Congratulations to Monica Aguinaldo - the second 2022 NSW Bar Katrina Dawson Award recipient

Monica is the second 2022 recipient of the NSW Bar Association's Katrina Dawson Award - she joins a growing list of wonderful barristers in the making.

Monica was admitted as a solicitor in 2012, and to the New York State Bar in 2017. From 2015, she practised as a solicitor in commercial litigation at Quinn Emanuel and was soon after promoted as Senior Associate.

Monica graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2012 with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons)/Bachelor of Arts. While at university, she competed in the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot. Monica has completed a Master of Laws at Harvard Law School as a Rotary Global Grant Fellow. She was an Editor for the Harvard Business Law Review and a student attorney for the Harvard Law Prison Legal Assistance Project.

Monica’s achievements are not limited to the classroom, she has served as a mentor to lawyers with the Asian Australian Lawyers Association Mentoring Program and emphasises the importance of pro bono work in her practice. She volunteered at the Kingsford Legal Centre and the Marrickville Legal Centre for several years and has also taken part in the Justice for Refugees solicitor referral service.

In 2013, Monica was the associate to the Honourable Justice Jacobson KC of the Federal Court of Australia and in 2018, she was the associate to the Honourable Justice Gageler AC of the High Court of Australia.