New Solicitors General Appointed in WA and NT
Friday 24 June 2016 @ 12.37 p.m. | Legal Research
Western Australian and the Northern Territory have each welcomed the appointment of a new Solicitor-General. Sonia Brownhill QC has taken the role as the first female Solicitor-General in the Northern Territory on the 5 July while prominent Perth barrister Peter Quinlan will be assuming the position in Western Australia on 1 July.
Sonia Brownhill - NT Solicitor General
Northern Territory Attorney General John Elferink announced on the 22 June that Sonia Brownhill QC would be the Territory’s new Solicitor-General. Ms Brownhill has been a legal practitioner with more than 20 years of legal experience with “a breadth of relevant experience and a proven understanding of the role and functions of the office of the Solicitor-General”. Ms Brownhill worked for the Solicitor of the Northern Territory from 1997 to 2011. She worked for the Solicitor-General’s Chamber from 2002 and was appointed a Crown Counsel in June 2005.
In 2011, Ms Brownhill joined William Forster Chambers and worked on the private bar before being appointed Senior Counsel in 2015. She specialises in areas of constitutional law, Aboriginal land and native title matters, administrative and public law and statutory interpretation. Ms Brownhill will succeed current NT Solicitor-General Michael Grant QC who has taken an appointment as the Chief Justice of the Territory’s Supreme Court.
Peter Quinlan - WA Solicitor General
Meanwhile, barrister Peter Quinlan will be assuming the role of Western Australia’s Solicitor-General replacing incumbent Grant Donaldson who will be returning to private practice. WA Attorney General Michael Mischin vouches for Mr Quinlan’s expertise in constitutional law. He says:
“Mr Quinlan has an extensive and varied legal practice in a wide range of matters, as well as broad knowledge of public and constitutional law and has authored several articles and papers on legal and ethical issues.”
Mr Quinlan was an assistant Crown Counsel to the Crown Solicitor’s office since 1996 before being made Senior Counsel in 2010. He has also served as president of the WA Bar Association, director of the Law Council of Australia, and on the board of governors for the University of Notre Dame.
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