Increase your working knowledge and ability to identify pre-trial issues well ahead of the trial to enable you to make important decisions that can influence how the trial proceeds, consider directions in sexual assault cases and gain practical guidance on the law of consent in NSW. Don’t miss this unique perspective on such an essential area of criminal law. 

Presenters

Ms. Helen Christinson, Partner, Hugo Law Group
Helen Christinson is a Partner at Hugo Law Group and practices exclusively in Criminal Law. Whether appearing in Coronial inquests, bail applications, sentence matters, defended hearings or other applications in the Children’s Court or Local Court, conviction and severity appeals in the District Court, or high-profile trial and sentence matters for State and Commonwealth offences, Helen is a detail-focused, empathetic, energised and tenacious advocate. She has a wide range of legal experience from Local Court traffic matters to complex murder trials in the Supreme Court. In 2023 and 2024 Helen was recognised by members of the profession as a Recommended Criminal Defence Lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide – Sydney.


Ms. Cara Feiner, Barrister, Black Chambers
Cara was admitted as a solicitor in 2006 and was called to the bar in 2011. Prior to commencing work as a solicitor she was the Associate to His Honour Judge Zahra SC in the District Court of New South Wales. She has worked as both a solicitor and Crown Prosecutor with the New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. For the last 12 years Cara has practiced primarily as a criminal defence barrister, appearing in a wide range of matters. Her practice is focused on conducting trials and sentences in relation to serious criminal matters.


Mr. Mark Higgins, Barrister, Black Chambers
Mark Higgins LLB (Syd), LLM (NSW) is a barrister admitted to the Sydney Bar for 22 years. He practises predominantly in the criminal administrative and judicial review, and care jurisdictions. He appears in both regulatory prosecutions on behalf of various State statutory authorities in Supreme, Land and Environment and Local Courts, and as defence counsel in all jurisdictions. He is on the panel of counsel to the International Criminal Court and has appeared internationally in criminal trial, most recently in the Republic of Nauru. He is a founding judge of he Prospera Arbitration Centre in the Republic of Honduras where he sits as the head of the hazardous Activity Division, and serves as the secretary to the Board. He was previously employed as a solicitor advocate for the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales for 10 years practising primarily in criminal and mental health jurisdictions. He is the author of the Lawyers Practice Manual's chapter on Bail in New South Wales, and has previously lectured both in the undergraduate program, in evidence, at the University of Technology, Sydney and in its Practical legal Training Program at the same university. In the last 10 years, he has conducted numerous CLE seminars for the Aboriginal Legal service, private firms and regional law societies in New South Wales. He is a former president of the Australian Lawyers Surfing Association; he is a committee member on both the NSW Parachute Council under the auspices of the Australian Parachute Federation (APF), and he sits on the NSW Member Protection Special Committee within APF.


Arjun Chhabra, Barrister, Maurice Byers Chambers
Arjun specialises in appellate and judicial review matters. He practices in criminal law, public/administrative law, and family law. He focuses on issues of statutory interpretation, the limits of judicial and public power, and the admissibility of evidence. Arjun has authored several papers as well as the seminal evidence law text, Exclusionary Provisions in the Uniform Evidence Law, published by Thomson Reuters. Prior to joining the Bar, Arjun worked at various criminal law firms, commercial law firms, and investment banks in Australia, China, the Middle East, the UK, and Sub-Saharan Africa, including Baker & McKenzie, Clyde & Co, Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst) and Anthesis Capital.