Joel Backwell

Joel Backwell studied Indonesian at Belmont High School in Geelong and went on to graduate from Arts/Law at Monash University in 2004. As part of his Arts degree, he majored in Indonesian studies, completing his honours thesis on the effect of donor dependence on Indonesian human rights NGOs. During school and university, he participated in numerous exchange programs to different parts of Indonesia, including Bandung,Yogyakarta and Lampung, in southern Sumatera. Joel also speaks Spanish and is currently studying Arabic. He works as a lawyer with Freehills in Melbourne and so far has worked on cases in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, including representing the Bali 9, who currently face the death penalty in Indonesia.