Lex Lasry (born 8 July 1948) is an Australian lawyer and a retired judge of the

Supreme Court of Victoria The Supreme Court of Victoria is the highest court in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 1852, it is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited and inherent jurisdiction within the state. The Supreme Court compr ...

from 2007 to 2018.

Early life and education

Lasry grew up in the Victorian country town of Healesville where his father worked as a solicitor. He attended Healesville Primary School,

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

and

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence in 1970, and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

in 1972.

Career

Barrister and advocate

Lasry completed his 'articles' at the law firm

Slater & Gordon Slater & Gordon Lawyers is a law firm in Australia. The firm was founded in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1935 by a barrister and solicitor from Irymple, Victoria, Hugh Lyons Gordon, and Labor politician Bill Slater. The firm is one of Australia's ...

, and read for the

Victorian Bar The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020, there were 2,179 counsels ...

under David Bennett QC. He was permitted to practise law in Victoria in 1973 and was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1990. Lasry has acted as a junior counsel before the

Costigan royal commission The Costigan Commission (officially titled the Royal Commission on the Activities of the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union) was an Australian royal commission held in the 1980s. Headed by Frank Costigan QC, the Commission was establ ...

, counsel with the

National Crime Authority The National Crime Authority (NCA) was an Australian law enforcement agency established in 1984 and wound up on 31 December 2002. History The NCA was set up in 1984 in the wake of the Costigan Commission, which investigated tax evasion and or ...

, and was the Royal Commissioner for the Inquiry into the Victorian Metropolitan Ambulance Service. From 2003 and 2006, Lasry acted as senior counsel assisting the Coronial inquiry into the

2003 Canberra bushfires The 2003 Canberra bushfires caused severe damage to the suburbs and outer areas of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, during 18–22 January 2003. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory's (ACT) pastures, pine plantations, and n ...

. Prior to his 2007 appointment to the bench, Lasry was entitled to practise law in the Australian jurisdictions of Victoria,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. As the former chair of the Victorian Criminal Bar Association, in August 2004, Lasry was appointed as the independent observer representing the

Law Council of Australia The Law Council of Australia, founded in 1933, is an association of law societies and bar associations from the states and territories of Australia, and the peak body representing the legal profession in Australia. The Law Council represents ...

at the trial of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee

David Hicks David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp ...

. He attended Military Commission hearings at Guantanamo Bay in August 2004 and March 2007. As a barrister and Queens Counsel, Lasry has acted as defence counsel in several high-profile criminal cases in Australia and overseas. He acted on behalf of Joseph Thomas in a high-profile Australian terror trial (see ''

R v Thomas ''R v Thomas'' was an Australian court case decided in the Victorian Court of Appeal on 18 August 2006. It concerned the conviction in February 2006 of Joseph Thomas (nicknamed "Jihad Jack" in the media) on terrorism-related charges, specifica ...

'') in which Thomas was convicted of receiving funds from a terrorist organisation and for passport offences. The conviction was overturned on appeal. Lasry represented

Van Tuong Nguyen A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across t ...

in the high-profile case in which he was convicted of

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 2002 and executed in December 2005. At about that time Lasry took up the case of

Andrew Chan Andrew Chan (; 12 January 1984 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian man who was convicted and executed in Indonesia for illegal drug trade, drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Chan was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Ai ...

and

Myuran Sukumaran Myuran Sukumaran (17 April 1981 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian who was convicted in Indonesia of drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Sukumaran was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta with eight others. Polic ...

, two of the nine Australians convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia, known as the

Bali Nine The Bali Nine were nine Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. The heroin was valued at around 4 million and was bound for Australia. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were ...

. That work has been continued by barrister

Julian McMahon Julian Dana William McMahon (born 27 July 1968) is an Australian actor, former model, and the son of a former Prime Minister of Australia, Sir William McMahon. He is best known for his roles as Detective John Grant in '' Profiler'', Cole Tur ...

and a team of Victorian lawyers.

Appointment to the bench

Lasry was appointed as a

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 23 October 2007. He is also a member of the Council of the International Criminal Bar for counsel practising before the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

. He also chaired appellate hearings for the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and for V8 Supercar racing, and has a motor racing licence. He was the trial judge in respect of the murder trial involving the accused, Hugo Alastair Rich and the re-trial involving the accused

Robert Farquharson Robert Donald William Farquharson (born 1969) is an Australian man convicted of murdering his three sons on 4 September 2005, by deliberately driving his car into a farm dam. Farquharson was convicted in an earlier trial and was sentenced to ...

. On 8 December 2011 he sentenced Matthew Charles Johnson to a non parole period of 32 years in jail over the murder of ‘Melbourne Gangland’ killer Carl Williams. On 18 March 2016 he sentenced Sean Price to life (38 years non parole) over the stabbing murder of 17 year old school girl Masa Vukotic. He retired in June 2018 but has continued as a Reserve Judge since the end of that year.

Awards and honours

In 2007 Lasry was awarded the Law Council of Australia's inaugural Presidents Medal for his pro bono representation of Van Nguyen in 2005, and for his outstanding work as Independent Legal Observer for Hicks in 2004 and 2005.

Personal

Lasry has been a longstanding opponent of the use of the death penalty, arguing "when the state kills a citizen, no matter what they have done, the community is diminished by the killing." In reference to the

, Lasry stated "The idea that the government would take individuals out into the bush and shoot them is something I can never live with... and from a legal viewpoint, it has no deterrent value." In 2015, Lasry organised a concert in support of jailed Australian journalist

Peter Greste Peter Greste ( lv, Pēteris Greste; born 1 December 1965) is an Australian journalist and correspondent, who holds dual citizenship of Australia and Latvia. He has worked as a correspondent for Reuters, CNN and the BBC, predominantly in the Mid ...

. He is a longtime supporter of the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fr ...

and, in 2011, was appointed to serve a three-year term on the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Law at Monash University. He plays in his own rock band, The Lex Pistols, and he has raced Porsche cars for many years.Graham Reilly, "The good life", ''The Age''. 11 July 2015, Spectrum, p. 4

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasry, Lex 1948 births Living people Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria Members of the Order of Australia Lawyers from Melbourne Monash Law School alumni People educated at Haileybury (Melbourne)