Nicholas Cowdery

Cowdery attended Wollongong High School and completed his secondary schooling at the Sydney Grammar School. He graduated in Arts and Law at the University of Sydney where he was a resident of St. Paul's College, where he is now an Honorary Fellow.

Cowdery was awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Wollongong in 2011.

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In 1971, he commenced practising as a public defender in Papua New Guinea after admission as a barrister in the same year. Cowdery entered private practice in 1975, where he stayed until 1994, concentrating on criminal law, common law, administrative law and some commercial law. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1987, served as an Associate Judge of the District Court between 1988 and 1990.

Cowdery was appointed the director of public prosecutions for New South Wales in 1994, and ended his sixteen-year tenure in 2011. During his term as NSW Director of Public Prosecutions he was, according to Phillip Adams "... an outspoken critic of the pace and style of drug reform, .... and of the mandatory sentencing regimes in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.{{cite interview |author1=Adams, Phillip |author-link=Phillip Adams (writer) |work=Late Night Live, Radio National |title=Nicholas Cowdery QC |date=26 April 2000 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |format=streaming audio |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/179528989 |accessdate=11 July 2019 }} With his office independent of government, Cowdery would often speak out publicly against politicians - especially if he disagreed with them.{{cite news |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/nsw-s-firebrand-dpp-nick-cowdery-honoured |title=NSW's firebrand DPP Nick Cowdery honoured |work=SBS News |publisher=Special Broadcasting Service |location=Australia |date=10 June 2019 |access-date=11 July 2019 }}{{cite interview |interviewer=Caroline Jones |subject=Nicholas Cowdery |url=https://www.abccommercial.com/librarysales/program/australian-story-take-prisoners-nicholas-cowdery |title=Take on Prisoners |work=Australian Story |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=2011 |access-date=11 July 2019 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/controversial-dpp-cowdery-to-quit-his-job-for-life-20100414-sd3d.html |title=Controversial DPP Cowdery to quit his job for life |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=14 April 2010 |access-date=11 July 2019 }} Cowdery's notable successful prosecutions include Ivan Milat, Gordon Wood, and Keli Lane.

Cowdery was elected president of the International Association of Prosecutors in 1999 and re-elected to a second three-year term in September 2002. Since his retirement as public prosecutor, he holds a number of honorary academic positions including as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Sydney's Institute of Criminology; an adjunct professor of law at the University of New South Wales. Cowdery is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Cowdery is president of the International Commission of Jurists (Australian Section), chair of the National Human Rights Committee of the Law Council of Australia, a director and patron of the Justice Reform Initiative, and a past president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.

Cowdery was chairman of White Ribbon Australia before standing down after it was revealed in the media that Cowdery had earlier made comments about the sex life of Keli Lane, a convicted murderer.{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-11/nicholas-cowdery-resigns-white-ribbon-chair-keli-lane-comments/10366714 |title=Keli Lane: Nicholas Cowdery resigns as White Ribbon chair after comments on ABC's Exposed about killer's sex life |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |location=Australia |date=11 October 2018 |access-date=11 July 2019 }}

Cowdery was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2003;{{Cite It's an Honour |ausawardid=1043271 |date=9 June 2003 |recipient=Nicholas Richard COWDERY |award=Member of the Order of Australia |postnominal=AM |citation=For service to the development and practice of criminal law, and to the fostering of international co-operation in the area of human rights. |accessdate=11 July 2019 }} and an Officer of the Order in June 2019 in recognition of his distinguished service to the law, to the protection of human rights, to professional legal bodies, and to the community.{{Cite It's an Honour |ausawardid=2003912|date=10 June 2019 |recipient=Nicholas Richard COWDERY |award=Officer of the Order of Australia |postnominal=AO |citation=For distinguished service to the law, to the protection of human rights, to professional legal bodies, and to the community. |accessdate=11 July 2019 }}

• {{cite journal |author=Cowdery, Nicholas |title=Mandatory Life Sentences in New South Wales |year=1999 |journal=UNSW Law Journal |volume=22 |number=1 |at=290 |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UNSWLawJl/1999/55.html }}
• {{cite book |author1=Cowdery, Nicholas |title=Getting justice wrong : myths, media and crime |year=2001 |publication-date=2001 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=Crows Nest, NSW |isbn=978-1-86508-322-3 }}
• {{cite conference |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19637342 |title=Creative sentencing & plea bargaining : does it happen and what are the results? |author1=Cowdery, Nicholas |date=22 March 2005 |pages=Session 9.1 |conference=LAWASIAdownunder }}
• {{Citation | author1=Cowdery, Nicholas | title=Reforming the criminal justice system [electronic resource] | publication-date=2011 | publisher=Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/161798564 | accessdate=11 July 2019 }}
• {{Citation | author1=Cowdery, Nicholas | author2=Chin, Rachael Jane | title=Frank & fearless | year=2019 | publication-date=2019 | publisher=NewSouth Publishing | isbn=978-1-74224-910-0 }}
• Cowdery, Nicholas Discretion in Criminal Justice, 2023, LexisNexis

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Category:1946 births

Category:Australian barristers

Category:Australian prosecutors

Category:Living people

Category:People educated at Sydney Grammar School

Category:Sydney Law School alumni

Category:Judges of the District Court of NSW

Category:20th-century Australian judges

Category:Australian King's Counsel