Anna has 18 years of experience as a solicitor and barrister in NSW and Qld. She is a natural strategist and savvy negotiator. Her diverse legal experience, knowledge of criminal law and advocacy skills have resulted in her being one of the most sought after criminal lawyers on the Sunshine Coast.
She was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of NSW in 2000. In 2009 she was admitted to the roll of barristers in Qld and entered on the High Court’s register of practitioners.
Her experience in both criminal prosecution and defence is extensive. She has appeared in all jurisdictions in both Qld and NSW as a crown prosecutor, defence counsel or solicitor advocate in trials, summary hearings, committals, sentences, appeals and various applications.
She has prosecuted and defended countless State offences including assault, burglary, robbery, rape, maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, possession of child exploitation material, murder, drug offences.
She has also defended persons charged with various Commonwealth offences, such as drug importation, child pornography importation, Centrelink fraud, producing counterfeit money, using a carriage service to menace.
She regularly represents both applicants and respondents in domestic violence protection order applications and other quasi-criminal matters, such as peace and good behaviour order applications.
She has appeared as counsel in civil trials in the Magistrates Court and District Court appeals. She has appeared in parenting matters the Federal Circuit Court and represented numerous parties in family dispute resolution conferences.
She worked at the Crime and Misconduct Commission (now CCC) and appeared as counsel assisting in relation to organised crime, criminal paedophilia and other serious crime matters.
Anna is a firm believer that all people, regardless of their individual circumstances, should have access to good legal representation and she has built Smith Criminal Law on this principle.