Alumni Highlights
Elizabeth McLaughlin

Passionate about access to justice and engaging people at the margins, Elizabeth (Lizzie) McLaughlin’s career in law began after graduating with a Bachelor of Laws almost 20 years ago.

As the first female barrister in a regional location to be appointed Public Defender by the NSW Attorney-General in 2019, Lizzie has spent her career committed to making positive and constructive contributions to her community.

Before coming to the bar in 2014, Lizzie worked as a solicitor for 10 years, principally as a criminal defence solicitor, appearing as advocate in a range of contested matters in courts throughout NSW and the ACT.

She has appeared unled in the Court of Criminal Appeal, Coroner’s Court, District and Supreme Courts, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the Northern Territory.

Lizzie’s personable approach to practising law reflects her mission. “I see a real value in being practical and compassionate - being efficient and direct but also being human in the way I work with my clients. If they're engaged in the system, then they're engaged in the outcome. And if they're engaged in the outcome, they're going to be engaged in what they need to do to stop themselves from being put in that system again,” said Lizzie.

As a leader in the region, Lizzie is dedicated to supporting the growth and development of local women and Indigenous lawyers. Utilising her connections with the University of Newcastle, she is working towards increasing the representation of women and Indigenous lawyers by supporting them as they move through from solicitors to barristers. In 2019, Lizzie established an annual scholarship for an Indigenous law student at the University of Newcastle to be sponsored through the Newcastle Bar Association. She has also recently initiated the Making the Leap mentoring program designed to increase the number of women barristers in the region.

Elizabeth McLaughlin
NSW Public Defender

Bachelor of Laws (Hons) 2003