Lee McIntosh

Lee is a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers specialising in public, regulatory and approvals law.

Lee accepts briefs (including direct briefs) for advice and advocacy work (including tribunal matters) in:

• environment, heritage and water
• planning and development
• mining, oil and gas and State Agreements
• land access and compensation
• carbon, offsets and renewables
• general disciplinary and regulatory matters (including sports).

Lee was Deputy Chair of the Environmental Protection Authority from 2020 to October 2025.

Prior to this she practiced for more than 20 years at King and Wood Mallesons in Perth and Sydney as a highly regarded corporate approvals and regulatory lawyer, specialising in environment, planning and heritage.

She worked for many ASX listed corporate clients (and financial institutions) to advise and represent them in obtaining approvals, ensure compliance, and engage with traditional owners, subject matter experts and community members.

She provided legal advice and advocacy on the approval and social licence issues associated with some of Western Australia’s most significant and contentious mining, petroleum and land development projects. She was also involved in crisis management of some of WA's most potentially serious environmental incidents.

She was recognised in the Australian Financial Review’s Best Australian Lawyers list from 2011 until 2020 (when she temporarily ceased practising to join the WA EPA), was named Best Lawyers' Perth Planning and Environment Law "Lawyer of the Year", and was recommended as an environment law specialist in Doyles’ Guide for many years.

She has held positions on several tribunal, stakeholder, government and community boards, and in 2019 completed the AICD Company Directors course (passing the examination with an order of merit).