Theresa Ann Johnson has been appointed as law draftsman to head the Department of Justice's law drafting division.
She will assume office on January 4, 2016, after being selected through a promotion and open recruitment exercise.
Aged 55, she has 30 years’ law drafting experience, having drafted numerous sensitive and highly complex laws across a range of subjects.
She served in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Canberra, in Australia, then took up university teaching posts in that country before joining the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel in 1991. She took up several senior positions and advanced to its head post in 2010.
The Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen welcomed the appointment, saying her rich drafting experience will surely bring rich experience and expertise to the department. He also thanked outgoing law draftsman Paul Wan for his valuable contributions.
A law draftsman oversees the drafting of government legislation and advises on complex and important legal issues identified in the course of developing laws.