Stephen Paul Donaghue (born 7 January 1973) is an Australian barrister and constitutional lawyer and the present

Solicitor-General of Australia The Solicitor-General of Australia is the country's second highest-ranking law officer, after the Attorney-General for Australia. The position is often known as the Commonwealth Solicitor-General in order to distinguish it from the state solicit ...

. Donaghue has been Solicitor-General since 16 January 2017, having been appointed following the resignation of

Justin Gleeson Justin Thomas Gleeson SC (born 9 April 1961) is an Australian lawyer and former Solicitor-General of Australia, the Commonwealth's second-ranking law officer. Early life and education Gleeson was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, ...

. Born in 1973, Donaghue was educated at Whitefriars College in Donvale, then studied for a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

, where he was editor of the '' Melbourne University Law Review'' and won the Supreme Court Prize. In 1996, Donaghue was granted a Menzies Scholarship and attended Magdalen College at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

from which he received a doctorate.''Who's Who in Australia'', ConnectWeb, 2016. In 1995, Donaghue joined the firm MinterEllison as a solicitor. He was an associate to Kenneth Hayne, former Justice of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the ''Judiciary Act 1903''. It ...

. He became a barrister in 2001, and in 2011 was appointed as a

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel ( post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdicti ...

, becoming a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 2014 when the title was restored by the Victorian government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaghue, Stephen 1973 births Living people Solicitors-General of Australia Australian barristers Australian King's Counsel Melbourne Law School alumni University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford