Overview

Prior to commencing pupillage, Tessa worked as a Lawyer at the Law Commission of England and Wales, leading the project which focussed on reform of Part 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, known as the ‘Confiscation Regime’. The final report makes over 100 recommendations for reform. Tessa also contributed to the Law Commission’s Evidence in Sexual Offence Prosecutions and Sentencing projects, the latter of which led to the enactment of the Sentencing Act 2020.

Alongside her work at the Law Commission, Tessa has assisted in the production of training materials for the United Nations on the subject of Confiscation and has written for the Criminal Law Review on the subject of Confiscation.

Tessa has also recently been responsible for providing updates to the 2023 edition of Blackstone’s Criminal Practice.

Before commencing at the Law Commission, Tessa was a practising solicitor in New South Wales, Australia. Having completed her training contract at a trade union, she was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2016. She subsequently worked for the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) until moving to the UK in late 2019. In her role at the ODPP, Tessa appeared in court on behalf of the Crown in administrative hearings, bail hearings, sentencing hearings and appeals. These cases involved drug offences, sex offences, other violent offences, thefts and frauds.

Publications

R v Saroya (Nadia) (Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)) [2022] Criminal Law Review 699

R v Andrewes (Jon) (UK Supreme Court) [2023] Criminal Law Review 84