Our team

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.

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).

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.