Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson was a judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory from 2018 to 2025. Her Honour is currently Vice President of the Third Study Commission (Criminal Law) of the International Association of Judges.
Her Honour was a member of the Governing Council of the Australian Judicial Officers Association (AJOA) and the Executive Council of the Australian Association of Women Judges (AAWJ) from 2022 to 2025.
Her Honour attended the University of Sydney, where she graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts. Her Honour was admitted as a solicitor in July of the same year and worked for the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Legal Aid Commission prior to being called to the New South Wales Bar in December 1989. Her Honour was appointed a Barrister with the Public Defenders in 1995 and was appointed as Senior Counsel (SC) in 2012. In addition, her Honour was appointed as Acting Crown Prosecutor in 1996.
Her Honour held part time positions as Acting District Court Judge in 1996 and as a Judicial Member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal between 1997 and 2003. From 2003 to 2006, her Honour was counsel before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. In 2006, her Honour also worked at the International Criminal Court in the chambers of Judge Ušacka.
Her Honour was an elected member of the Bar Council, the governing body of the New South Wales Bar Association, throughout the majority of her time at the NSW Bar from 1990 to 2018. Her Honour was elected to the executive of the New South Wales Bar Council in 2015 and elected Junior Vice President of the New South Wales Bar in 2017. Additionally, in 2015 her Honour was appointed a Director of the Law Council of Australia.
Her Honour was awarded the Woman Lawyer of Achievement Award in 2002 by the Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales, the Senior Barrister Award in 2013 at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards in Melbourne and Barrister of the Year in 2017 by the Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales.
Areas of Practice
Year of Admission to the Bar
1989
Appointed Silk
2012