The Snitch: Is DPP boss Sally Dowling SC eyeing off a move to the bench?

The NSW Office of the Legal Service Commissioner has issued a reprimand against a senior NSW barrister. This and more is in legal column The Snitch.

You don’t usually hear about senior barristers getting into strife, let alone Senior Counsels.

Which brings us to Franco Corsaro SC, who has been a silk for 23 years and is one of NSW’s most highly regarded commercial and construction law barristers.

He has been issued a reprimand by the NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner for “sexual harassment and workplace bullying”.

Lawyer Franco Corsaro. Source: Greenway Chambers

The office has issued Mr Corsaro with a “reprimand” after making a finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct against him on March 3.

He was not restricted from practising but it is still a black mark against his name, which will stay on the record kept by the OLSC.

TOP PROSECUTOR RUMOUR THAT WON’T GO AWAY

he talk around Liverpool St is that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling SC, has got her eye on a move across the street and becoming the next Chief Judge of the NSW District Court.

The only problem is that job is held by Chief Judge Derek Price, who isn’t showing any sign publicly that he wants to vacate the throne.

So we’re told the approach — and any potential move — is conditional on Justice Price stepping down.

Geographically, it won’t be too complicated for Ms Dowling to relocate her Salvatore Zofrea paintings that adorn her office.

That’s because the Chief Judge is based at the Sydney Downing Centre Court complex, which is just a hop and a skip down Liverpool St from DPP HQ.

Sally Dowling is rumoured to rumoured to have her eye on a move to the bench as the next Chief Judge of the NSW District Court.

Contractually, we understand she should be OK too.

Thanks to changes in the law in 2007, DPPs can only serve a maximum 10-year term.

But they can leave any time they want — it’s not a 10-year sentence.

Ms Dowling was only appointed to the DPP role on August 16, 2021.

So if she leaves soon, it will mark the shortest tenure of the three DPPs who have served in the role.

Her predecessor Lloyd Babb SC, went the full 10 years, while Nicholas Cowdery KC did 16 years between 1994 and 2011.

Justice Derek Price isn’t showing any signs publicly that he wants to step down from his role.

Reg Blanch was the state’s first DPP and was appointed in 1987.

So what about Justice Price?

He has almost a decade under his belt after being appointed the Chief Judge in August 2014. But he also still holds a position as a justice on the NSW Supreme Court.

We asked Ms Dowling about her interest in the Chief Judge job, which she kind of answered but mostly didn’t.

She said: “I am committed to my role and look forward to continuing to lead the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in its important work.”

CRANSTON HORSE

Beyond the sports cars and properties he treated himself to, $105 million tax fraudster Adam Cranston also bought himself a racehorse.

But, adding further intrigue, the horse was in the name of his father Michael Cranston, the former deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office.

Fraudster Adam Cranston bought a racehorse which he put in his father’s name.

Michael is not accused of any wrongdoing and was acquitted by a jury of illegally accessing ATO information to help his son.

When Michael was arrested at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Surfers Paradise on May 17, 2017, the Australian Federal Police who interviewed him were very interested in questioning him over his financial connections to Adam, asking: “Do you own a horse?”

Michael answered: “I’m in a syndicate (a) very small syndicate.”

He continued: “I also own another horse that, um, Adam had bought. And you probably won’t believe this but … I was always going to put it into a syndicate for … us, for his business, so he can entertain clients. I’ve never got around to moving the name into his name. So … the horse is in my name. It’s 20 per cent of a horse, yep.”

Michael told the officers that Adam paid the bills for the horse but said he had no idea how or from which company the money came from.

The officers questioned whether Michael or Adam owned it.

“Well, indirectly sort of owned by Adam … he bought the horse … and he knows I like horses,” Michael told the officers.

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