Meet Campbell MacCallum — the maverick tattooed lawyer who is the go-to man for Titans and bikies
HE’S thickset, covered in tattoos and doesn’t mind a drink — meet the lawyer for the Titans on drug charges.
Crime and Court
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crime and Court. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A PAINTING on the Southport law office wall of Campbell MacCallum depicts gangsters popularised in famous mobster movies such as Scarface and The Godfather.
A client painted it as a gift.
“One of my more gangster-type underworld clients gave me that — just as a reminder of where he thinks he is,” the thickset, heavily-tattooed defence lawyer says.
Ask if he can say who, and the partner at Moloney MacCallum Lawyers shakes his head and seemingly only half-joking says:
“No … I would probably get shot.”
CHARGED TITANS CLEARED TO PLAY
Probably he wouldn’t because he wouldn’t be much use to the many bikie clients who tend to walk through his Scarborough Street door.
Not to mention that he’s also spoken out publicly against anti-bikie legislation — the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act (VLAD) — brought in during 2013 (he thinks it’s oppressive and discriminates unfairly).
“They’re labelling these people even through the name of the legislation, vicious lawless people and I accept there is a good lot amongst them who are but there’s a good lot who aren’t,” Campbell says.
The former champion amateur bodybuilder is no stranger to the public stage which is where he’s found himself the past two months defending the bulk of past and present Gold Coast Titans rugby league players facing cocaine possession and supply charges.
“I’m not sure if I’m the go-to man (but) I do have a lot of bikies, a lot of footballers and a lot of drug matters,” he muses.
Of the Titans charged last month, Campbell acts for Greg Bird, Dave Taylor, Kalifa Faifai Loa and Jamie Dowling plus former players Ashley Harrison and Joe Vickery. Chris Nyst is representing Beau Falloon.
For several Titans, Campbell — who played pro rugby for three years overseas — was their first phone call: “I remember the first conversation and I remember thinking this could be a quite an important time in the history of sport.”
The experienced litigator, 40, who has defended clients in high-profile cases facing charges including murder, sexual assault, and drug trafficking rates this as big as any he’s done: “It’s not often six or seven people from one sporting team get hit with such serious charges so it’s a once in a lifetime case to be involved in which is exciting but also quite time-consuming and daunting.
“A lot of their careers will depend on the outcome of these matters. I feel that strongly about it that if I didn’t feel I was up to it I would hand them on to someone else.”
Campbell, who feels the evidence is speculative and circumstantial and believes his clients will be cleared, adds: “The pressure is definitely there.”
But exciting though — really?
“It’s exciting to have the knowledge where I can really help these guys,” he says.
The case has already resulted in some long hours and during this interview in his office on Monday he repeatedly reaches for tissues and notes he’s trying to shake the flu.
When the news broke of players caught up in the Crime and Corruption Commission probe into cocaine supply, Campbell went on the public offensive immediately, championing his clients’ cause: “Any normal person would automatically think they are being accused of being drug dealers and making money out of some sort of drug syndicate which is completely not what was allegedly happening.”
For a while there, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper, turn on a radio or watch the television news without seeing Campbell MacCallum shielding or sticking up for a client.
Campbell’s equal-share partner in the firm, Andrew Moloney, says: “In the last few weeks I inquired of his welfare because I was getting a bit worried about the hours he was putting in and it did make him sick.
“From 5am with radio stations interstate ringing for their 6am stuff to journos at the end of the day wondering if there were any developments, it was some 18 to 20 hour days for him,” Andrew says.
“(But) what he did is got out there and got rid of the misconceptions about these guys and went into bat for them in a way that wasn’t going to affect their defence.”
The two very contrasting partners say they complement each other well.
Campbell is heavily tattooed, fosters close relationships with the media, and admits to striking up friendships with clients who are members of motorcycle gangs.
Andrew, 47, says he’s “not the tattoo type”, avoids speaking publicly about cases “like the plague” and says the fact their firm attracts bikie clients is something “I don’t understand”.
But Andrew remembers 10 years ago when he first met Campbell who was working in Ipswich for their then-firm Ryan & Bosscher: “My first impression was I had to get him down to the Gold Coast to work in my office. I thought he would suit the Gold Coast — his self-confidence and manner would be appreciated by the type of criminal law clientele we encounter.
“I thought he’d be a good fit … and certainly complement me down here where I’m not one who particularly seeks a high profile.”
Andrew adds: “He’s smarter than he looks, he’s actually got a very analytical brain and has a great ability to take in large amounts of information in a short time when reading — he’s better at it than me.”
For a glaring insight into their contrasting styles, look no further than their Facebook pages: Andrew’s profile photo is all business in a suit, tie and spectacles while his banner picture is the office logo.
Campbell’s photo shows him necking a large bottle of Corona with a banner picture of him in a tight T-shirt exposing his tattoos and giving the fingers. It sits alongside a picture of his pride-and-joy son Cooper, 12, overwritten with the words ‘best friends’.
Campbell: “I’m a bit less controlled when expressing myself socially. That’s a large Corona too, a one litre one in Hawaii. I was having a competition with a big Hawaiian bloke to see who could drink a Corona quicker. I marginally lost but I got it all down in one go so proud of that.
“Andrew is the complete polar opposite of me on everything. Look, he’s conservative, not a fan of being in the media and he will often pull me back into line if I’m stretching the boundaries.”
Pacific Sports Management player agent Chris Orr, a close mate of Campbell’s for more than 15 years from shared rugby playing days, calls him a “massive contradiction”.
“He’s the one wearing the smart suit but you take it off and you are wondering which one is going to jail. He’s got all these tattoos but then you speak to him and he’s very articulate, intelligent and comes from a family of lawyers.
“Campbell came to my place the other day and my nine-year-old daughter’s girlfriends were all a little intimidated. My daughter Sienna walked over and said ‘Campbell, my girlfriends are all scared of you but I have told them you’re a big softie’. And he is a big softie.”
Chris, who manages Bird and Faifai Loa, adds: “He’s very good at his job. Anyone I know who requires his services, I send to him — and no one has complained.”
Campbell started to get his tattoos aged 17, much to the distaste of his parents: “I was never scared to express myself. I’d turn up for jobs with tattoos. I used to have diamond earrings — I’d go to court like that.
“At the end of the day I found clients were a lot more comfortable because I wasn’t sitting there judging them because they’ve got tattoos.”
Part of his opposition to the anti-bikie VLAD laws stems from his own personal experience: “I lived in Surfers for six months when those laws came out and was getting pulled up in the street because of my tattoos. If I had a tight t-shirt on, tattoos coming out, I might just be walking to the Seven-11 from where I was living...police would be looking, getting close to me and then recognise me as a lawyer from court. I can just imagine the street checks these guys get - it’s constant harassment, it’s just not right.
“If they have got reason or they’re breaking the law, absolutely, but under those laws people aren’t treated equally,” Campbell adds.
Campbell admits being “a bit of a maverick” in terms of media stuff: “(But) the reality is I might have 400 clients a year and only 20 are ones in which I might contest the matters. The other 380 you are facilitating a guilty plea or minimising damage.”
There is no questioning his pedigree even though the former boarder at Wallaby-producing Nudgee College admits redoing Year 12 at Marymount College on the Gold Coast “because I played rugby the whole time at Nudgee and didn’t study so my mum pulled me out”.
His first job after earning a law degree with honours was as a judge’s associate for two years before a stint in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions followed by the Ryan & Bosscher post as a defence lawyer in Ipswich in 2003. That’s where he met Andrew who invited him to join him at their own firm.
Campbell grimaces thinking back to early days cross-examining witnesses when he “might have been a bit overzealous and quick with my temper”.
“I do cringe at some of the stupid questions I asked or some of the aggressive tactics I used which simply weren’t necessary … calling witnesses liars when I simply had nothing to substantiate that, suggesting they were doing criminal activity themselves when I had nothing to substantiate it. I was given a number of warnings early on in my career.”
Campbell says he’s beyond that now — and is more than empathetic with clients he defends no matter who they are or what their appearance: “I know from experience that someone’s appearance or story doesn’t necessarily reflect who they are. I’m not there to sit in judgment. In fact, I do the opposite — I can see a bit of myself sometimes in a lot of them.
“I liked to have a good time when I was younger, in my 20s. I liked to go out and have a drink.
“I have been known to get emotionally involved. I’ve shed tears at sentences that have been handed down, decisions that have not gone my way. I can be quick with a tear — or quick with a sharp tongue in their defence.”
Campbell adds: “I’ve become close friends in the past with blokes with who — apart from their offending — would otherwise be very similar to what I am.”
YOUR THOUGHTS? Email ryan.keen@news.com.au
Vicious public assault ‘could not be stopped’
A man who "couldn't be stopped" when he grabbed his partner by the hair and dragged her 100m through a Gold Coast shopping centre car park has now faced court over two dozen charges.
‘I’m not going to promise you anything’
A mother facing a string of drug offences was perhaps too honest with a magistrate yesterday after she initially couldn’t guarantee being on her best behaviour.