Sarah-Jane Dobson (2006)
From Brisbane to the UN and UK: the journey of a born defender
In Year 9, Sarah-Jane Dobson led the defence of King Louis XVI at Girls Grammar. When she graduated three years later, she landed a job in in a Brisbane barrister’s chambers and was on her way to forging an international career in defence law.
And King Louis was far from her last high-profile legal action. Early in her career, Sarah Jane had the opportunity to work on the case of one-time Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic at the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, in the Netherlands. Karadzic was eventually convicted of war crimes in 2016 and is serving a 40-year sentence.
At the time she worked on Karadzic’s defence, Sarah-Jane was a 21-year-old legal intern, but with litigation experience well beyond her years, thanks to the fact she had combined work with legal study since leaving high school. In The Hague, she was able to hone her skills, spending every day in the courtroom and assisting with cross examinations.
Like most born defenders, Sarah Jane believes passionately in the necessity of `robust legal representation on both sides’. She says she felt the weight of the work being done at the UN and often reflected on the `bluntness of the law as an instrument’ to always deliver relief to those seeking it.
Unsurprisingly, given her early exposure to high-level litigation, Sarah-Jane has gone on to build a prodigious international career, leading defence teams on precedent-setting international cases. She acted for Whirlpool Corporation in the landmark public inquiry stemming from the 2019 Grenfell Tower fire in London. And more recently, in the car emissions scandal dubbed `Diesel-Gate’, she represented two of 13 manufacturers (Peugeot Citroen and Fiat Chrysler) involved in the largest-ever class action brought before the commercial courts in London.
It has been heartening, she says, to help, alongside her clients, be part of impactful industry-wide changes in governance and product safety practices that flow from such cases.
In 2020, at 31, Sarah-Jane made partner at an international law firm in the competitive London market —a good 10 years before most. She remains based in the UK, where she is currently Global Head of Product Liability and Regulatory Risk at Ashurst LLP.
It’s an impressive career that had roots in some pivotal Girls Grammar experiences—and a natural inclination to try a point.
`I like to argue—my parents will tell you,’ she laughs, on a recent visit back to Brisbane from her London home. ` I was on the debating team and the public speaking group, Athene, here at BGGS’.
But two additional BGGS experiences, in particular, set her path in stone.
One was studying Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, under English teacher Ms (Helen) Forster. It was a revelation when Portia, disguised as a male lawyer, argued the infamous `pound of flesh but not a drop of blood’ contract loophole.
`That made me think, what a great position;
to be able to use words to help someone to change an outcome.'
The second was the Trial of King Louis—an iconic Year 9 assessment piece which requires students to reenact the show trial, and beheading, of King Louis the XVI of France. Sarah-Jane, of course, was appointed as lead to the defence.
`And, here I am, years later, as a defence lawyer. So that was pretty seminal,’ she says. `Ms (Julie) Hennessy really fostered critical thinking and the methodical nature of analysing facts and putting them into cogent arguments.’
After school, a dash of good fortune along with self-belief, a huge work ethic and a sharp mind gave her a flying start. At 17, Sarah Jane spotted a job advertisement for a legal secretary in a Brisbane barristers’ chambers. She applied and was hired.
`Part of that was probably because people saw Brisbane Girls Grammar on my CV. Girls Grammar is synonymous with certain things: well-rounded, a good person and well-educated, in my experience.’
Before long they spotted her talent and had a proposition—they wanted to create a new role for her as a legal researcher for the barristers in chambers. There, she quickly came to the attention of famed KC, then a QC, Tony Morris, who admired her ability to `cut to the quick of a case’. Sarah-Jane served as Morris’s research assistant on several high-profile cases, including an international custody battle that stretched from Italy to the Sunshine Coast via the Australian High Court.
While working in Chambers, Sarah-Jane was also diligently completing an unusual double-degree combining law with science (majoring in biomedical science).
`It was obvious I really wanted to do law but most of my family are scientists, so I had a real love of science also from a young age'.
She saw an opportunity to combine both interests by helping bridge a growing disconnect between scientists and technical-focused professionals, whose work pushes the boundaries of laws they don’t always understand, and lawyers, who apply a legal framework to science they don’t always understand.
At first, she dipped her toe into patent and intellectual property law, then spent some time working in the medical and end-of-life field, before finding a perfect fit in product liability and regulation.
`It’s the perfect marriage of legal and science, or technical, depending on the product. One day I could be working on cosmetics and the next drones.’
It’s turned out to be a prescient choice in the current era of cutting-edge technology and high-stakes class actions. Along with defending corporate clients against actions, Sarah-Jane and her team complete the legal legwork involved in taking new products to market, including checks that they comply with local laws in upwards of 193 jurisdictions around the world. Australia is nearly always the most stringent, she says.
Without a doubt, one of the biggest perks of the job is getting a sneak peek at ground-breaking consumer technology before it hits shelves.
`I have access to some of the most top-secret imminent product launches,' she says. `I often see stuff that’s going to be huge. I saw early versions of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) and other wearables, and the really advanced drones some time before their official launches.’