Join Newcastle Law School's Centre for Law and Social Justice for a hybrid panel event, with the opportunity to join in person or online. We will be joined by legal experts to discuss legal practice for First Nations Rights, with the aim of demonstrating how broad this area of legal practice can be. This event will be of particular interest to students and legal practitioners with an interest in First Nations Rights.

Our diverse panel includes:

Lauren Davies:
Lauren Davies is a proud Gomeroi-Ngarabal woman, with a background in Criminology and Law from Macquarie University. In 2020, Lauren was appointed for one year, as part of the National Justice Projects (NJP) First Nations Youth and Health Justice Lawyer Traineeship Program that is designed to begin to address the chronic shortage of Indigenous health and youth justice law practitioners within First Nations communities. Lauren is currently working in criminal and civil law as a solicitor with the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).

Kishaya Delaney:
Kishaya Delaney is a proud Wiradjuri woman who graduated from Newcastle Law School in 2020. Kishaya has been working as a graduate at Herbert Smith Freehills since September 2021, previously having worked as Project Officer for the Towards Truth leading a team of researchers to develop a legislation and policy mapping database to support truth-telling under the third reform of the Uluru Statement of the Heart. As a member of the Uluru Statement Youth Dialogue, Kishaya regularly delivers presentations and facilitates sessions about the Uluru Statement from the Heart Campaign.

Luke Hawthorne:
Luke Hawthorne is a lawyer at international firm King & Wood Mallesons, and received the University of Newcastle Young Alumni award in 2020. At work, Luke tries to solve intellectual property, technology, and regulatory problems. He also volunteers as an advocate for First Nations artists, where he has been privileged to work with some of Australia’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creators, and also advises organisations on emerging best practice in ICIP.

Chris Turner:
Chris Turner is a Senior Associate at Chalk and Behrendt. He practices primarily as a litigator conducting Aboriginal land claim appeals in the Land and Environment Court as well as native title claims in the Federal Court of Australia.Chris has also acted for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and corporations in the Local Court, Supreme Court and the Full Federal Court, as well as before the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Before joining Chalk & Behrendt, Chris gained experience in the Indigenous education sector, working as Research Assistant to the CEO of the Aurora Project/Aurora Education Foundation, and completing an Aurora Internship at the Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation.

This event includes a panel discussion and an interactive Q&A.