Riona is a lecturer and academic at the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales with specialisations in commercial litigation and insolvency, as well as refugee and international human rights law.

Riona has over 10 years experience working as a senior commercial litigation and insolvency lawyer at leading national and international law firms, including Ashurst Australia and Jones Day. Prior to joining UNSW, Riona also worked as senior solicitor at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) where she practiced in asylum and refugee law. Riona is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of NSW, Federal Court of Australia and High Court of Australia.

She holds law degrees from the University of Technology, Sydney (LLB/BA), the University of New South Wales (LLM) and is presently undertaking her PhD research in EU and international human rights law at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law (UNSW Faculty Law & Justice), where she is a research affiliate and convenor of the Emerging Scholars Network. 

Riona has experience teaching topics across core LLB modules in the School of Private and Commercial Law including civil procedure, contract law, dispute resolution and corporations law.