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Doyle's Guide produces peer-reviewed annual rankings of Victorian criminal defence lawyers across tiers including Pre-eminent, Leading, and Recommended. Recognition at the upper tiers reflects sustained citation by peers within the profession rather than self-promotion or volume of cases. The 2025 and 2026 editions identify the most senior currently practising criminal defence lawyers in Victoria. All lawyers profiled below are established Victorian criminal defence practitioners, with several recognised by Doyle's Guide and Best Lawyers.
Reporting on Bill Doogue's matters has appeared in The Age, The Australian, The Guardian, CNN, and the Daily Mail, a breadth of Australian and international coverage that reflects the seriousness and variety of the work his firm takes on. Terrorism, foreign bribery, political corruption, Royal Commission representation, and institutional abuse cases appear among those matters. He is Director of Doogue + George Defence Lawyers.
Doyle's Guide ranks him Pre-eminent in Criminal Law Defence and Best Lawyers lists him for Criminal Defence (2025). His practice is concentrated on tax fraud, white collar crime, complex commercial crime, foreign bribery, and cross-border matters. He was admitted to practice in 1991 and has held the Accredited Criminal Law Specialist credential since 1998.
The firm he founded in 1995 has defended more than 40,000 prosecutions. He has appeared before the High Court of Australia and at Royal Commission hearings. He designed Crimebase, a precedent-based 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 served for over a decade as Chairperson of the Broadmeadows Community Legal Centre.
More than 30 years of practice across complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal investigation, and regulatory enforcement sits behind Howard Rapke's role as Partner and National Head of Disputes and Litigation at Holding Redlich. Doyle's Guide lists 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. Best Lawyers lists him for Criminal Defence, Litigation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution across its 2017 to 2026 editions. Who's Who Legal has recognised 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. The combination of national firm resources and his personal standing across three independent recognition frameworks is directly relevant in multi-agency commercial crime matters that require both depth of experience and institutional capacity to manage.
At the indictable end of Victorian drink driving and traffic matters, where licence cancellation and imprisonment are in play, Shaun Pascoe practises as Partner and Director of Shaun Pascoe Criminal Law. He holds a Doyle's Guide Leading ranking in drink driving and traffic for 2025, reflecting sustained peer recognition specifically in that category.
He operates as both solicitor advocate and instructor. Heading his own boutique under his name means matters are conducted by him directly. The specialist Doyle's Leading recognition, combined with the direct-conduct model of his practice, makes him the primary peer-reviewed reference point for informed referrers placing drink driving and serious traffic briefs in Victoria.
Tony Hargreaves has practised serious criminal defence for at least 30 years across Victorian and Federal jurisdictions. He is Principal of Tony Hargreaves and Associates, a boutique he heads where matters are conducted by him directly rather than distributed across a larger team. Doyle's Guide ranks him Pre-eminent in Criminal Law Defence for 2026, the highest tier the guide identifies in the category.
He operates as both solicitor advocate and instructor. The Pre-eminent ranking is the product of peer review within the Victorian criminal defence profession, which gives it a specific weight as a measure of standing among practitioners in the same field. For referrers placing serious indictable briefs in Victoria, the combination of more than three decades of practice, Pre-eminent recognition, and direct-conduct boutique structure covers the primary selection criteria.
As both solicitor advocate and instructor, Peter Rankin can run contested matters at hearing himself or instruct counsel where the case requires. He is a Partner at Peter Rankin Lawyers, the independent Victorian criminal defence firm he heads.
The practice bears his name, and matters are handled by him personally throughout. That structure means there is no question of delegation: the Partner who is the named head of the firm conducts the brief. For referrers placing Victorian criminal defence matters where direct senior practitioner involvement throughout is the primary requirement, his practice is structured specifically to provide that.
Selection of counsel depends on the nature of the charge, the court and jurisdiction involved, the stage of proceedings, and the specific circumstances of the matter. Early engagement of senior criminal defence representation materially affects outcomes. The practitioners profiled above are a verified starting point for informed referral within Victorian criminal defence.
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