Chelsea Ives is a Senior Associate based at our Melbourne office. Chelsea brings considerable experience to her role and regularly appears on behalf of clients in courts throughout Victoria.
Chelsea is motivated to assist people who are often experiencing the most difficult and stressful points in their lives. She combines careful preparation with fearless advocacy and is committed to ensuring her clients feel supported throughout as their matter progresses.
Chelsea has experience in a range of offences including sexual offences, assault and violent offences, driving offences and intervention order matters. Chelsea represents clients in a broad range of criminal proceedings including bail applications, pleas, contested matters (including jury trials), and appeals. Chelsea has a particular interest in appellate crime and has successfully represented a range of clients in the Supreme Court of Victoria Court of Appeal in applications for leave against conviction and sentence, and appeals against sentence brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Chelsea has appeared in the Court of Appeal led by Senior Counsel.
Chelsea commenced her legal career in large-scale commercial litigation, where she gained experience in high-profile inquiries and Royal Commissions. In particular, Chelsea was part of the team of solicitors assisting the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and spent time as a secondee solicitor at the Royal Commission.
Most recently, Chelsea was the Managing Lawyer of the criminal law team at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, and a Senior Lawyer in the Appeals and Strategic Litigation Team at Victoria Legal Aid.
Chelsea holds a Juris Doctor and a Bachelor of Arts (Criminology, Art History) from the University of Melbourne, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law. She is a current member of the Victorian Women Lawyers mentoring committee.