Director (Operations), Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Botswana.

Returned to the ICAC in 2014 before being appointed as Director, Legal Services, NSW Crime Commission in 2016.

Travelled to Myanmar in 2018 to work for the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as an Anti-Corruption and Law Enforcement Consultant supporting the Myanmar Anti-Corruption Commission.

Returned to Australia in 2019 to commence as NSW Surveillance Devices Commissioner.

Sarah Sandstad

BA LLB (Hons Class II) (USyd) LLM (Media, Communications & Information Technology Law) (UNSW)

Sarah Sandstad joined the NSW Public Service Commission on secondment as General Counsel in June 2020. Sarah manages a small team of in-house lawyers supporting the Public Service Commissioner, whose principal objectives include promoting and maintaining the highest levels of integrity, impartiality, accountability and leadership across the government sector.

Sarah has over 20 years’ experience as a government lawyer and has advised a wide variety of Government agencies. Primary areas of expertise include Government commercial, intellectual property, government procurement, public finance, statutory interpretation and administrative law, legal advice and transactions.

Previously, Sarah was a Director Legal, Commercial Team, NSW Department of Customer Service (and its predecessor the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation). Role highlights included supporting various ICT & Digital initiatives, managing the negotiation of various whole of government ICT procurement contracts, and working with stakeholders on the development of new ICT procurement framework documentation for the sector including Procure IT v.3.2, Core&, and ICT & Cloud Purchasing Arrangements. Prior to that, Sarah was a Senior Solicitor, Government and Commercial Law Practice Group, NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office for many years.

Keisha Hopgood

Keisha is currently Managing Solicitor of the Children's Criminal Practice at the ALS, where she works across practice, policy and management. Keisha has always had a strong professional interest in children's legal issues - working as a children's criminal law lawyer since her admission. She has a strong belief in the importance of combining high level policy and advocacy work with an ongoing connection to 'on the ground' practice experience. She was previously the Deputy Principal Legal Officer at the ALS and worked for the Children's Legal Service at Legal Aid NSW between 2009-2017.

Keisha is regularly involved in working groups, committees and inquires centred around youth diversion and youth justice issues. In recent months her work has had a particular focus on raising the age of criminal responsibility and the issue of short-term remand of young people. She is a current member of the Children's Court Advisory Committee and Children's Legal Issues Committee of the Law Society NSW.

Paul O’Reilly

As Executive Director of Youth Justice NSW, Paul O’Reilly is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the Youth Justice portfolio, which includes community based programs and supports, six custodial centres and a range of early intervention and diversion programs.

Paul is passionate about helping young people to fulfil their potential. His key focus for Youth Justice includes strengthening case management in custody, improving safety in the workplace, addressing overrepresentation of Aboriginal young people in our system, and building our investment in diversion and early-intervention.

Prior to joining Youth Justice, Paul worked in human services in NSW for over 25 years, mostly within government, but in earlier years as a youth worker in the homelessness sector in Inner Sydney.

In recent years Paul was an Executive Director in the Strategy, Policy and Commissioning Division in our Department where he had oversight of a range of programs, including early intervention, social inclusion, implementation of NDIS and the development of a new commissioning framework.

Paul has qualifications in Psychology from Macquarie University and Economics from University of Sydney.

Angus Abadee

Angus Abadee is currently the Director of Building and Construction Policy at the Department of Customer Service. Angus has previously worked as a Director of Policy at the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet and Liquor & Gaming NSW, as well as a policy lawyer at the NSW Department of Justice and the Commonwealth Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Angus has just completed a Research Fellowship with the University of Nevada, where he developed a paper on regulatory policy in a federal structure. Angus is currently the Vice Chair of the Law Society’s Public Law Committee and a member of the Government Solicitors Committee.

Her Honour Judge Dina Yehia SC

Judge Dina Yehia SC graduated with a Bachelor of Arts/Law from the University of NSW and subsequently completed a Masters in International Criminal Law at Sydney University. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1989 and worked with the Western Aboriginal Legal Service from December 1989 until September 1996. In that capacity, she appeared for thousands of Aboriginal people in towns such as Bourke, Brewarrina, Wilcannia and Broken Hill.

Judge Yehia worked as a Solicitor Advocate with the Legal Aid Commission and was called to the Bar in 1999. She was then appointed a Public Defender. Her Honour took silk in 2009 and became the first female Deputy Senior Public Defender in 2013.

Her practice in the Supreme Court included murder trials and the year-long terrorism trial at Parramatta in 2009. In 2013, she appeared as lead counsel in the High Court case of The Queen v Bugmy and in the Special Leave application in Honeysett.

Her Honour was appointed a Judge of the District Court in May 2014. She is the Chairperson of the Walama Court Working Group, which has been working to establish an Indigenous sentencing court as part of the NSW District Court. She is also the Chairperson of Diverse Women in Law, an organisation which has been formed to mentor women of diverse backgrounds in the profession. She is a Council member of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration and the National Judicial College of Australia.

The Honourable Justice Mark Moshinsky

Justice Moshinsky practised as a barrister at the Victorian Bar from 1995 to 2015, including as senior counsel from 2007, specialising in constitutional and administrative law, taxation, superannuation, competition law, private international law and human rights. In 2010-2011, he was the Chairman of the Bar Council of the Victorian Bar.

In 1986, he completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne. In 1988, he completed a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours at the University of Melbourne, being awarded the Supreme Court Prize. During 1989-1991, he studied at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, completing a Bachelor of Civil Law with First Class Honours.

In 1992-1993 and 1996, he was an independent lecturer at the Law School, University of Melbourne, and taught conflict of laws and constitutional and administrative law. In 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 he was a Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Law School, co-teaching a subject on the separation of powers in the Masters program.

He has published a number of articles on constitutional law and the conflict of laws. He is a director of the Australian Academy of Law and an alternate director of the National Judicial College of Australia.

The Honourable Justice Steven Rares

Steven Rares was appointed a judge of the Federal Court of Australia in 2006. He is also an additional judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and a judge of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island.

He graduated in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and, after two years working in a solicitors’ firm, he was called to the New South Wales Bar in 1980. He was appointed a Senior Counsel in 1993. In 2004 and 2005, he was a member of the Judicial Commission of New South Wales.

Justice Rares is currently a National co-convening judge and the New South Wales registry convening judge for the Admiralty and Maritime National Practice Area and a member of the Comité Maritime International’s International Working Group on Offshore Activities. Between October 2014 and October 2016, he was President of the Judicial Conference of Australia. He became President of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration in October 2019. He was also the Chairman of the Consultative Council of Australian Law Reporting from 2012 to 2019.

Margaret Faux, LLB, RN, PhD Candidate

Margaret is a Lawyer specialising in Medicare and Health Insurance Law, a Registered Nurse and is currently completing her doctorate at the University of Technology Sydney on Medicare claiming and compliance. Margaret worked for over a decade as a Registered Nurse in various public and private hospital settings and has over 30 years’ experience in the operation of Medicare and Australia’s health financing arrangements. Margaret has an adjunct appointment at Southern Cross University working in medical billing and coding research and has been published in the BMJ Open, the Journal of Law and Medicine and the Internal Medicine Journal and is a well-respected and sought-after speaker and author of information on health financing systems, both in Australia and overseas. Margaret is the Founder and CEO of Synapse Medical, a MedTech company providing digital medical administration solutions globally. Her publications are available at this link.

Chris D’Aeth

Chris joined the Supreme Court of NSW as Executive Director and Principal Registrar in October 2015. In his current role Chris is also responsible for the registries at the Land and Environment Court, the Industrial Relations Commission and the Legal Profession Admission Board.

Chris is a director of Law Courts Limited and sits on the Council of Law Reporting for NSW as the Attorney General’s representative. Before joining the Court Chris worked for the NSW Bar Association and Australian Bar Association. Chris has qualifications in law, governance, management and business administration.

Sayuri Grady

Sayuri is currently General Counsel at the Australian Public Service Commission, based in Canberra. Prior to this role, she worked as an in-house lawyer for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Department of Social Services and the former Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. She has a background in administrative, commercial, criminal and employment law and significant experience in Indigenous Affairs legal issues. She is also a part time statutory office holder for the ACT Government, reviewing disciplinary actions in relation to ACT prisons and volunteers with ACT Legal Aid. Sayuri is passionate about the professional development of government lawyers and (tries to!) balance work with her husband, two children aged 3 and 6 and her beloved ‘spoodle’ dogs.

Bret Walker SC

Bret Walker SC was admitted to the New South Wales bar and as a practitioner of the High Court of Australia in 1979. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 1993 and served as the President of the Law Council of Australia from 1997 to 1998, and as the President of the New South Wales Bar Association from November 2001 to November 2003.

Mr Walker has served as a member of numerous councils and foundations, including the Board of Governors of Law Foundation of NSW, various Advisory Committees to the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Uniform Legal Services Council. He was the Chairman of the Law Council of Australia National Criminal Law Liaison Committee from 1998-2001 and continues to act as a Constitutional Law Advisor to the Law Council of Australia. Mr Walker was also the Editor of the New South Wales Law reports from 2009 to 2018.

Mr Walker has been appointed to several inquiries as a Commissioner, including the Special Commission of Inquiry into Sydney Ferries (2007) and the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission (2018-2019). He most recently has been appointed as Commissioner on the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess (2020).

Kate Davenport QC

Kate was admitted to the Bar in 1983. She became a Barrister sole in 1990. Kate is President of the New Zealand Bar Association October 2018 to October 2020. Kate is a member of the Rules Committee. Kate was admitted to the UK Bar by the Middle Temple in July 2015. Kate is a member of Outer Temple Chambers, 222 The Strand, London.

In 2019 Kate was appointed an Ordinary Bencher of the Middle Temple, where she is known as Master Davenport QC. Kate took Silk in 2013. Kate was awarded the New Zealand Lawyer Barrister of the Year Award in 2013.

Kate is a civil and commercial litigator with 30 years’ experience at the bar. She is also a qualified mediator. Kate also practices in the area of professional regulation. Kate writes extensively in the area of Trust Law and is a contributing editor to NZ LexisNexis Law of Trusts.

Karen Keogh

Karen is a partner in the national health team at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers. Her expertise is as a Health Industry lawyer. She advises individual doctors, medical defence organisations, web based healthcare companies, private hospitals and government health bodies on regulatory, industrial, commercial and a wide range of medico legal matters. Karen has been named in Best Lawyers™ Australia from 2014 to 2021 for Health & Aged Care Law. She is a member of the Medico-Legal Society of NSW and the Deputy Chair of the NSW Law Society Privacy and Data Law Committee.

Melinda Graczol

Mel Graczol is a Deputy Solicitor for Public Prosecutions at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions NSW. Mel joined the DPP after working in private practice and has held roles as solicitor and Managing Solicitor prior to joining the Senior Executive. Mel chairs the ODPP Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Group and also sits on the Government Solicitors and D&I Law Society Committees. Mel is passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive legal industry and criminal justice system.