Sophie has extensive and broad ranging experience in administrative law, with a particular emphasis on migration, refugee and citizenship law, with more than 10 years’ experience practising in those areas. She is an experienced solicitor advocate, who regularly appears in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Federal Circuit and Family Court and Federal Court and undertakes complex advice and litigation.
Prior to joining Mills Oakley, Sophie worked as a Senior Legal Officer at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal where she regularly undertook reviews of legislative amendments, developed reference materials and advised on judicial and legislative developments, migration and refugee law, procedural law, freedom of information and privacy.
Sophie is recognised as a subject matter expert in the areas of judicial review for refugee and migration litigation for the Department of Home Affairs.
Expertise
Sophie’s expertise includes:
- Acting for government departments and agencies in judicial review proceedings in the Federal Court and Federal Circuit and Family Court and in merits review proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
- Advising government departments and agencies on the construction, interpretation and application of their portfolio legislation and providing legal opinions on a range of complex legal issues
- Advising government departments and agencies on the construction, interpretation and application of their portfolio legislation and providing legal opinions on a range of complex legal issues
Recent Projects
- Successfully representing the Minister for Home Affairs in significant litigation in the Federal Court of Australia in connection with visa decisions, including in: BTI15 v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs[2022] FCAFC 49 and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs v AWT19 [2021] FCAFC 58.
- Appearing as solicitor advocate in hearings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, including: Cockin and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration) [2021] AATA 2802 and Mihai and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration) [2021] AATA 4503.
- Undertaking a 6-month secondment to the Legislation Reform Section of the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment in 2022 working on a project involving streamlining and modernising agricultural levies legislation.
- Undertaking a 12-month secondment (part-time) to the Services Australia litigation and FOI section in 2019-2020 and representing the Agency in merits review proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
- Public Sector ,
Sector
- Government ,
Services
location
Sydney
