Elizabeth O'Shea > Maurice Blackburn Lawyers > Melbourne, Australia > Lawyer Profile

Elizabeth O'Shea

eo'shea@mauriceblackburn.com.au View profile

Work Department

Class Actions

Position

Principal Lawyer

Career

Elizabeth O’Shea is an internationally renowned expert on digital privacy rights and the intersection between technology, privacy and the law. Among her many credentials, she is the author of ‘Future Histories’ which looks at issues closely related to digital technology security matters. Elizabeth is also a Principal Lawyer at Maurice Blackburn and is currently leading a class action against technology giant Uber.

“I love working with people who might otherwise not have access to the courts. Law should be about justice. It should be about holding people and corporations accountable for wrongdoing, and ensuring that those harmed are properly compensated,” says Lizzie.

Lizzie has been a lawyer for a decade and has local and international experience in a wide array of court jurisdictions, from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal up to the High Court of Australia. She previously worked in our social justice practice where her cases included:

• acting for refugees detained by the Australian government
• advocating for women to access fertility services free from harassment
• stopping a nuclear waste dump being built on land at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory without adequate consultation with traditional owners
• challenging the Australian Taxation Office’s decision to deny Aid/Watch its charitable status
• winning the right for people to be allowed to protest against the development of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Victorian town of Tecoma, and
• having an application to introduce more pokie machines into the Victorian town of Castlemaine thrown out of VCAT.

Lizzie’s international legal experience includes working at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva monitoring gender and racial equality in labour standards, as well working with indigent prisoners on death row in the USA. More recently, Lizzie completed her Masters in Law at Columbia University in New York, receiving a scholarship to focus on human rights and corporate accountability. She subsequently worked on projects that use digital technology to advance human rights. Lizzie is the author of a book on this topic, Future Histories, released in 2019. These international experiences have cemented Lizzie’s passion for righting injustices and ensuring corporations are held to account for breaches of the law.

Memberships

• Law Institute of Victoria Member
• Blueprint for Free Speech Legal Board Member
• Digital Rights Watch Australia Board Member
• National Justice Project Board Member
• Witness Legal Fellow, 2016-17
• Davis Peace Fellow, 2016
• Right Now Inc Chair, 2012-2015

Education

BA, LLB (Hons), LLM