From Volunteer to National Award-Winner: Emma Fell's Journey for Justice

RAILS Solicitor Named Young Australian Migration Lawyer of the Year 

When Senior Solicitor Emma Fell was announced as the 2026 Young Australian Migration Lawyer of the Year, her first reaction was uncomplicated. 

"I was very surprised!" 

For those who have worked alongside Emma at RAILS, the reaction is equally uncomplicated, though considerably less surprised. Emma has been a quiet, determined force at Queensland's only specialist immigration community legal centre since she first walked through the door as a university volunteer in 2018. Nearly a decade later, she has been recognised with the John Gibson AM Award, one of the most prestigious honours in Australian migration law. 

She is, characteristically, quick to share the credit. 

"RAILS is the only specialist immigration community legal centre in Queensland. I think this award recognises the vital work our whole team undertakes every day. I've learned so much from brilliant colleagues and from our incredible clients — they have truly shaped my career." 

A System That Disturbed Her 

Emma's path to migration law began not in a lecture theatre but at the Indooroopilly Uniting Church Asylum Seeker and Refugee Support Hub, where she was providing administrative support to asylum seekers who had arrived in Australia by boat. 

What she witnessed there stayed with her. 

"I was very disturbed by the cruelty of a system where two people in virtually identical situations could receive radically different outcomes based solely on how they arrived. It was highly retraumatising for people who had already survived so much." 

At the time, many boat-arriving asylum seekers were being held in Australia's offshore detention centres, a system Emma describes as "incredibly punitive and harmful, and sometimes deadly." Others, through the randomness of the system, had remained in Australia but were denied permanent protection, condemned instead to reapply for temporary visas every three to five years. 

Seeing RAILS lawyers at work in that clinic changed everything. Emma joined RAILS as a volunteer shortly after. 

"I could see straight away that RAILS not only did meaningful, impactful work, but it was also a supportive and ethical workplace. They haven't been able to get rid of me since!" 

The Hardest Moments 

Emma now works primarily with survivors of family violence, women on partner visas whose relationships have ended, navigating an immigration system that was not designed with their safety in mind. 

The hardest moments, she says, are when the law simply runs out. 

"The most difficult moments are when we have to tell a client that we cannot assist them because they have reached the limits of the law, regardless of how unfair and distressing this outcome will be." 

One gap in the law troubles her deeply. Women who escape an abusive relationship before a partner visa application has been lodged have no access to the family violence provisions that protect those who leave later. The result is that some perpetrators use visa status as a deliberate tool of control. 

"Perpetrators may use their partner's insecure visa status and the promise of a future visa application as a means of pressuring them to remain in the relationship. For clients who have escaped family violence after living in Australia for a number of years, and are now facing the prospect of being forced to leave behind their communities, jobs, support networks and sometimes even family members, this is an incredibly hard situation." 

Her answer, if she could change one thing about the migration system, is clear: a specific domestic and family violence visa, available to any temporary visa holder, that provides stability while survivors rebuild their lives. 

"This would allow any temporary visa holder to have the confidence to leave an unsafe relationship without worrying that this will jeopardise their visa status." 

What Hope Looks Like 

Despite the weight of this work, Emma returns consistently to the word privilege and means it. 

She recalls the first family violence case she worked on as a junior lawyer. Her client and her daughter had experienced violence in a regional area with limited support. The legal arguments were complex. The outcome was a permanent visa grant. 

"What is most memorable to me now is what a huge relief this was for our clients, and what a difference the security of a permanent visa made, both in terms of access to services, but also emotionally. This case was the first time I really saw the practical impact of our work with family violence victim-survivors." 

Hope, for Emma, also lives in the smaller moments. A client regaining confidence after years of trauma. A change to migration law that edges the system toward fairness. A young lawyer finding their way into this work for the first time. 

Which brings her to her advice for law students and aspiring migration        lawyers: 

"Migration law, especially refugee law, is underfunded and highly specialised, which means organisations like RAILS always struggle to keep up with demand. I would strongly encourage students and young lawyers wanting to work in this space. While there are many challenges, it is a privilege to do work that can genuinely impact people's lives. Volunteering is a great way to get involved."