Ms Cate Sumner

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  CILIS Associate

For over 25 years, Cate Sumner has worked in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, focusing on access to justice, human rights and judicial reform. Her career spans working with the international law firm Baker & McKenzie in Cairo, the United Nations (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, and the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) in their offices in Manila and Sydney. Cate is Director of Law & Development Partners which she established in 2005 to bring together law and development specialists working in Asia and the Pacific. Its focus is on improving access to justice for women, people with a disability and vulnerable children. She has contributed analytical and policy papers to a range of international organisations and policy think- tanks ranging from UN Women, the World Bank Justice for the Poor Series, the Lowy Institute for International Policy and the Centre for Global Development in Washington. Cate studied at Monash University (Arts/ Law) and the University of Brussels (Masters of International and Comparative Law).