2021 Katrina Dawson Award through the NSW Bar Association

The NSW Bar Association is delighted to announce that the 2021 recipient of the Katrina Dawson Award is Winnie Liu. “I am deeply honoured to receive the Katrina Dawson Award as I greatly admire Katrina, not only for her brilliance as a barrister, but also as a person dedicated to diversity and inclusion at the Bar, and to service to the community,” Winnie said.

Since December 2017, Winnie has been a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills in the Dispute Resolution team. From 2018 to 2019, she served as tipstaff and associate to the Hon Justice Leeming of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. She has also lectured in contracts and criminal law at the University of Sydney, and will commence lecturing in equity in 2021.

Winnie completed a Juris Doctor at the University of Sydney in 2016, placing second of 152 graduating students. She was included in the Dean’s List of Academic Excellence for each year of her law degree from 2014 to 2016. In 2014, she was awarded the EM Contracts Prize and Most Proficient in Juris Doctor Prize. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Zoe Hall Memorial Scholarship.

Winnie has served as part of the Refugee Advice & Casework Service Asylum Seeker Clinic and has advocated for clients of The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre. She was also a member of the Herbert Smith Freehills Equitable Briefing Working Group which seeks to promote, monitor and enforce the Law Council of Australia’s National Gender Equitable Briefing Policy. Following her call to the Bar, Winnie hopes to engage in pro bono work through the Duty Barrister Scheme and be involved in the Bar Association’s Diversity and Equality Committee.

“I am deeply honoured to receive the Katrina Dawson Award as I greatly admire Katrina, not only for her brilliance as a barrister, but also as a person dedicated to diversity and inclusion at the Bar, and to service to the community,” Winnie said. “I hope to emulate Katrina’s example and to honour her legacy. I am grateful for the support this Award has given me to commence at the Bar and for the ongoing encouragement and support from members of the Bar. I am delighted to join the group of exceptional women who have previously received this Award.”

On completion of the Bar Practice Course, Winnie will read at New Chambers.