Barristers – Human rights law

Damien Atkinson OAM KC was admitted to the Bar in 1995 and became a Nationally Accredited Mediator in 2017 before taking silk in 2018.

His practice as counsel is varied, regularly appearing in commercial and construction matters in the state and federal courts, as well as acting for doctors, patients and hospitals in significant medicolegal litigation, acting in commissions of inquiry and inquests and appearing in general legal disputes such as property and personal injuries matters.

Damien also has a busy mediation practice and is regularly engaged as a mediator by both the private and public sectors.

Damien is the Chair of the Human Rights Committee for the Bar Association of Queensland and Chair of the Youth Advocacy Centre, Brisbane. He is also the Vice President for the Medico-Legal Society of Queensland and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2019.

Damien is recognised in Doyle’s Guide as a Recommended Queensland King’s Counsel in the following practice areas:

• Insurance and Personal Injury 2025
• Professional Indemnity 2025

To learn more about Damien’s professional career, his mediation practice and the cases in which he has appeared, visit his website.

Jozef was called to the respective Bars of Queensland (Australia) and England & Wales (United Kingdom) in 2023, and then admitted to the New York State Bar (United States of America) in 2025.

He accepts briefs in all areas of the law, with a particular focus on commercial and public law and a special interest in matters engaging civil rights.

Prior to call and following a 2015 admission in the Supreme Court of Queensland as the youngest lawyer in Southern Hemisphere history that received international coverage and earned him a congressional commendation from the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines, Jozef practised for three years as a solicitor specialised in commercial dispute resolution. As a solicitor, he represented clients in a broad range of matters spanning contractual and property disputes through guardianship contentions and winding up applications to debt recovery and defamation suits.

After graduating from a Master of Laws specialised in Public International Law with High Distinction at the Australian National University, he completed the prestigious Master’s Degree in Corporate Law at the University of Cambridge in 2021 while serving as an associate editor of the Cambridge Law Review.

Before commencing at the Bar, Jozef successfully swept a gauntlet of rigorous standardised bar examinations around the world, consisting of those for admission in the jurisdictions of New York (United States of America), England and Wales (United Kingdom), and Queensland (Australia), certifying his conversance with principles of public, civil, and criminal law in each of the jurisdictions.

Anna Crawford has a broad civil and criminal practice, with a focus on commercial litigation, professional indemnity, public law, medical and health law, and employment law. She acts at all stages of litigation, from advice and commencement of proceedings through to alternative dispute resolution and trial, in State and Federal Courts and Tribunals. Anna regularly appears unled in the civil, criminal and inquisitorial jurisdictions of the Supreme, District, Magistrates, Coroners and Children’s Courts of Queensland, along with the Federal Courts, and has appeared unled in the Queensland Court of Appeal.

Since commencing her readership at the Bar in October 2024, Anna has drawn on her prior experience as a Solicitor, where she practised in medical negligence, health law and professional liability, including representing clients in regulatory proceedings across the public and private health sectors. She also maintains a sports law practice, leveraging her background as an elite athlete, and has acted for and against sporting bodies in governance, employment and disciplinary matters.

Anna was admitted as a Solicitor in 2019.  Prior to coming to the Bar, Anna was a Senior Associate at Barry Nilsson Lawyers.

Below is a selection of recent cases Anna has appeared in:

• Supreme Court of Queensland: VQ v Queensland [2026] QCA [17]
• Mercieca v Department of Transport and Main Roads [2026] QCAT 28
• Singleton v Direct Personnel Services Pty Ltd [2025] QSC 259 
• Coronial Inquest into the death of Alexandria Catherine Forrester