Sydney barrister Katrina Dawson has been confirmed as the 38-year-old woman who was tragically killed during the siege at the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Martin Place.
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The mother of three and rising star at the commercial bar was one of two hostages who was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital after an exchange of gunfire just after 2am on Tuesday.
Ms Dawson, a highly respected barrister from Eighth Floor Selborne chambers in Phillip Street, was the younger sister of prominent defamation barrister Sandy Dawson and McKinsey & Company director Angus Dawson.
She was married to Paul Smith, a partner at top tier law firm King & Wood Mallesons.
The devastating news has left the Sydney legal fraternity in shock. Ms Dawson was a close friend of barrister Julie Taylor, also from Eighth Floor Selborne Chambers, who was also taken hostage in the Lindt Cafe.
Ms Taylor was taken from the scene on a stretcher.
The Ascham old girl topped the state in the Higher School Certificate in 1994, with a TER of 100, and topped her bar exams.
An alumna of the University of Sydney Law School, Ms Dawson completed her Master of Laws at the University of NSW. She was called to the bar in 2005 and her chambers are metres from the Lindt Cafe.
She has three children aged under ten - two girls and a boy - the eldest of whom are at Ascham and Cranbrook in Sydney. The youngest, a girl, is four years old.
Ms Dawson is the daughter of prominent businessman Alexander "Sandy" Dawson, president of the Royal Sydney Golf Club and the former managing director and chief executive of food company Arnott's, and sculptor Jane Dawson.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Jane Needham, SC, said it was "with a heavy heart and deep sorrow" that she informed members of the bar that Ms Dawson had passed away in the early hours of the morning.
"Katrina, together with two other members of the NSW Bar, were held as hostages during the incident at the Lindt Cafe in Phillip Street, Sydney, yesterday," Ms Needham said.
"Katrina was one of our best and brightest barristers who will be greatly missed by her colleagues and friends at the NSW Bar. She was a devoted mother of three children, and a valued member of her floor and of our bar community. Our thoughts are with her family at this time, including her brother, Sandy Dawson of Banco Chambers.
"Out of respect to Katrina's family, the NSW Bar Association will be making no further comment at this time."
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