Emma Fitch

Experience

Emma was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory in August 2016, after graduating from the University of Canberra with a double Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours. Emma completed her Masters in International Law in 2020 from the Australian National University, graduating with Commendation, specialising in water law, First Nations governance, and peace and conflict. She grew up on Ngunnawal Country (Canberra) and came to TJC and to live on Gadigal Country (Sydney) after working for a decade in the public sector, universities and not-for-profits. Emma is also a published writer and has written articles in a range of peer-reviewed journals and publications, relating to her passions including free, prior and informed consent for First Nations communities, and women and the law.

Recent Projects

Since joining the firm in 2022, Emma has led a number of projects:

• the Independent Review into ABC Systems and Processes in Support of Staff who Experience Racism, and further investigative projects and independent reviews into cultural safety and psychosocial wellbeing;

• the governance model for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Gallery of Australia.

• the governance model for the Great Barrier Reef Traditional Owner Taskforce.

• advising on commissions and inquiries, including on the rights of First Nations people to water.

• drafting agreements to assert the rights of First Nations people to their cultures and knowledges.

• consulting and providing reports, protocols and policies for a range of industries across governments. universities, arts, development, environmental, community, and health sectors;

• facilitating governance training, reviews and board evaluations.

Community

Emma is a former Board Director and Co-Vice President of YWCA Canberra, and a former Board Director of the Ginninderra Catchment Group. Emma loves all things water, professionally and personally. Following on from her governmental legal policy work around freshwater and the Murray-Darling Basin, including a Jawun secondment to the Ngarrindjeri Nation (South Australia), Emma’s passion for water extended to the marine space. Emma completed a course in marine habitat conservation and restoration in 2020, with a focus on community-led conservation projects. Emma is also a Co-Founder, Committee Member and Public Officer for the not-for-profit Sydney Seals Freediving Club. On the weekends you can find her freediving, swimming and exploring in her 4WD, and with her camp dog, who is originally from Yawuru Country (Broome).