About

Lucy Geddes was called to the Bar in 2023. She was admitted as a solicitor in NSW in 2014.

Lucy accepts briefs to advise and appear in all areas of law, however she has specialist expertise in human rights and discrimination law, criminal law, employment law, public law, and international law. She has a particular interest in matters where these areas of law intersect.

In addition to her work in Australia, Lucy also maintains an international human rights consultancy practice.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Lucy worked on issues relating to access to justice for over 10 years in Victoria, NSW, South Africa, England, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. Most recently, Lucy was a Senior Solicitor in the Strategic Litigation team at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC). Lucy led PIAC’s Asylum Seeker Rights Project and also contributed to PIAC’s discrimination and equality practice, including having carriage of NDIS, intentional tort, disability and coronial matters. Before this, Lucy was the Head of Legal Action Worldwide’s Sri Lanka office, an international human rights organisation which promotes access to justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

Lucy has worked as a solicitor-advocate in private practice in NSW and at Victoria Legal Aid, where she developed extensive experience appearing led and un-led in NSW and Victorian courts and tribunals in both criminal and civil cases. She served as law clerk to Chief Justice Mogoeng of the South African Constitutional Court in Johannesburg and to Vice-President Tarfusser of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Lucy has been awarded various academic prizes and scholarships. She was awarded the Lionel Murphy Scholarship to undertake MSc in Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Lucy was subsequently awarded best overall performance in her masters and also placed first in three subjects.

Lucy has been published in a variety of forums on topics such as human rights law in Australia, the UN Women, Peace and Security Agenda, gender and reparations, international criminal law and transitional justice. Most recently, she is the co-author of a leading book on Australian human rights case law: ‘50 Human Rights Cases that Changed Australia’.

Lucy is also a teaching fellow at the University of New South Wales, where she teaches evidence law and foundations of law.

Lucy is honoured to be the recipient of the 2023 Katrina Dawson award.

Lucy’s CV is available here.

PUBLICATIONS

‘50 Human Rights Cases that Changed Australia’, Federation Press, with Hamish McLachlan. Foreword by Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG.

‘A legislative vacuum: the healthcare crisis in onshore immigration detention’, Court of Conscience 16:45.

“Travelling with Durbach: Notes from a trip to South Africa researching reparations for victims of sexual violence”, Australian Journal of Human Rights 27:3,591-596.

‘Healthcare denied: Medevac and the long wait for essential medical treatment in Australian immigration detention’, Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

‘A long road to justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence: the case of Dominic Ongwen’, ILA Reporter.

‘Compensation Is Not Enough – Afghan Victims Are Entitled Other Forms of Reparation’, Opinio Juris.

‘Policy Brief: UNSCR 1325 at 20: Past challenges and Future Possibilities of Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda’, Legal Action Worldwide Policy Brief Series.

‘Universal jurisdiction to the rescue: a way forward for victims of Franco- era crimes of gender-based violence?’ Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog.

‘To shape our own lives and our own world: exploring the impact of women’s hearings on reparations for victims of sexual violence post- conflict’, The International Journal of Human Rights, 21:9, 1261-1280 (co- author with A. Durbach).