Graduate Lawyer of the Year Shelly Brown started her advocacy career quite young with a petition for girls to join the basketball team.
The Catton & Tondelstrand family lawyer travelled from the Sunshine Coast and “scrolled a few words at the last minute” before accepting the award on Saturday night at the Queensland Law Society 2025 Excellence in Law Awards at City Hall.
Shelly said she felt “grateful and privileged” to be part of the profession and acknowledged the outstanding finalists in the category.
“When I was 10 I started advocating and started a petition to have girls join the basketball team,” she said.
“I didn’t particularly want to be part of the team, but I just wanted the option. Now I am here today advocating for those probably in their most challenging moments, so I don’t take that for granted.”
Shelly also thanked the Sunshine Coast legal community and said she wouldn’t be where she was without their support.
“A big shout-out to the Sunny Coast and the practitioners here tonight from the Sunny Coast,” she said, also thanking her team at Catton & Tondelstrand.
“Especially to Angela Tondelstrand who has mentored me throughout the last year-and-a-half at the firm.”
Shelly graduated with First-Class honours from the University of the Sunshine Coast and gained experience at the Sunshine Coast Community Legal Service, where she relaunched its Community Outreach Program.
Rikisha Phineasa received her award from Uncle Terry.
James Cook University final-year law and arts student Rikisha Phineasa also acknowledged her fellow finalists on receiving the First Nations Student Award.
“Oh my goodness,” she said. “It’s such an absolute privilege to have gotten this award but first I wanted to congratulate all the finalists in my category.
“The category is such a reflection of the progression of the movement that is happening in the First Nations space – academically and legally.
“So I just wanted to take the time to point out that a lot of good things are happening. I know that in the legal profession we do a lot of client-facing work with Indigenous people, so I hope that my award category and all the other finalists are evidence that good things are happening.”
Catching her breath during the speech, Rikisha said she had rushed up the stairs to receive the award as she was so excited.
“I am really, really grateful for this opportunity to be here and to represent my ancestry and language groups from the Torres Strait. Without my ancestors’ resilience and their ingenuity I wouldn’t be here to accept this award.” She thanked the audience in her Torres Strait language.
Rikisha is a litigation support officer at Legal Aid Queensland. She has held leadership roles, including Secretary of the Townsville First Nations Youth Council and Tertiary Leader with Cape York Partnerships. Following her work on a statewide Indigenous leadership program, Rikisha has stepped into national advisory roles with the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC) Youth Design Group and the Commonwealth Office for Youth First Nations Youth Advisory Group.
Keep an eye on Proctor for more award stories this week.
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