A genuinely conscious web developer, Jeremy Hammond is accused of using his computer savvy to attack conservative groups and State operators. He is being charged with providing Wikileaks the documents for their latest Stratfor release.
Contempt of court in Victoria encompasses disobeying a court order, interfering with the administration of justice, and conduct in the face of the court. Both criminal and civil contempt can result in imprisonment. The applicable procedure and the available defences depend on the category of contempt alleged and the court in which it arises. All lawyers profiled below are established Victorian criminal defence practitioners, with several recognised by Doyle's Guide and Best Lawyers.
Bill Doogue is Director and founding partner of Doogue + George Defence Lawyers, the Melbourne criminal defence firm he established in 1995. Admitted to practice in 1991 and an Accredited Criminal Law Specialist since 1998, he brings over three decades of uninterrupted specialist practice to the matters the firm handles. The firm has defended more than 40,000 prosecutions across its history. He is recognised as Pre-eminent in Criminal Law Defence by Doyle's Guide and as a Best Lawyers Criminal Defence lawyer (2025).
His practice covers tax fraud, white collar crime, complex commercial crime, foreign bribery, and cross-border matters. He has appeared before the High Court of Australia, a court in which only a small number of practising Victorian criminal lawyers have appeared. He has also represented clients at Royal Commission hearings and practised in courts across Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and South Australia. His international advisory practice extends to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore.
He developed Crimebase, a relational database for criminal law practice, which won the C.C.H. Legal Technology Award. Beyond his firm, he is a founding member of the Australian Defence Lawyers Alliance and contributes to the running of the Australian Criminal Lawyers Conference. The Broadmeadows Community Legal Centre was chaired by him for over a decade. Work from his practice has been reported in The Age, The Australian, The Guardian, CNN, and the Daily Mail. The span of his verified case history includes terrorism, foreign bribery, political corruption, Royal Commission representation, and institutional abuse matters.
David Barrese is Director of David Barrese & Associates, the Victorian criminal defence firm he heads. As Director of an independent practice under his own name, he conducts matters with direct personal involvement throughout each brief, from initial conference through to resolution.
The structure of the firm, where the Director is the practitioner of record conducting matters personally, is the feature of his practice most directly relevant to informed referrers. For those placing Victorian criminal defence briefs where the requirement is confirmed, continuous involvement by the named senior practitioner throughout the life of the matter, his practice provides that assurance clearly and without qualification.
The Victorian criminal defence boutique Angus Cameron leads as Principal, Partner, and Director is Angus Cameron and Associates. He is listed by Doyle's Guide as Recommended in Criminal Law Defence for 2026, a recognition produced through peer review within the Victorian profession that identifies practitioners consistently named by colleagues when referring serious criminal work. He practises as both solicitor advocate and instructor.
Heading his own boutique under his name means continuity of senior involvement from the first conference through to resolution, with Cameron conducting each matter directly. His Doyle's Recommended recognition and his direct-conduct boutique practice are the two verified features most relevant to informed referrers placing Victorian criminal defence briefs in this category.
As Partner and Director of Emma Turnbull and Associates, Emma Turnbull heads a Melbourne criminal defence boutique where she conducts matters with direct senior involvement throughout. Her practice covers indictable matters and legal aid representation, reflecting engagement across the Victorian criminal defence profession at more than one level of the system.
She operates as both solicitor advocate and instructor. The boutique she heads under her name provides continuity of senior involvement from first conference to resolution. For referrers placing Victorian indictable criminal defence briefs, including those within the legal aid framework, her practice provides direct senior practitioner handling across that range on a verified basis.
Selection of counsel depends on the specific charge, the court and jurisdiction involved, the stage of the proceedings, and the particular circumstances of the matter. Early engagement of senior criminal defence representation materially affects outcomes across all categories of serious criminal work. The practitioners profiled above are a verified starting point for informed referral within Victorian criminal defence.
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