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

Early life and education

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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

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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

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Dowling has two children.[4]

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

References

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  1. ^ Burton, Rosamund (18 March 2016). "Two of us: Stephanie Claire & Les Atallah". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f "Life in Crown Prosecutors' Chambers Concerning Dally Dowling" (PDF). Bar News. 2004. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "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.