Our team - Lexbridge Lawyers | International and Government law firm

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Richard Braddock
Partner
Dr Sarah McCosker
Partner
Damien van der Toorn
Partner
Netta Goussac
Special Counsel
Mark Jennings
Special Counsel
Amy Elleway
Special Counsel
Natalie Nunn
Senior Legal Consultant
Patrick Wall
Senior Legal Consultant
Neil Smith
Senior Legal Consultant
Tom McCrie
Senior Legal Consultant
John Ekegren
Senior Lawyer
Kerin Leonard
Special Adviser
Lianne McDonald
Executive Assistant

Richard Braddock

Partner

Richard Braddock is a founding Partner of Lexbridge Lawyers. Richard has extensive experience as an international lawyer and expert consultant with a specialisation in international trade and investment law. Richard provides advice, training and consultancy services across the entire range of trade and investment issues.

Richard regularly advises on the negotiation and implementation of trade and investment agreements, including bilateral FTAs and ‘mega-regional’ agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. He has delivered international trade and investment capacity building and training programs on dozens of occasions for a broad range of countries, in particular in the Asia-Pacific region.

Before founding Lexbridge, Richard worked as an international lawyer and treaty negotiator for the Australian Government. He led legal teams and acted as legal advisor and negotiator on some of the most significant trade negotiations in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA, and FTAs between Australia and China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Chile, and Singapore. Richard was also a senior member of the legal team which successfully defended Australia’s first investor-state arbitration claim, challenging tobacco plain packaging.

Richard holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales, a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) from the University of Sydney, and a Master of Laws in International Law from the University of Cambridge.

Richard.Braddock@lexbridgelawyers.com

Dr Sarah McCosker

Partner

Dr Sarah McCosker is a founding Partner of Lexbridge, and has worked as an international lawyer across two decades. Her principal fields of expertise are international humanitarian law, international human rights law, negotiation of intergovernmental instruments and the relationships between international law and diplomacy, particularly in the context of international dispute settlement.

Sarah has extensive experience in providing advice on complex and sensitive international law issues, negotiating diverse international instruments—including both treaties and less-than-treaty-status instruments, and supporting major projects for domestic implementation of international obligations. Her work spans across multiple fields, from international human rights law and engagement with the UN human rights system; international humanitarian law and maritime, cyber and space security; to export controls and arms trade issues, as well as anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Among her previous roles, Sarah has worked as an international law adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, and in the Office of International Law in the Australian Attorney-General’s Department. In the Office of International Law, Sarah served as Director of the International Security section, Director of the International Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Section, and Acting Assistant Secretary of the International Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Branch.

Sarah McCosker holds a Doctor of Philosophy, a Master of Philosophy and Bachelor of Civil Laws from the University of Oxford, all specialising in international law. From the University of Queensland, she also holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) and Bachelor of Arts (Hons I).

Sarah.McCosker@lexbridgelawyers.com

Damien van der Toorn

Partner

Damien van der Toorn is a founding Partner of Lexbridge Lawyers with decades of experience in handling high profile international law and Australian government matters.

Damien has deep and diverse expertise in the development of complex agreements and legislation, conducting high-stakes negotiations, and managing whole-of-government legal reforms, particularly in the areas of defence and security, trade and investment, maritime and aviation, and environment and climate change.

Damien’s recent significant matters have included advising on multi-billion dollar land, air and sea defence capability programs, and the development of major security frameworks in the Asia-Pacific.

Prior to founding Lexbridge, he led numerous legal teams across the Australian government, delivering major legal projects. Significant matters included the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement on climate change; free trade agreements with China, Korea, Japan and the Trans-Pacific Partnership; reform of Australia’s maritime enforcement powers; the global agreement to ban cluster munitions; and military deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Timor Leste.

Damien has received a number of commendations, medals and awards from the Australian government in recognition of his work.

Earlier in his career, Damien worked for a large commercial firm, and was a judge’s associate in the Supreme Court of Queensland. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Queensland, as well as a Master of Laws from the University of London.

Damien.VanderToorn@lexbridgelawyers.com

Netta Goussac

Special Counsel

Netta Goussac is a Special Counsel with Lexbridge Lawyers. She has worked as an international lawyer for over a decade, including for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Australian Government’s Office of International Law. Her principal fields of expertise are international humanitarian law, international disarmament law, the international law on the use of force, international criminal law, and security and counter-terrorism law.

Netta has particular expertise in legal frameworks related to the development, acquisition and transfer of weapons. Netta has provided legal and policy advice related to new technologies of warfare, including autonomous weapons, military applications of artificial intelligence and cyber and space security. From 2010 to 2013, she participated in the negotiation of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, and subsequently worked to promote universal adherence to its standards.

A focus of Netta’s practice is supporting the implementation of international law through national legislation, policies, doctrine and training. She has provided technical, advisory and capacity-building services in the Pacific, in Asia and in Europe. She has also been an adjunct lecturer at the Australian National University College of Law Masters of Law programme.

Netta holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia (2006) and a Master of Laws specialising in international law from the Australian National University (2009).

Netta.Goussac@lexbridgelawyers.com

Mark Jennings

Special Counsel

Mark Jennings is a Special Counsel with Lexbridge Lawyers. He is a consultant with decades of experience in international law, specialising in trade and investment law.

Mark worked as the Senior Counsel (Assistant Secretary) in the Office of International Law at the Attorney-General’s Department for 16 years. He worked on many major international law matters during this time, including dispute settlement in the World Trade Organisation. He was a senior member of the legal teams representing Australia before the panels and the Appellate Body in US – Lamb, US – Offset Act (Byrd Amendment), EC – Export Subsidies on Sugar and Australia – Apples.

Mark led the taskforce in the Attorney-General’s Department coordinating the defence of Australia’s introduction of plain packaging for tobacco products in an arbitration commenced under Australia’s bilateral investment agreement with Hong Kong (Philip Morris Asia v Australia). This was Australia’s first investor-State dispute.

Before joining the Attorney-General’s Department, Mark also worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, both in Australia and abroad.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Queensland. He was admitted as a Barrister in New South Wales in 1992.

Mark is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Canberra.

mark.jennings@lexbridgelawyers.com

Amy Elleway

Special Counsel

Amy Elleway is a Special Counsel with Lexbridge Lawyers. She is a specialist legal consultant with 20 years of experience in regulatory design, reform and compliance.

Amy’s expertise in the development of complex regulatory and legislative frameworks is complemented by her experience managing multi party negotiations and whole-of-government legal policy reform programs across areas of trade and investment, maritime and aviation, and environment and climate change.

Amy’s recent experience has included national security reforms to the foreign investment regulatory framework, review of regulatory decision making processes under the Emissions Reduction Fund and the national review of the regulatory framework for the major Commonwealth owned airports under the Airports Act 1996.

Currently, Amy is leading the national review of regulatory frameworks for the development of the hydrogen industry.

Earlier in her career, Amy worked for the Attorney-General’s Department as a principal lawyer in a range of disciplines including Native Title, National Security and International Trade Law.

Amy brings to her legal practice her knowledge, perspective and experience as the owner and founder of Wild South Seafood. A company she developed on the principles of sustainability and has successfully grown into an innovative business model, doing things differently to address the challenges of our changing environment.

amy.elleway@lexbridgelawyers.com

Natalie Nunn

Senior Legal Consultant

Natalie Nunn is a Senior Legal Consultant with Lexbridge Lawyers. She is a lawyer and legal researcher, specialising in international humanitarian law, arms control law and international criminal law. Her current research focuses on the implications of autonomous weapon systems for the application and development of arms control law and international humanitarian law.

Natalie’s experience includes working as a contractor with the International Committee for the Red Cross, and serving as both an advisor and supervisor for the Kalshoven Grieks Forum, where she oversaw research on specific projects involving issues of international humanitarian law. Prior to this she worked as a lawyer with the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, the International Service for Human Rights and the United Nations Assisted Tribunal for the Khmer Rouge.

Natalie holds a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne, and a Masters of Law from Leiden University. She has also previously held the position of Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at Cambridge University. Natalie is currently undertaking a PhD on autonomous weapons systems and international law, under the supervision of Professor Tim McCormack at the University of Tasmania.

natalie.nunn@lexbridgelawyers.com

Patrick Wall

Senior Legal Consultant

Patrick Wall is a Senior Legal Consultant with Lexbridge Lawyers. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Patrick has a broad-based expertise in international law, including in relation to refugee protection, corruption, money laundering and the financing of terrorism. He has also published academic works relating to conflict negotiation, treaty interpretation and the extraterritorial exercise of judicial authority.

Patrick is also an experienced practitioner of international law at the intersection of other relevant fields, including diplomacy, negotiation, global governance, and development assistance. He has worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for example, to develop and execute a diplomatic strategy for the negotiation of the Global Compact on Refugees, an international agreement to improve respect for refugee rights that was affirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018. In the Australian Government’s International Legal Assistance Branch, Patrick worked with jurisdictions in the Pacific to improve their compliance with international standards to combat money laundering.

Patrick holds Bachelors degrees with First Class Honours in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney, as well as an LL.M. in International Law (summa cum laude) from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and a Masters of Diplomatic Studies (with Distinction) from the Australian National University.

patrick.wall@lexbridgelawyers.com

Neil Smith

Senior Legal Consultant

Neil Smith is a Senior Legal Consultant with Lexbridge Lawyers. He has more than 20 years’ experience in prudential regulation, enforcement and compliance, legislative and regulatory design and drafting, statutory interpretation and administrative law.

Neil is also a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University (ANU) where he teaches prudential regulation and regulatory theory, Criminology, the Australian Criminal Justice System, and Policing in Australia. In 2022, he was awarded for Teaching Excellence in the ANU Excellence in Education Awards.

Neil has worked in senior roles for a number of government agencies including the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Private Health Insurance Administration Council, and acting as a Senior Adviser on Foreign Investment in the Treasury.

Neil holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Adelaide, a Bachelor of Laws (Graduate) and Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the ANU. Neil was admitted in the ACT Supreme Court in 1994.

neil.smith@lexbridgelawyers.com

Tom McCrie

Senior Legal Consultant

Tom McCrie is a Senior Legal Consultant at Lexbridge Lawyers with extensive experience providing legal, policy and strategy advice to government. His principal fields of expertise are energy transition; climate adaptation; environmental, social and governance (ESG); and broad public sector regulation and compliance.

Before joining Lexbridge, Tom worked in the Northern Territory Office of Sustainable Energy and was the Northern Territory lead for renewable hydrogen strategy, policy and regulation. His recent experience includes strategic policy and regulation reform relating to renewable energy, the environment and climate adaptation.

In addition to significant technical expertise, Tom has experience leading whole-of-government policy and regulation reform and representing the Northern Territory in interjurisdictional energy and hydrogen forums.

Earlier in his career, Tom worked as in-house counsel with the government owned Power and Water Corporation and as a government solicitor with the Department of Attorney-General and Justice providing commercial and regulatory services. Tom holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from Charles Darwin University.

tom.mccrie@lexbridgelawyers.com

John Ekegren

Senior Lawyer

John Ekegren is a Senior Lawyer with Lexbridge Lawyers. He has extensive experience and expertise in public international law, domestic criminal law, and transnational criminal justice cooperation.

Before joining Lexbridge Lawyers, John worked as a legal advisor for the Australian Government’s Office of International Law, where he provided expert advice to agencies across government. In particular, he advised on matters relating to counterterrorism, international refugee and asylum seeker law, weapons procurements and non-proliferation, and bilateral defence agreements.

John has also advised the Australian Government in relation to high-profile litigation involving federal offenders and asylum seekers and worked in the Government’s International Cooperation Unit, specialising in international mutual assistance requests.

John has worked as a legal advisor to the Solomon Islands government, where he consulted on justice legislation reform and capacity building. John also has extensive domestic criminal law experience, having worked for over seven years as a prosecutor with the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions.

John holds a Master of Laws degree from Leiden University, specialising in Public International Law, a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from Victoria University, a Diploma of Practical Legal Training from the Leo Cussen Institute, and a Certificate in Foreign Policy from the Diplomatic Academy.

john.ekegren@lexbridgelawyers.com

Kerin Leonard

Special Adviser

Kerin Leonard is a Special Adviser with deep expertise in human rights and anti-discrimination policy and practice.

Kerin has previously advised the Australian Government on international human rights law, humanitarian law, use of force, space law, international criminal justice, extradition and mutual legal assistance as a member of the Office of International Law and the International Crime Cooperation Division of the Attorney-General’s Department.

Kerin’s work included: leading Australia’s delegation in negotiations for new aviation security protocols after 9/11; advising on operations in Afghanistan; representing Australia at negotiations for the United Nations Convention Against Corruption; and establishing the international transfer of prisoners scheme. Kerin was also Australia’s legal representative to the Proliferation Security Initiative and, on secondment, was a legal adviser to the International Deployment Group of the Australian Federal Police.

Kerin also has extensive experience in domestic law and policy. In particular, Kerin led the legal unit at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission for five years and managed the eight-year review of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic).

In 2015, Kerin was awarded the Paul Baker Award by the Law Institute of Victoria for significant and outstanding contribution in human rights.

Recently, Kerin worked with Lexbridge to advise the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability on policy settings that would support the domestic implementation of international human rights.

Kerin has a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Hons 1) from the Australian National University and a Master of Laws (International Law) from the University of Edinburgh.

Kerin is the founder and director of Lionheart Consulting Australia, a Melbourne-based consultancy service.

kerin.leonard@lexbridgelawyers.com

Lianne McDonald

Executive Assistant

Lianne McDonald is an Executive Assistant with Lexbridge Lawyers. She has extensive experience supporting CEOs and senior executives, and in office management.

Prior to joining Lexbridge, Lianne worked as an EA supporting the CEO and Chairman at a leading financial sector company. She has also supported the CEO of a media agency as well as executives in various private sector organizations.

lianne.mcdonald@lexbridgelawyers.com