This week we welcome His Honour, Magistrate Rob Stary. Rob grew up in the western suburbs of Melbourne and has remained strongly connected to the area throughout his life and career. Rob is probably best known for his long and often highly publicised work as a criminal defence lawyer, having been engaged by the likes of Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams among many others. He became a Magistrate in 2021 beginning another interesting chapter in his long and dynamic life in the...

Today we welcome Dan Meagher, Professor and Chair of Law at Deakin University. As we’ll hear, despite studying law and doing his articles, Dan initially tried fairly hard to avoid a life in the law, until he found academia or perhaps more accurately until it found him. Dan specialises in constitutional law; lecturing, studying and publishing in the topic all over the world, and in the lead up to this year’s referendum, it is  truly enlightening to hear his insights on the proposed Voice to...

This week we welcome The Hon Justice Michael Croucher KC. Amazingly, His Honour dropped out of school in year 10, at the ripe old age of 15, to pursue his dream of becoming a professional motocross rider. Fortunately for us that didn’t work out and he made his way to the law, ultimately becoming a Victorian Supreme Court Justice. It’s a fascinating tale, and we’re delighted to bring you Justice Croucher’s Life in the Law.  www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

Today we welcome Lauren Cruickshank to the show. Lauren is an associate at Pinsent Masons, specialising in Construction Law. In her teens Lauren had two big goals; to be a teacher and to go to the Paralympics for discus - neither of which eventuated. But as we’ll hear, after a chance work experience placement in year 10 Lauren found her passion and she hasn’t looked back.  www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

Our guest Glenn Broome has spent most of his career as a community worker, supporting boys and later men caught up in the criminal justice system. Glenn is incredibly good at what he does and that’s no doubt due in part to his own lived experience as a boy and young man doing time in juvenile detention and Pentridge prison.  www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

This week your host Michael Green speaks with Ali Besiroglu, principal lawyer at Robinson Gill and head of their Crime and Advocacy department.  In recent years Ali has been involved in some incredibly significant and high profile cases, not least of which is the recent coronial inquest into the death in custody of Veronica Nelson. www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

Our guest this episode is His Honour Justice Paul Coghlan AO. His life in the law has taken him from the Deputy Crown Solicitors Office to the bar, from Director of Public Prosecutions to a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria - and somewhere along the way he was also Mayor of Fitzroy! He is a wealth of knowledge and among other things, shares with us his approach to prosecuting, to witnesses and to juries, and his experience making case cracking deals in the early days of the gangland...

Throughout her life in the law The Hon Jennifer Coate has been a Magistrate, the Head of the Children’s Court, a County Court Judge, Victorian State Coroner, one of the commissioners in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and most recently, Chair of the COVID 19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry. She has had an extraordinary career and made an enormous contribution to the Victorian legal system. It was an honour to hear about her Life in the...

From everyone at Lives in the Law and all the staff at Greens List we wish you a happy and safe Festive Season. 

Our guest this week is Jim Cosgriff, founder and partner at Cosgriff Lawyers in Echuca, country Victoria. Jim’s Life in the Law began as a boy, sitting in the back of country courtrooms watching his dad, Magistrate Bryan Cosgriff in action. After high school, Jim moved to the big smoke to study law and went on to become a partner at William, Winter & Higgs, working in a wide variety of areas including crimes compensation and on behalf of victims of clergy abuse. But the pull of the...

Today, your host Michael Green speaks with Her Honour Nola Karapanagiotidis. Before becoming a Country Court Judge in 2021, Nola had a variety of experiences beginning as an articled clerk at Victoria Legal Aid all the way to the bar, with a large amount of pro-bono work along the way. Interestingly, Nola is the first female Greek / Australian County Court Judge in Victoria. Her parents migrated from Greece in the 1960’s with no English and limited education. From those humble beginnings,...

This week we welcome Peter Ward OAM, one of Victoria’s leading criminal law practitioners for over 40 years. Peter has spent his entire career at the firm of Galbally & O’Bryan and worked on some of the most high profile cases in Victorian history, including the Walsh Street police killings in 1988. Like most practitioners, Peter had to work incredibly hard to prove himself at the start of his career, no one he knew had worked in the law and he had no real connections, but Peter also had...

This week your host Michael Green speaks with Sally Nicholes, founder and managing partner at Nicholes family lawyers. Sally has worked on some extraordinary cases throughout her career, including a groundbreaking matter involving sperm donor rights and an international kidnapping case that she led as an articled clerk and first year solicitor! www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

Today we welcome HH Federal Court Justice Iain Ross AO. From ACTU Assistant Secretary to Vice President of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission; from County Court Judge to the president of VCAT; Iain has had a dynamic and impactful career and we were thrilled to hear about his Life in the Law. www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

This week we revisit our conversation with the wonderful Jill Prior. Jill is a criminal lawyer who has served as the principal legal officer at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and is now cofounder of the Law and Advocacy Centre for Women. Despite being a natural advocate as a child and student, Jill never planned on a Life in the Law. But after a seminal experience supporting a friend in a sexual assault case, Jill realised that the courtroom and its procedures just made sense to her,...

This week we revisit our conversation with the singular Judge John Smallwood. His Honour is instantly recognisable in both the law district of Melbourne and the circuit courts of country Victoria, largely because he has not shaved since he was admitted to the bar, over 45 years ago. His Life in the Law began with the now defunct Articled Clerks course, saw him navigate years of relentless back to back murder trials, had him welcomed to the bench of County Court of Victoria, lead the Victorian...

As Peggy O’Neal AO concludes her distinguished tenure as President of the Richmond Football Club, we revisit our 2021 conversation with the consummate leader and lawyer. Peggy’s life and career have taken her from the coal mines of West Virginia to the top end of Collins St and of course Punt Rd oval. Her work and achievements include decades of experience in pension and superannuation law, on numerous boards and committees and in the advancement of women in leadership...

This week we revisit our conversation with Coroner John Olle. Throughout his decades of work as a barrister in crime and the coroners court, John has always believed it is a privilege to work on behalf of another person's liberty. In 2000 John became a Coroner himself and despite the significant workload and unique stresses, he relishes the opportunity to make systematic change and work towards preventing future tragedies. www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

His Honour Magistrate Tony Parsons ran his own criminal law firm for many years, was head of Victoria Legal Aid and has just completed eight years as Supervising Magistrate of the Victorian Drug Court. Tony originally studied science and was very active in student politics at Monash University in the 70’s. He spent years advocating for drug law reform while driving taxis and didn’t come to the law until his late 20’s, viewing it as a pathway to politics. Little did he know that all that real...

Today we’re replaying our excellent conversation with the Hon Betty King QC. Betty began her career as a criminal barrister, working in both defence and as the first female prosecutor in Victoria and the first prosecutor ever for the Commonwealth of Australia. Betty also served as a member of the National Crime Authority, a Judge on the County Court of Victoria and a Justice of the Supreme Court, where her very first case was the notorious “Gangland murders”. www.greenlist.com.au/podcast

Today we replay our interview with iconic criminal specialist, the Hon Frank Vincent QC AO. Frank came from humble and sometimes challenging beginnings to become a renowned criminal barrister, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Chancellor of Victoria University and chair of the Adult Parole Board. He also spent much of his career travelling back and forth to the Northern Territory, working with the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. Frank’s insights into all this and more make for...

This week we revisit our conversation with iconic Australian writer Helen Garner. Helen has long been fascinated with our justice system, spending countless hours “hanging around the courts” as she describes it.  Her loitering has resulted in a Walkley Award winning piece for Time Magazine, numerous stories for The Monthly and the best selling novels, ‘Joe Cinque’s Consolation’ and ‘This House of Grief’. Helen writes about many facets of our justice system; from complex legal cases and...

Throughout his Life in the Law, Julian Gardner AM was a founding member of the iconic Fitzroy Legal Service, the inaugural director of Victoria Legal Aid, co-edited the first incarnation of The Law Handbook and served as The Public Advocate. And that’s only the half of it! www.greenlist.com.au/podcast

We’re taking a short break from releasing new episodes but rest assured we’ll be back soon with more wonderful guests, including the Honourable Iain Ross, Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and President of The Australian Fair Work Commission. Sally Nicholes, founder and managing partner at Nicholas Family Law. Esteemed Criminal Law specialist Peter Ward. And recently appointed County Court Judge, Her Honour Nola Karapanagiotidis. www.greenslist.com.au/podcast

This week we welcome Her Honour Magistrate Abigail Burchill, former barrister and one of only two Indigenous magistrates in Victoria. Abigail is a proud Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung woman from a long line of academics and activists. At high school in Mooroopna, Abigail could not see a clear path to the law but her mother knew better and simply would not let her potential go to waste. From the president of Tawirri to the DPP, from the bar to the bench Abigail's life in the law is fascinating...