Courtney Young

Courtney Young is a distinguished criminal lawyer based in Newcastle, NSW, with a practice that extends to Newcastle, Maitland, Raymond Terrace, Forster, Taree, and Port Macquarie. Admitted to the legal profession in 2011, Courtney holds a BA LLB from the University of New South Wales, where she graduated with first-class honours, was the valedictorian, and earned the University Medal in Law. Her early career was marked by an insightful tenure as Associate to Her Honour Judge Flannery SC at the District Court of NSW from 2011 to 2012. Alongside her legal practice, Courtney made substantial contributions to academia, lecturing in criminal law, evidence law, and criminology at the University of New South Wales from 2011 to 2017. Her excellence in teaching was recognised in 2015 with the Nettheim Doctoral Teaching Fellowship, awarded during her PhD studies focusing on bail in regional and remote NSW courts. Since 2011, Courtney has been practising criminal law in the Taree area, initially with Steven Young Lawyers & Conveyancers and currently with Drinkwater Law. She is a co-author of notable legal texts, including Zahra and Arden’s Drug Laws in New South Wales, the leading practitioner reference on NSW and Commonwealth drug law, and Justice Reinvestment: Winding Back Imprisonment, which explores criminal justice policy. Courtney regularly appears in the Local and District Courts across Forster, Taree, Newcastle, and Port Macquarie, handling matters such as defended hearings, bail applications, sentences, and appeals. She possesses comprehensive experience with cases involving traffic offences, drink driving, violent offences including intimidation and assault, sexual assaults, murder, fraud, theft, and property-related offences like break and enter and armed robbery. In 2025, Courtney will begin providing her expertise in criminal law services to the Newcastle region, further broadening her impact in the field.