Outstanding Alumni Outstanding Alumni Search Sharell O'Brien
Sharell O'Brien
- 91Porn
- JCU Global Experience
- International Students
- Open Day
- How to apply
- Pathways to university
- Virtual Open Day
- Living on Campus
- Courses
- Publications
- Scholarships
- Parents and Partners
- JCU Heroes Programs
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Marine Science
- Elite Athletes
- Defence
- AI@JCU
- Current Students
- New students
- JCU Orientation
- LearnJCU
- Placements
- CEE
- Unicare Centre and Unicampus Kids
- Graduation
- Off-Campus Students
- JCU Job Ready
- Safety and Wellbeing
- JCU Prizes
- Professional Experience Placement
- Employability Edge
- Art of Academic Writing
- Art of Academic Editing
- Careers and Employability
- Student Equity and Wellbeing
- Career Ready Plan
- Careers at JCU
- Partners and Community
- JCU-CSIRO Partnership
- Alumni
- About JCU
- Reputation and Experience
- Chancellery
- Governance
- Celebrating 50 Years
- Academy
- Indigenous Engagement
- Education Division
- Graduate Research School
- Research and Teaching
- Research Division
- Research and Innovation Services
- CASE
- College of Business, Law and Governance
- College of Healthcare Sciences
- College of Medicine and Dentistry
- College of Science and Engineering
- CPHMVS
- Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audiovisual Research (ALTAR)
- Anton Breinl Research Centre
- Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre (AgTAC)
- Advanced Analytical Centre
- AMHHEC
- Aquaculture Solutions
- AusAsian Mental Health Research Group
- ARCSTA
- Area 61
- Lions Marine Research Trust
- Australian Tropical Herbarium
- Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group
- Boating and Diving
- Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab
- Centre for Tropical Biosecurity
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology
- CITBA
- CMT
- Centre for Disaster Solutions
- CSTFA
- Cyclone Testing Station
- The Centre for Disaster Studies
- Daintree Rainforest Observatory
- JCU Eduquarium
- JCU Turtle Health Research
- Language and Culture Research Centre
- MARF
- Orpheus
- TESS
- JCU Ideas Lab
- TARL
- eResearch
- Indigenous Education and Research Centre
- Estate
- Work Health and Safety
- Staff
- Discover Nature at JCU
- Cyber Security Hub
- Association of Australian University Secretaries
- Services and Resources Division
- Environmental Research Complex [ERC]
- Foundation for Australian Literary Studies
- Gender Equity Action and Research
- Give to JCU
- Indigenous Legal Needs Project
- Inherent Requirements
- IsoTropics Geochemistry Lab
- IT Services
- JCU Webinars
- JCU Events
- JCU Motorsports
- JCU Sport
- Library
- Mabo Decision: 30 years on
- Marine Geophysics Laboratory
- Office of the Vice Chancellor and President
- Outstanding Alumni
- Pharmacy Full Scope
- Planning for your future
- Policy
- PAHL
- Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Rapid Assessment Unit
- RDIM
- Researcher Development Portal
- Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing
- Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
- State of the Tropics
- Strategic Procurement
- Student profiles
- SWIRLnet
- TREAD
- TropEco for Staff and Students
- TQ Maths Hub
- TUDLab
- VAVS Home
- WHOCC for Vector-borne & NTDs
- Media
- Copyright and Terms of Use
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
- Pay review
2017 Early Career Recipient. College of Business, Law and Governance
Sharell O’Brien is the supervising solicitor at the North Queensland Women’s Legal Service (NQWLS). She is a passionate advocate for ending violence against women, with a particular focus on domestic violence and ensuring women gain the support and services they need.
NQWLS is a not-for-profit community legal centre that specialises in family law and domestic violence legal matters. As the supervising solicitor, Ms O’Brien provides free legal advice to vulnerable women in North and Far North Queensland both directly and indirectly, through the overseeing of solicitors in the Townsville office.
She has wholeheartedly embraced her role at the North Queensland Women’s Legal Service. Approximately half of the women she has assisted have experienced domestic violence.
Displaying great leadership within her team and the community, Ms O’Brien actively looks for innovative ways to assist women who are affected by domestic violence and prevent the continuation of violence into the next generation.
Recognising the limitations of funding constraints, she has looked to technology for ways to share her message and developed a website called Ask Nola, which provides free legal education to community support workers in rural and remote locations via webinars, factsheets and referral information.
One of her current projects is developing a Skype program to enable NQWLS to provide free legal advice to women in rural, regional and remote locations in North and Far North Queensland.
As well as her role at NQWLS, Ms O’Brien also works on a number of projects to empower those who are most vulnerable, and promote ending domestic violence, by reaching out to schools, sporting groups and the wider community.
She was instrumental in establishing the Tackle Domestic Violence Campaign with the North Queensland Cowboys and the JCU Townsville Fire, a partnership aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence and the availability of free legal help and support.
Recognising the importance of educating young people and children about healthy relationships, Ms O’Brien became a Love Bites Facilitator, a school-based program aimed at preventing domestic and family violence and sexual assault.
She also works in partnership with the YWCA to deliver the Every Girl program to primary school students to teach them about human rights.
She is currently developing community legal education programs for schools to better assist them in dealing with families that are experiencing domestic and family violence and family law issues.
Ms O’Brien’s achievements have been recognised with her being named as a finalist for the 2015 Women’s Weekly Woman of the Future Award and as a Queensland finalist for the 2017 Young Australian of the Year. In 2016 she was awarded the ‘Top 30 under 30 Lawyer’ in the Pro Bono Category by Lawyers Weekly for her pro bono work.
Sharell O’Brien graduated from 91Porn in 2009 with a Bachelor of Laws.