RACHEL HEW

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology and Criminology) from the University of Queensland in 2015. She received the University of Queensland Law Society Medal for Outstanding Achievement, awarded to the most outstanding graduate of her class selected by the Head of the Law School in consultation with the President of the University of Queensland Law Society.  

Rachel accepts briefs in all areas of criminal law and is a member of the Legal Aid Queensland Complex Criminal Case Barrister Panel.  Rachel regularly runs jury trials in Brisbane and in regional Queensland, and appears on sentences and pre-trial hearings.  She has experience in the Court of Appeal for criminal law appeals against conviction and sentence.  Rachel also appears on applications in the Supreme Court pursuant to the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act (2003). 

Rachel also practises in domestic violence, family law and child protection law. Due to Rachel’s experience across multiple practice areas, Rachel is regularly briefed to provide strategic and procedural advice for clients with issues in different areas, allowing for continuity of counsel.

Rachel has a strong interest in mental health law and has prepared and personally appeared in over one hundred Mental Health Review Tribunal hearings for Forensic Order and Treatment Support Order reviews, treatment authority reviews, fitness for trial applications and electro-convulsive therapy applications, routinely involving the cross-examination of medical experts. 

Rachel also accepts briefs in personal injuries law, coronial inquests and regulatory prosecutions and defence work. 

Prior to being called to the private bar in 2023, Rachel was employed at Legal Aid Queensland since her admission in 2016, practising primarily in criminal law. 

In 2015 she lived in the Hague as part of the prosecution team for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).  In 2016 she was  the Associate to his Honour Judge Brendan Butler AM SC in the District Court. In 2017, Rachel was a finalist in the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland (WLAQ) Emergent Woman Lawyer of the Year Award. 

Rachel is a member of LawRight, Women Lawyers Association of Queensland (WLAQ) and University of Queensland Law Alumni Association (UQLA). Being of Chinese-Malaysian descent, Rachel is a proud member of the Australian Asian Lawyers Association (AALA).