Dyson Hore-Lacy SC is a Melbourne

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, human rights advocate, author and former

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

president.

Legal career

Dyson was admitted to practice in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and was admitted to

Victorian Bar The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The 2024-2025 President of the Bar is Justin Hannebery KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. Those who have been admitted to practice ...

in 1967. He has had a distinguished career practising in criminal and commercial law, and was made QC in 1995. An advocate of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, Dyson has practiced extensively in cases involving human rights abuses in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, including for Aboriginals in the

and

. He worked as senior counsel in a high-profile complaint to

United Nations Human Rights Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per yea ...

. Dyson's expertise are in insurance, discrimination, contracts and cases of medical negligence.

Libel incident

In his book, ''Getting Away with Murder'', author

Phil Cleary Philip Ronald Cleary (born 8 December 1952) is an Australian political and sport commentator. He is a former Australian rules footballer who played 205 games at the Coburg Football Club, before serving as the member for Division of Wills, Wills ...

alleged that Mr Hore-Lacy helped a man who killed his own wife to manufacture a provocation defence. This defamatory allegation was proven to be false, and a jury chose to award Hore-Lacy $30,000 in exemplary damages to punish Cleary and his publisher, in addition to $600,000 in compensatory and aggravated damages.

Chairman of the Fitzroy Football Club

Dyson Hore-Lacy succeeded Leon Wiegard as Chairman of the Fitzroy board after the Gary Pert contractual dispute in 1991. During his tenure, the

faced an existential crisis as the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

sought to force a merger of the club. This crisis was brought to a head on 28 June 1996 when the

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

Insurance Company sought repayment of a $1.25 million loan. Mr Hore-Lacy later authored ''Fitzroy'', which detailed his experiences during his time as chairman of the club.

Bibliography

*''Fitzroy'' (Fitzroy : Lion Publications, 2000, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hore-Lacy, Dyson Fitzroy Football Club administrators Australian human rights activists Australian Senior Counsel Living people Lawyers from Melbourne Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)