ABA’s Advocacy Training Council Indigenous Scholarship Winner
24 March 2017
The Australian Bar Association has announced Lincoln Crowley, a barrister from the Queensland Bar, as the 2017 recipient of the Advocacy Training Council’s Indigenous scholarship program.
Lincoln Crowley is one of 16 Indigenous barristers practising in Australia and has been described as one the country’s most outstanding young advocates with an extremely bright future.
“Lincoln Crowley is an excellent example of a talented young Indigenous barrister with an exciting future ahead of him. His career in the law spans across public and private practise as well as both criminal and civil law,” said Ian Robertson SC, Chair of the ABA’s Advocacy Training Council (ATC).
The ATC Indigenous scholarship is awarded to Indigenous barristers with more than 3 years’ experience at the Bar, and is designed to assist them with their advocacy skills development and to create stronger career pathways within the profession.
“The Australian Bar Association is acutely aware of the underrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in the legal profession. The ATC’s Indigenous scholarship program is one small step toward redressing that issue. We’re pleased to be able to provide this opportunity to assist an Indigenous member of the Bar,” said Ian Robertson SC.
Lincoln Crowley’s career in law began in 1997 as a solicitor for the Aboriginal Legal Service in Townsville, appearing in court on a daily basis on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 2001, Mr Crowley took a position as a civil litigation solicitor within the NSW Crown Solicitor’s office. With the dream to become a specialist advocate, Mr Crowley joined the NSW Bar in 2003 and began practise as a Barrister before moving back to Queensland.
Since that time, he has developed a specialist practice in criminal law, both as a Prosecutor and as Defence counsel. He has held various positions as a Crown Prosecutor and continues to be privately retained throughout Australia to prosecute for the Commonwealth, most recently successfully prosecuting Oliver Curtis in Sydney for an insider trading conspiracy and Omar Succarieh in Brisbane for terror-related charges.
“It is a great honour to accept the 2017 ATC Indigenous scholarship and a wonderful opportunity to be able to hone and develop my advocacy skills under the tuition of some of the best advocates the country has to offer,” said Lincoln Crowley.
“I enjoy the constant challenges that life as an advocate presents and I am very proud of what I have achieved within the law. I hope that in the future I will have the opportunity to challenge myself further and continue to pursue the types of cases that really matter in achieving justice,” said Lincoln Crowley.
The ATC scholarship program supports young Indigenous barristers in furthering their education and advocacy skills by offering placements on the nation’s best advocacy skills training courses. These courses provide opportunities to be trained and mentored by some of the best advocates in the national profession, as well as past and current members of the judiciary.
Lincoln Crowley participated in the ATC’s 2017 Advanced Trial Advocacy Intensive in Sydney this year.