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+ details >>Royal Commissions and public inquiries carry compulsory examination powers, and appearances before them raise distinct considerations from ordinary criminal proceedings. Witnesses must navigate the interaction between compulsory evidence obligations and any parallel criminal investigation, a balance that requires specific experience in inquiry practice. All lawyers profiled below are established Victorian criminal defence practitioners, with several recognised by Doyle's Guide and Best Lawyers.
Bill Doogue's practice as Director of Doogue + George Defence Lawyers is distinctive for its international reach within Australian criminal defence. Admitted in 1991 and an Accredited Criminal Law Specialist since 1998, he has advised clients in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore alongside an active Australian practice across Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and South Australia. He has appeared before the High Court of Australia and on behalf of clients at Royal Commission hearings. He is ranked Pre-eminent in Criminal Law Defence by Doyle's Guide and listed in Best Lawyers for Criminal Defence (2025).
He founded the firm in 1995 and it has grown to become one of Melbourne's leading specialist criminal defence practices, with more than 40,000 prosecutions defended. His practice focuses on tax fraud, white collar crime, complex commercial crime, foreign bribery, and cross-border matters where overseas evidence, multi-agency cooperation, or parallel jurisdictional proceedings are features of the brief. His work in this category has been reported in The Age, The Australian, The Guardian, CNN, and the Daily Mail.
Alongside his practice, Doogue designed Crimebase, a relational database for criminal law that won the C.C.H. Legal Technology Award. He is a founding member of the Australian Defence Lawyers Alliance and is involved in running the Australian Criminal Lawyers Conference. He served for over a decade as Chairperson of the Broadmeadows Community Legal Centre. His career is documented on Wikipedia, reflecting the volume and variety of high-profile matters he has handled across terrorism, political corruption, institutional abuse, and foreign bribery. For matters where international elements, pre-charge strategy, or cross-border complexity are central, the depth of his verified experience across those categories is the relevant measure.
Angus Cameron is the Principal of Angus Cameron and Associates and is listed by Doyle's Guide as Recommended in Criminal Law Defence (2026). The Recommended tier identifies practitioners within the Victorian criminal defence profession who have been cited by peers as competent and reliable in their area of practice.
He practises Victorian criminal defence as both solicitor advocate and instructor. Running the firm that bears his name, with the roles of both Partner and Director, he has direct involvement in the matters he takes on. For referrers looking for a practitioner with established peer recognition at the boutique-firm level in Victorian criminal defence, his Doyle's Recommended standing provides a verified starting point.
Best Lawyers has listed Howard Rapke for Criminal Defence, Litigation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution continuously since 2017, making him one of the more comprehensively recognised commercial criminal lawyers in Victoria. He is a Partner at Holding Redlich and the firm's National Head of Disputes and Litigation, with more than 30 years of practice across complex commercial criminal and regulatory matters.
Doyle's Guide recognises him as a Leading Victorian Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Lawyer and as a Leading Australian White Collar Crime, Corporate Crime and Regulatory Investigations Lawyer. Who's Who Legal lists him as a global leader in Business Crime, Investigations and Asset Recovery since 2019. His practice covers fraud, foreign bribery, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, and enforcement by ASIC and the ACCC, across Victorian and Federal jurisdictions.
Peter Rankin practises Victorian criminal defence as a Partner at Peter Rankin Lawyers, an independent practice he heads. Operating as both solicitor advocate and instructor, he can run contested matters at hearing personally or instruct counsel where the brief calls for it.
The independence of the practice, with Rankin as the named partner conducting matters directly, means there is no question of whether the brief will be handled by the senior practitioner or passed down. For referrers who value direct senior involvement and the flexibility of the dual solicitor-advocate model, his practice structure is the relevant feature.
Selection of counsel in this category depends on the nature of the charge, the jurisdiction, the stage of proceedings, and the specific facts of the matter. Early engagement of senior counsel materially affects outcomes, particularly where decisions made at the investigation or pre-charge stage shape what is available later. The practitioners profiled above are a starting point for informed referral within Victorian criminal defence.