Former ACT Chief Prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC on Lehrmann fallout: ‘I don’t look back’

After stepping down as the ACT’s top prosecutor following fallout from the Bruce Lehrmann trial, Shane Drumgold SC has made a surprise career move.

Former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold is taking on work in Sydney and Brisbane. Picture: AAP

Shane Drumgold SC is set to revive his legal career in Sydney and has explained how he overcame the explosive end of his term as the ACT’s top prosecutor following the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial.

“I don’t look back, I always look forward,” Mr Drumgold told The Saturday Telegraph.

With the NSW law term opening on Monday, Mr Drumgold has taken up a spot at Frederick Jordan Chambers, one of Phillip Street’s top barristers chambers.

He has also taken a position in Brisbane’s Roma Mitchell chambers and will work in both cities.

Shane Drumgold SC at the Bruce Lehrmann trial in 2022. Picture: Ben Appleton.

Shane Drumgold speaking at a press conference in 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

It was a career move that he said he had long planned.

He just didn’t expect it to be forced on him this quickly.

Mr Drumgold, who left school as a 15-year-old to work for Australia Post, resigned as the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions in August 2023 after serving four years.

This came after an inquiry into his conduct as the Crown Prosecutor on the Bruce Lehrmann trial saw “several serious findings of misconduct” made against him by former judge Walter Sofronoff.

Mr Drumgold strongly disputed the findings but accepted his position had become untenable.

Walter Sofronoff and Shane Drumgold.

In 2024, the ACT Bar Association found that Mr Drumgold had not engaged in misconduct.

An ACT Supreme Court judge also ruled some of Mr Sofronoff’s conduct may have given rise to an apprehension of bias, and overturned one of the findings in a judicial review.

Despite the subsequent vindications, it could not erase all of the damage of being the centre of controversy and a national news story.

After cooling his heels, the barrister said he had accelerated plans to move his career north.

“This has been my plan for a long time — to work in Sydney,” Mr Drumgold said. “I was born in Sydney and it has always been in the back of my mind to go to the Sydney Bar.”

Shane Drumgold SC in the box seat during the inquiry

“I like Sydney and I like Brisbane,” he said. “They are really nice places to be.”

He also said he “never gave a thought” to changing careers after the fallout from the Lehrmann trial.

According to his online CV, Mr Drumgold will continue to focus on criminal trials.

Multiple sources told The Saturday Telegraph he had already accepted multiple briefs from the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute cases.

Brittany Higgins entering Parliament House on the night in question

Mr Drumgold declined to comment on the basis of legal professional privilege.

He also declined to comment on whether he had accepted any defence briefs or when his first case was scheduled to begin.

Lehrmann was accused of raping colleague and Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House after a night out drinking in March 2019.

Bruce Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence. (Photo by Don Arnold/Getty Images)

The trial was abandoned in October 2022 due juror misconduct.

The matter was then discontinued due to concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health, and the charge against Mr Lehrmann dropped

Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence.

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