Prior to her appointment to the judiciary, she served as the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions from 16 May 2016[1] to 2 September 2022.
[2] McNaughton studied arts and law at the University of Sydney, and after completing university worked as an Associate to Justice Michael Kirby, at the time President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and later Justice of the High Court.
[3] In 1996, McNaughton joined the New South Wales Bar,[4] initially working in-house at the CDPP but later moved to private practice where she specialised in criminal matters, including large scale complex criminal trials, including for fraud, taxation, corporations, drug importation and terrorism offences.
[4] While at the private bar, McNaughton was Counsel for New South Wales in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and later Senior Counsel Assisting in the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
[1] During McNaughton's tenure as Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, the agency managed a number of high-profile matters, including the prosecution of "Witness K" and Bernard Collaery,[6] ADF whistleblower, Major David McBride, and ATO whistleblower, Richard Boyle, and potential prosecutions arising out of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry,[7] In September 2022, McNaughton was appointed by New South Wales Attorney-General Mark Speakman as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.