Rachael Taylor

Contact

Areas of Practice

  • Appellate
  • Criminal and Regulatory Law
  • Human Rights / Discrimination
  • Industrial / Employment
  • Inquests
  • Commissions of Inquiry
  • Statutory Tribunals
  • Public Law
Rachael Taylor

Professional History

Rachael was admitted in 2010 and worked as a solicitor in Australia and the UK before she was called to the bar in 2019. She practices primarily in the areas of criminal, regulatory and disciplinary law, industrial and employment law, inquests and inquiries, and public law.

In addition to her criminal defence work, Rachael is regularly briefed to prosecute, including on behalf of the State and Commonwealth DPP, regulatory agencies and government departments. Rachael has experience in inquests and inquiries and was junior counsel for Resources Safety & Health Queensland in the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry.  

While working in London Rachael gained significant experience in complex government litigation. This included acting for the British government in defence of high-profile class actions arising from allegations that members of the military and police committed torture and mistreatment in former British colonies in the 1950s. She held Developed Vetted security clearance and acted in proceedings involving national security issues and assisted on human rights litigation arising out of military inquiries.

As a solicitor advocate in Australia, Rachael spent two years prosecuting individual and corporate defendants for regulatory, health and safety, and planning and environment offences, and three years as a criminal defence solicitor. In 2010, she was the Associate to his Honour Judge Irwin of the District Court of Queensland.

Rachael has a strong interest in human rights law and access to justice issues. In 2015 she was named the Young Queensland Philanthropist of the Year in recognition of her commitment to pro bono work, and in 2016, was the Director of the Pro Bono Matters program at the London School of Economics.

Qualifications, Appointments and Admissions

  • Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Griffith University – Awarded the University Medal (2009)
  • Master of Laws (Distinction), London School of Economics (2016)
  • Admitted as a Legal Practitioner, Supreme Court of Queensland (2010)
  • Admitted as a Barrister, Supreme Court of Queensland (2019)

Professional Memberships

  • Queensland Bar Association
  • International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law
  • Law and Justice Institute Queensland
  • Women Lawyers Association of Queensland

Notable Cases

Legal Services Commissioner v Pene [2021] QCAT 299

R v East [2021] QCA 54 (led by S Holt QC)

R v Soong [2021] QCA 53 (led by S Holt QC)

R v KAY [2021] QCA 5 (led by EP Mac Giolla Ri)

Hickey v State of Queensland (Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors) (Disability Accommodation and Respite and Forensic Disability Service) [2020] ICQ 22 (unled, appeal allowed)

Mija Pty Ltd & Ors v Gravener [2020] FCCA 681

R v Hyde [2020] QCA 196 (led by EP Mac Giolla Ri)

R v FAV [2019] QCA 299 (led by EP Mac Giolla Ri)

R v IG [2019] QCA 208 (led by RM O’Gorman)

Sophocleous & Ors v The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs & another [2018] EWCA Civ 2167 (instructing solicitor, with Martin Chamberlain QC and James Purnell)