Justice Stephen Pallaras QC

With more than 40 years of experience in the practice and teaching of criminal law and as a Queen’s Counsel since 2000, Judge Stephen Pallaras QC is a man of principles. In 2005, those principles were put to the ultimate test. Appointed as the new DPP for South Australia, the then Premier of South Australia proudly announced that his international search had secured the State’s new Elliot Ness, a tough prosecutor who loved to ‘lock up the bad guys’. In a few short weeks, he was to become government’s enemy number 1 for refusing to obediently tow the populist “tough on crime” government line.

With his predecessor being dismissed as DPP in controversial circumstances, so toxic was the office he inherited that after personally interviewing all 160 staff, he realised that all had issues with their department and were considering leaving. If he didn’t act fast, he might not have an office to run at all.

By the time he had finished his contract in 2012, he had fully restored his staff’s confidence and his office had changed from being a place where people were lining up to leave, to an office where lawyers were lining up to join.

Judge Pallaras has accrued a wealth of knowledge full of compelling, often controversial and confronting anecdotes and life lessons. He activates his audience discussing solutions to social challenges faced by the world using examples from his long career in criminal law.

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