Before joining Doughty Street, Julie worked as a paralegal in several highly-ranked criminal law firms. She has assisted in the representation of individuals at every stage of criminal proceedings, from the preparation of pre-charge representations to the challenging of wrongful convictions in the Court of Appeal. 

She has experience representing clients accused of a wide range of criminal conduct, including violence, serious crime, sexual offences, coercive and controlling behaviour, and driving offences. 

Julie also has experience of financial crime cases, having worked on matters investigated and prosecuted by the SFO, NCA, and FCA, along with cross-border investigations such as:

• Defending a client who ultimately secured a non-prosecution agreement in a US
  multi-million dollar fraud investigation;
• Defending a client subject to an SFO prosecution in connection with allegations of bribery and conspiracy to make corrupt payments in West Africa; and
• Representing a client subject to a multi-jurisdictional criminal investigation into
  anti-competitive conduct.

During her pupillage, Julie assisted Liam Walker KC in the successfully acquittal of a client charged with multiple counts of rape, actual bodily harm, and controlling and coercive behaviour. The case involved complex legal arguments and extensive digital evidence.

Julie has a particular interest in working with young clients. She has completed the ICCA ‘Advocacy for Children in Conflict with the Law’ training and has undertaken several training sessions organised by the Youth Justice Legal Centre to ensure her young clients are assisted with skill and care.

Julie is currently undertaking an extradition seat under the supervision of Malcolm Hawkes.

Julie has a particular interest in extradition, having worked on extradition requests from Part 1 and 2 countries including the USA, Mexico, Bermuda, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Portugal, Latvia, Ireland, Poland, Romania, and Hungary. 

This experience includes:

• The successful discharge of a European Arrest Warrant in the Supreme Court following a finding of a real risk of a ‘flagrant denial’ of the client’s Article 6 ECHR rights;
• The first successful discharge of a Ukrainian extradition request since the 2022 Russian invasion;
• A successful discharge under section 20(5) EA 2003 following findings that Portuguese appeals do not amount to ‘a review amounting to a retrial’; and
• Several high-profile challenges to US extradition requests.

Julie has also assisted on written submissions to the UK Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights on violations of Article 5 rights in extradition cases.

Julie has a strong academic background in international law, having graduated cum laude with an LLM in public international law.

During her pupillage, Julie assisted Jonathan Price KC and Nikila Kaushik on written submissions regarding universal jurisdiction for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

In addition, Julie has assisted in drafting challenges to INTERPOL diffusions on human rights grounds. She also conducted research for the INTERPOL chapter of ‘The Law on Extradition and Mutual Assistance’ practitioners’ textbook.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Julie worked as a Parliamentary Intern for the Head of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence, and Equality in Seanad Éireann (the Irish Senate) where she worked on campaigns such as repealing the 8th Amendment (Ireland’s constitutional ban on abortion).

Julie also worked as a legal researcher challenging the sealing of records regarding the Irish Mother and Baby Homes Commission and as an intern at AIRE Centre’s working on their rule of law and ECHR enforcement projects in the Western Balkans team. 

Julie sits on the executive committee of Bringing (Dis)Ability to the Bar (BDABar). Julie ran the Schemes team at BDABar for over 2 years, working with over 50 chambers and 100 barristers to provide advocacy training, mini-pupillages, and mock interviews to disabled aspiring barristers.