Before being called to the Bar, Sage was a solicitor in a prominent local firm which specialises in family law, wills and estate litigation, and was the Legal Associate to Deputy Chief Justice Faulks of the Family Court.
Sage focuses on all aspects of family law, including complex parenting disputes, property settlements, adoption, surrogacy, and care and protection matters. She also practises in succession law, including disputes concerning the construction of wills, capacity, probate and family provision.
She is active in the ACT legal community, having served 3 terms to date on the Council for the ACT Law Society, and as President of the Canberra Region Family Law Professionals Association.
In 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Sage was recognised in Doyle’s Guide as a leading family law barrister for the ACT.
Sage has a passion for Art Deco design, classic ghost stories and detective fiction, and published in these areas in her previous life as an academic.
Called to the Bar
2019
Admitted as legal practitioner
2015
Juris Doctor, Australian National University
2015
PhD Literary Studies, Griffith University
2007
B.A. in Literary Studies and Behavioural Science (Hons), Griffith University
2002
Phone
02 6262 9599
leslie@blackburnchambers.com.au
Practice areas
Disciplinary proceedings
Family law
Family provision claims
Wills and Estates
Publications
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2012) E-Consumer Protection and Confidence: Current Australian Law Governing Online Consumer Contracts and Some Ways Forward. ALSA Journal 17-38.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2012) “I See Dead People”: Ghost Seeing Children as Mediums and Mediators of Communication in Contemporary Horror Cinema. In Debbie Olsen and Andrew Scahill (Eds) Lost and Othered Children in Contemporary Cinema, Plymouth, UK: Lexington, 1-19.
- Tutty, J and Leslie-McCarthy, S (2012) ANU Campus Quest: A Mobile App for Transition Proceedings of the 2012 ASCILITE Conference in Wellington, NZ.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S and Tutty, J (2011) Strategies for Developing Effective AALL Websites Journal of Academic Language and Learning Vol 5, No 2.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2009). Chance Encounters: The Detective as ‘Expert’ in Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan. Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies. 13(1), 35-45.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2008). Spectral Traffic. In Sue Thomas (Ed.). Victorian Traffic: Identity, Exchange, Performance (pp.273-283). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2007). Asimov’s Futuristic Pharisees: Examining the Posthuman in Isaac Asimov’s Robot Novels. Law, Culture and the Humanities. 3(3), 398-415.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2007). The X-Files: Continuing the Psychic Detective Legacy. In Sharon Yang (Ed.). The X-Files and Literature: unweaving the story, unraveling the lie to find the truth (pp.130-151). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- Leslie-McCarthy, S. (2005). Re-vitalising the Little People: Arthur Machen’s Tales of the Remnant Races. Australasian Victorian Studies Journal. 11. 65-78.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Senior Fellow – Higher Education Academy
- Member – Canberra Region Family Law Professionals Association (CRFLPA)
- Member – Women Lawyers Association of the ACT
- Member – Family Law Section Law Council of Australia
- Member – ACT Bar Association.
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS
- Member of the Council of the Law Society of the ACT
August 2017 to August 2020.
- Canberra Region Family Law Professionals Association
Secretary 2016/2017
President 2017/2018
President 2018/2019
Immediate Past President 2019/2020
President 2020/2021
President 2021/2022
- Member ACT Bar Women Barristers Committee
2019 to present
- Member ACT Bar Family Law Committee
2019 to present
- ACT Bar Representative – Legal Aid Grants Review Panel
2022 to present
- ACT Bar Bullying and Anti-Discrimination Policy Complaints Investigator
2021 to present
AWARDS
- 2021/2022 Doyles Guide – Leading Family Law Barrister
- 2020/2021 Doyles Guide – Leading Family Law Barrister
- 2020 Finalist – Female Barrister of the Year – Women In Law Award
- 2020 – Awarded ACT Women’s Barrister Scholarship
- 2019/2020 Doyles Guide – Recommended Family Law Barrister
- 2015 Australian National University Masters Excellence Award
- 2013 Farrar Gesini and Dunn Prize for Family Law
- 2013 Dean’s Juris Doctor Prize
- 2012 Daphne Olive Memorial Prize in Legal Theory
- 2012 Dean’s Juris Doctor Prize
- 2012 Law Students Association National Essay Prize (2nd place)
- 2011 Clayton Utz Prize for Torts
- 2011 Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory Prize for Contracts
- 2011 Dean’s Juris Doctor Prize
- 2010 University of Canberra Academic Excellence Award
- 2002 Griffith University Arts Medal
- 1999-2002 Griffith Annual Academic Excellence Award
EMPLOYMENT
- Called to the Bar – August 2019
Blackburn Chambers
- Ongoing teaching in ANU College of Law and for Leo Cussens GDLP programme
Various subjects
- Dobinson Davey Clifford Simpson Lawyers (DDCS)
Associate – February 2018 to August 2019
Lawyer – February 2016 to February 2018
Duties: family law solicitor (advice to private clients, drafting settlement and Court documents, advocacy at Court and alternative dispute resolution); business development activities.
- Family Court of Australia
Legal Associate to Deputy Chief Justice Faulks
January 2015 to February 2016
Duties: file and case-load management, correspondence, legal research, in-court duties, assist with drafting judgments and orders, presentations and committee submissions.
- The Australian National University
Deputy Registrar Student Experience
August 2014 – January 2015
Duties: Participation in executive committees and working parties; oversight of academic skills, careers, orientation and transition teams; strategic planning; statistical and data analysis; policy development; critical incident reporting.
Manager, Academic Skills and Learning Centre
December 2013 to January 2015
Duties: Staff recruitment, staff and budget management, operational and strategic planning, policy development. Participation in executive committees and working parties. Presenting workshops on discipline related writing and research skills, individual tutorials with undergraduate and research students on writing and research methodologies.
Senior Learning Adviser 2012 – 2013
Learning Adviser 2008 – 2011
Duties: presenting workshops on discipline related writing and research skills, individual tutorials with undergraduate and research students on writing and research methodologies.
- Griffith University
Sessional Academic: School of Humanities
2003 to 2008
Courses:
Great Books I
Great Books II
Romanticism and Modern Culture
Reason, Writing and Imagination
Duties: writing and delivering lectures and tutorials, drafting assessment items, marking assessment, providing feedback to students.
Employment details prior to 2003 available upon request.