Sarah joined the Human Rights Law Centre in November 2024 as Legal Director of the Democratic Freedoms team, which defends democratic rights and freedoms such as the right to protest, the rights of whistleblowers, and rights to participate in public affairs.
Prior to joining the Centre, she was Principal Managing Lawyer of the Wirraway Police and Prison Accountability Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service. In that role, she led significant public interest litigation and advocacy in the areas of police accountability, the rights of people in prison and coronial inquests into deaths in police and prison custody. This included acting for the partner of Veronica Nelson in the Inquest into her passing in custody. She worked with Veronica’s family over many years to achieve significant bail and prison healthcare reforms. Sarah has also worked at Legal Aid NSW, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
Sarah was awarded a John Monash Scholarship in 2019 and completed a Master of Laws at Harvard University focused on policing, racism and mass incarceration. Her masters thesis on democratic campaigns to collectively resist the criminalisation of race and class was published by UNSW Law Journal.
Sarah is also a Lecturer at Melbourne Law School, where she teaches the Indigenous Law and Advocacy Clinic, is a founding Executive Officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, and co-founder of the Rebellious Lawyering Conference Australia. Sarah has written on issues of policing, racism, protest rights and Palestinian human rights for publications including The Age, The Guardian, Crikey, The Conversation, Overland and academic journals.
Sarah is committed to working alongside and learning from her clients and the communities she works with in their fights for justice.