Stephen is not presently practising as a barrister, as he is engaged full time as a Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales.
Stephen Lawrence is an experienced public lawyer with a diverse national practice specialising in administrative law, criminal law and commissions/inquiries.
Since being called to the bar in 2015 he has been recognised annually in ‘Doyles Guide’ as one of NSW’s leading junior counsel. In addition to conducting first instance court and tribunal matters, he appears regularly in various intermediate appellate courts and the High Court of Australia.
Immediately before being called to the Bar, Stephen was the principal solicitor with the Aboriginal Legal Service ACT/NSW in western NSW based in Dubbo.
Stephen’s earlier career included work as an international extradition lawyer with the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department, a specialist sexual assault and family violence prosecutor with the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions and extended periods involved in transitional justice work in Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands.
In 2011 he was a ‘Kathryn Wadia Fellow’ with the International Legal Foundation in Ramallah in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
A former casual academic, Stephen podcasts at ‘The Wigs Podcast’ and regularly presents at legal professional development conferences.
Stephen maintains chambers in Sydney and Dubbo, NSW.