Sally Dowling

Last updated

Sally Dowling SC is an Australian lawyer who has been Director of Public Prosecutions for New South Wales since August 2021.

Contents

Early life and education

Dowling is one of three children; her mother, Stephanie Claire, worked as an English teacher and writer, and later married artist Salvatore Zofrea. [1] Dowling attended North Sydney Girls High School but left in Year 11. [2] She worked as a waitress and a bookie's clerk before later completing her HSC at TAFE. [2] [3] She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1994. [4]

Career

Dowling was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1995. [5] She worked as an associate to Justice Hill in the Federal Court before practicing intellectual property and trade practices law as a solicitor. [4] She was admitted as a barrister in 1997 and worked in private practice in commercial and intellectual property. [4]

Dowling started work at the DPP in 2001 [4] and became a Crown prosecutor since 2005. [5] In 2004, when her children were very young, Dowling was the only part-time trial crown prosecutor in NSW, working one week on, one week off. [4] She acknowledged that it was very difficult to work part-time as a barrister and still earn enough to cover expenses, but said that working part-time "promotes efficiency." [6]

In 2013, Dowling was appointed senior counsel and in 2016 she was appointed deputy senior Crown prosecutor and head of the appeals unit within the NSW office of the DPP. [5] [2] In 2019, she was senior counsel assisting the NSW Government's Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ‘Ice’. [5] In 2020, she became a barrister in private practice at Wardell Chambers. [5]

Dowling was appointed to a ten-year term as Director of Public Prosecutions in August 2021. [5] She is the first woman to hold the role. [7]

Personal life

Dowling has two children. [4]

In 2018, Salvatore Zofrea's portrait of Dowling was a finalist in the Archibald Prize. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

Crown prosecutors are the public prosecutors in the legal system of Australia. In Western Australia, they are referred to as State prosecutors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Cowdery</span> Australian barrister

Nicholas Richard Cowdery, is a barrister who served as the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Australian state of New South Wales from 1994 to 2011. Cowdery also served as president of the International Association of Prosecutors from 1999 to 2005.

Patrick John Piers Power is a former Senior Counsel in New South Wales, Australia. He was Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor at the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In May 2007, he was convicted of possessing child pornography.

Margaret Mary Cunneen SC is an Australian barrister, prosecutor and commissioner of a government inquiry.

Gregory Reginald James is a former judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Salvatore Zofrea is an Italo-Australian artist and painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grenville Cross</span>

Ian Grenville Cross is a British barrister who was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of Hong Kong on 15 October 1997, and held this post for over 12 years, until 21 October 2009. He was the first DPP to be appointed after the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, and the appointment signalled that suitably qualified expatriates who were committed to Hong Kong still had a role to play in government in the post-colonial era. A career prosecutor, Cross was the seventh holder of the post since its creation in 1979, and the longest serving. On 26 June 2011, he was elected the Vice-Chairman (Senate) of the International Association of Prosecutors, of which he is a Senator-for-Life.

Natalie Jane Adams is an Australian judge. She has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Faucett</span> Politician, barrister and judge in New South Wales, Australia

Peter Faucett was an Australian barrister, judge and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1856 and 1865. He held the position of Solicitor General in the first government of James Martin. He was a judge of the Supreme Court between 1865 and 1888 and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1888 and 1894.

Lloyd Babb is an Australian barrister and was the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions from his appointment on 18 July 2011 through to 17 July 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Tedeschi</span> Australian barrister, law professor, photographer and author

Mark Tedeschi, is an Australian barrister, law professor, photographer and author. He is in private practice at Wardell Chambers in Sydney. He was formerly the Senior Crown prosecutor for New South Wales and the Head of Chambers of the 100 or so Crown prosecutors. He was the founder and president of the Australian Association of Crown Prosecutors and is a visiting professor at the University of Wollongong. As a prosecutor, Tedeschi was best known for the prosecution of numerous high-profile cases in Australia, including the backpacker murders committed by Ivan Milat in the 1990s. He has won numerous awards for his photography and has been featured in galleries throughout the world, including in the State Library of New South Wales, the New South Wales Art Gallery, the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, and the National Library in Canberra.

The New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is an independent prosecuting service and government agency within the portfolio of the Attorney General of New South Wales. Of all prosecuting services in Australia, the ODPP has the largest caseload, staff, and budget.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet King (character)</span> Fictional character

Janet King is a fictional character from the Australian ABC1 legal dramas Crownies and Janet King, played by Marta Dusseldorp. She debuted on-screen in the first episode of Crownies broadcast on 14 July 2011. To prepare, Dusseldorp researched legal cases and observed prosecutors in court. She also visited the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery and shadowed Margaret Cunneen SC, a Senior Crown Prosecutor and model for the character Janet King. Janet is characterised as a "tough and tenacious" Senior Crown Prosecutor who has worked in the DPP office for ten years. The character is in a same-sex relationship and has children via IVF. When Crownies finished airing plans were made to create a spin-off show centric to the character. Janet King was produced in 2013 with Dusseldorp returning to the title role. The actress has stated that she made deliberate changes to ensure Janet listened to others more often.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solicitor General for New South Wales</span> Second law officer for the state of New South Wales, Australia

Solicitor General for New South Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General. They can exercise the powers of the Attorney General in the Attorney General's absence. The Solicitor General acts alongside the Crown Advocate, and Crown Solicitor, and serves as one of the legal and constitutional advisers of the Crown and its government in the Australian state of New South Wales.

Sir Charles Barry Shaw, was a Northern Irish barrister. From 1972 to 1989, he served as the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland; he was the first holder of this post.

Helen McLeod Wilson is an Australian judge. She has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since November 2014.

Elizabeth Lillian Fullerton is an Australian lawyer, specialising in criminal law, who has been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since February 2007.

Christopher Bruce Craigie, also known as Chris Craigie, is a Judge of the District Court of New South Wales and former Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions who served in that role between 2007 and 2012.

The Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong (DPP) is a law officer and head of the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice; the director is responsible for directing the conduct of trials and appeals on behalf of Hong Kong, providing legal advice to law enforcement agencies, exercising the discretion of whether to institute criminal proceedings, and providing advice to others in government on proposed changes to the criminal law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Director of Public Prosecutions (Victoria)</span> Victorian Government representative for the prosecution of criminal offences

The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the person responsible for conducting criminal proceedings for indictable offences on behalf of the Monarch of Australia. The role of the DPP is supported by the Crown Prosecutors' Chambers, led by the Chief Crown Prosecutor, and the Office of Public Prosecutions.

References

  1. ↑ Burton, Rosamund (18 March 2016). "Two of us: Stephanie Claire & Les Atallah". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Hislop, Madeline (12 August 2021). "Sally Dowling appointed NSW's first female Director of Public Prosecutions". Women's Agenda. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  3. ↑ Tovey, Josephine (18 December 2012). "Second chances - life lesson more important than HSC". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Life in Crown Prosecutors' Chambers Concerning Dally Dowling" (PDF). Bar News. 2004. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "First woman appointed as DPP in NSW". Canberra Times. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Taylor, Ingmar (2015). "Parental Responsibilities and the Bar" (PDF). Bar News: The Journal of the New South Wales Bar Association: 30–45.
  7. ↑ Whitbourn, Michaela (12 August 2021). "Sydney silk Sally Dowling appointed NSW's first female DPP". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "Salvatore Zofrea Sally Dowling SC". Art Gallery of NSW.
  9. ↑ Mendelssohn, Joanna (4 May 2018). "The 2018 Archibald, Sulman and Wynne prizes show a changing of the guard". The Conversation. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.