Mr Mista was one such bar, and high-profile party-boy criminal defence lawyer Adam Magill one such punter.

A man about town, known for knowing everyone, Magill was on familiar terms with part-owner Kwan Leigh Fong.

As the top-shelf cocktails flowed along the bar, Magill told Fong that he loved him, that he was proud of him for his success, for the way he ran his business.

Across the bar, another punter spotted Magill and recognised him.

Lam “Chops” Ta, a Porsche-driving scaffolder who Magill had represented on drug trafficking charges, was there to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday.

But Ta was not happy to run into his lawyer – or former lawyer.

Magill had legal troubles of his own. The lawyer was facing serious criminal charges and had a lengthy list of people he was not to contact as part of his bail agreement.

Ta was on that list.

Ta understood the implications of Magill’s presence at the bar. He suggested Magill could leave. The lawyer declined – so Ta left instead, leaving his own girlfriend’s party.

Soon after, detectives arrived at Magill’s Brisbane home. He was under arrest. Again.

When Wallabies star Karmichael Hunt was picked up in Fortitude Valley in 2017 and wrongly charged with cocaine possession, he called on Adam Magill to represent him.

Magill was one of Queensland’s highest-profile criminal defence lawyers, regularly photographed leading his clients – athletes, outlaw motorcycle gang members and accused killers – in and out of court buildings.

Hunt’s cocaine charge was eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Magill, sharp-suited and smiling, fronted the media outside court on behalf of his client.

“My client is happy this matter has been resolved, he can move on with his work and we can move forward,” he said.

When Christopher Mark Britton was charged with the cold-case murder of his mother, 22 years after she was shot dead in her home near Airlie Beach, it was Magill who represented him, who stopped for the cameras outside court.

The charges had come “out of the blue”, Magill told reporters. His client “strenuously denied” the allegations. The matter is yet to go to trial. Britton maintains his innocence.

When another man was charged with the horrific prolonged torture of his then-girlfriend – torture so brutal she was put in an induced coma with broken bones and burns to half of her body – Magill was there to represent him in court.

There was the man charged with attempted murder for shooting someone in the head and stomach. Bikies charged with the Newman government’s controversial VLAD laws.

Bikies sent to prison for refusing to answer CCC questions. A deadly road rage encounter. A former NRL player charged with the armed robbery of a pub.

“A very circumstantial case with no physical evidence.”

“My client will vehemently contest the charge.”

“He denies any connection with any outlaw motorcycle gang.’’

This is how it went with Magill. A charismatic party boy. A frequent fixture on Eagle St. Spotted daily around the courts precinct, on a first-name basis with nearly every detective, journalist and legal colleague on George St.

He’d been a detective himself. In 1989, fresh out of Ipswich Grammar, Magill had signed up as a police cadet. He’d left after 12 months to study engineering.

In 1996, he went back to the police. Five years later he was a detective and studying law on the side. On September 10, 2007, he was admitted as a solicitor. Six years later, he was a partner at a prominent law firm. Later, he’d become a director of Lawler Magill.

And then, like a circumstantial case picked apart by a well-versed barrister, his life appeared to unravel.

In April, 2017, police and investigators from the Crime and Corruption Commission raided Lawler Magill’s city office.

Staff members were held in the boardroom while investigators searched for evidence. Detectives walked out onto the street carrying black cases marked with the word “raid”.

It wasn’t the first firm to be raided. A year earlier, another high profile lawyer, Tim Meehan, had been sacked from Bosscher Lawyers amid allegations he’d stolen cash. Meehan walked into the CCC with a tale to tell.

His information would spark what is likely the biggest investigation into the conduct of the legal fraternity, with raids across major law firms and allegations of large-scale money laundering and fraud levelled at some of the state’s biggest players.

Meehan was the high-profile criminal defence lawyer who represented Brett Cowan – the man who abducted and murdered Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.

The former lawyer was charged with aggravated fraud and fraudulently falsifying records – charges he later pleaded guilty to. He was sentenced to five and a half years jail with a non-parole period of 18 months.

His untested evidence to the CCC would lead to charges being levelled at his former colleagues.

Lawyers Michael Bosscher, Alex Jones and former clerk Thomas William Strofield were all charged with aggravated fraud. Their matters are still before the courts and all three have firmly denied any wrongdoing.

Later, the investigation would move onto another firm – Gold Coast-based Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied Lawyers.

Solicitor Shaune Irving, who would soon leave MMA Lawyers, came into the sights of CCC investigators who initially charged him with making a false statement.

Irving, they alleged, had lied when he stated his ex-girlfriend was driving his Mercedes-Benz when it was booked for speeding.

As the investigation continued, the charges kept coming. Initially it was perjury and three counts of making a false verified statement. A month later he was charged with two further counts of perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. And later he was charged with 10 counts of fraud, two counts of money laundering and four counts of supplying a dangerous drug.

A court later heard CCC detectives had bugged Irving’s car. Prosecutors claim the device picked up Irving talking with alleged Comanchero associate Ben Alexander Townson – and that conversation in part resulted in Townson being charged with unlawfully supplying a dangerous drug and money laundering.

Townson, the court heard, had supplied Irving with cocaine so strong it could “make you vomit”.

Police claim Irving was also heard discussing pocketing cash rather than putting it through the firm’s trust accounts.

“Anyone like Benny Townson don’t five a f … about these trust accounts,” it is alleged an unnamed person was heard telling Irving on an intercepted call.

“We’re doing what every tradie (does) but we are doing it on a corporatised scale.”

Both Irving and Townson have denied the charges and their defence of the matters is ongoing.

The CCC raided the home of flashy Gold Coast bikie lawyer Campbell MacCallum in July 2020.

The high-profile lawyer - known for his pink suits and gold metal business cards with the tagline “DON’T SPEAK TO THE POLICE!” - was charged with two counts of possessing cocaine.

CCC detectives had begun their probe into MMA Lawyers. One client of the firm, then two, then three, were charged with perjury.

Then, in December, he was hit with more charges. Three counts of money laundering, two counts of fraud, two counts of supplying a dangerous drug and three counts of possessing a dangerous drug.

MacCallum had earlier indicated he would plead guilty to the original cocaine possession charges, but on the fresh counts he said he was taking things “one step at a time”.

“I will let the justice system do its work,” he said.

“In the meantime, I’m 100 per cent focused on looking after our clients and the team at Moloney MacCallum.”

On October 21, 2018, detectives arrived at Adam Magill’s home with a warrant for his arrest.

He was taken to the Brisbane watch-house – a place where countless of his clients had been before him – charged with two counts of aggravated fraud, fraudulent falsification of records and aggravated money laundering.

Three other lawyers from Lawler Magill were charged at the same time. All three would have the charges against them dropped.

The CCC would claim Legal Aid Queensland had been defrauded of $340,000 and more than $765,000 in cash had been pocketed instead of deposited into the firm’s trust accounts.

Lam Ta, Magill’s former client, was rounded up and charged with aggravated fraud and money laundering. He will face committal proceedings next month.

Magill enlisted the help of another high profile legal figure. He would change lawyers several times before his committal but Chris Hannay fielded initial calls from the media.

He questioned the timing of Magill’s arrest. A Sunday morning arrest guaranteed Magill would spend the night in a cell.

“One could consider it an abuse of power,” he said, adding his client “emphatically denied” the allegations.

Magill applied for bail on Monday morning, with CCC detectives producing an affidavit in the Brisbane Magistrates Court detailing their allegations.

It included accusations of fraud and money laundering – large amounts of cash they claim put straight into the lawyer’s pockets instead of through the firm’s trust accounts.

Police also allege Magill had applied for legal aid funding while accepting cash from those clients.

But the document also painted a picture of a lawyer who, according to the CCC, associated with criminals, hit up female clients for pictures and who had impregnated a drug trafficker’s fiance while the man was in prison.

Magill’s conduct, the CCC alleged, had pissed off the wrong people to the extent his life was likely in danger.

“It is alleged that he actively encouraged clients to pay cash for legal representation,” the affidavit said.

“He would then avoid placing the cash through trust ledgers and trust bank accounts operated by the business.”

Magill regularly did not provide his clients with cost agreements, breakdowns of his fees or receipts, the CCC claimed.

“The evidence against the defendant also reveals a propensity to accept cash payments from these clients who were in receipt of grants of funding from Legal Aid Queensland.

“This emphasises a deliberate disregard for the purpose of legal aid funding, which is to give help to financially disadvantaged people.

“Instead, he exploited the system as a means to supplement his personal income, by submitting fallacious applications for clients with full knowledge that they had the means available to pay for representation.”

An example of this, the CCC alleged in its objection to bail affidavit, was Magill’s dealings with the Ta brothers. Piet and Lam Ta had handed over large amounts of cash to their lawyer, who was also being paid by Legal Aid Queensland to act for them.

“The defendant knew that the cash accepted was derived from trafficking of dangerous drugs,” the CCC alleged in the affidavit.

“He knew that the Ta brothers held the capacity to pay; yet he still submitted the LAQ application and accepted funds without complying with his disclosure obligations.”

More allegations would be put on the public record in a bail variation hearing for Piet Ta in 2019.

It is alleged Piet had paid Magill $200,000 cash between 2013 and 2017 in the hope his lawyer would give him “a higher degree of attention”, a court would hear.

It is claimed Legal Aid had paid Magill $320,000 to defend the Ta brothers between 2013 and 2016.

The Supreme Court heard Lam had allegedly emailed Magill fake pay slips from a third brother’s scaffolding company that Magill used to prove both Lam and

Piet did not earn enough to afford a lawyer.

Lam has denied the allegations and vowed to fight the fraud and money laundering charges he is facing.

Detectives, according to Magill’s objection to bail affidavit, had sifted through hundreds and hundreds of text messages on the lawyer’s phone, as well as obtaining conversations he’d had via encrypted apps.

In one text exchange, they allege, a lawyer at the firm had texted colleagues – including Magill and Lawler – a section of transcript from a prison phone call.

“I need a couple of thousand, give it to my solicitor, even though he’s legal aid and that,” it is claimed the prisoner said.

“I need Troy to go and flip him a couple of thousand under the table so he hurries this all along.”

Magill allegedly replied to the text with: “Boys, that’s how a real lawyer works.”

“The seriousness of these offences while acting in an esteemed position of a solicitor with considerable privileges and entitlements grievously undermines the confidence and expectations bestowed upon him by the community,” the affidavit said.

Magill, the document said, lived in Brisbane with his wife and children.

But, according to the court documents, he had another child too – to the former fiancee of his former client: drug kingpin Ivan Tesic.

He drove Lamborghinis and Mercedes-Benzes, flew between his mansions in Sydney and the Gold Coast, often buying his tickets in cash at the airport. Ivan Tesic was the nightclub owning, fast car driving, Rolex-wearing drug baron of the coast.

A protracted covert operation involving both Queensland and NSW police, as well as federal agencies, ran from 2013 to 2014 and ended with Tesic being charged with drug trafficking.

Police alleged Tesic was running a major drug ring, moving meth between New South Wales and Queensland.

He was found not guilty of trafficking, but guilty of possessing six litres of meth oil – worth millions, according to police. He was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison.

In the early days, it was Magill who represented the Gold Coast identity.

In the early days, Tesic’s fiance, bikini model Natalie Lucas, was there to support him in court.

But soon that was all over. Lucas broke off the engagement and began dating Magill, who at the time was separated from his wife.

“Ivan thought that (my relationship with Magill) was going on beforehand,” Lucas told The Courier-Mail in 2018.

“Ivan went crazy … he threatened everyone … they were towards Adam as well.”

Eighteen months later, they broke up. Magill went back to his wife and Lucas discovered she was pregnant.

“Social media posts indicate the defendant maintains a presence in that child’s life,” the CCC affidavit said.

This, the CCC alleged, was an example of Magill’s habit of establishing “numerous inappropriate relationships” and “an extreme level of unprofessionalism”.

Detectives went further, listing examples of their allegations.

“Sourcing cocaine from a client and associates of clients … he has arranged for a former staff member to collect and deliver cocaine to him,” the affidavit said.

“Communications with female clients of a sexual nature, including the request for photographs.

“Engaging and associating with clients in licensed premises for the purposes of consuming alcohol and or cocaine together. He was witnessed consuming cocaine in an adult entertainment club with Piet Ta during the period of representation and on occasion where Ta delivered a sum of cash to the defendant.

“Commenced a romantic relationship with the partner of a client who was in custody at the time. During this relationship, the defendant and this partner had a child together.

“Uses the iPhone application Viber, which sends/receives encrypted messages, enabling users to communicate in a covert manner which is undetectable/untraceable via the telecommunications networks. It appears he uses Viber for this very purpose as he held discussions with Piet Ta relating to the payment of cash via the application. Investigators were able to recover access to these messages.”

The CCC argued against Magill being released on bail.

The lawyer’s actions, it argued, had potentially put his life at risk.

“The defendant is aware of ongoing threat assessments being conducted by the Queensland Police Service in relation to consistent threats to seriously harm him,” the document said.

“These threats have been discussed with the defendant.

“The threats appear to result from … one former client in particular, the former fiance of (the) female with whom the defendant formed a relationship resulting in a child.

“It has been identified that a number of former clients have a strong dislike of the defendant.”

Magill was released on bail, sent on his way with a list of 55 people he wasn’t to contact.

Among them was his business partner Neil Lawler. Magill could speak to Lawler only for the “provision and administration” of the law firm.

There were lawyers, barristers, cocktail bar owners and former clients... Tesic... all three Ta brothers... a notorious Hells Angels bikie... disgraced ex-Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin.

Reporters were waiting at the back of the Brisbane watch-house for the defence lawyer to emerge.

He told them it was a “circus”, that he wasn’t worried about the allegations levelled against him.

“I win. That’s what I do,” he said.

“I’m going to have a shower and go back (to work) now.”

Later, in an interview with The Courier-Mail, Magill said criminal defence lawyers like himself were “more exposed because of our clientele”.

“We’re in a high-risk category because of the sort of people we represent. Lots of our clients are good people who make silly mistakes, some are career criminals and some are outright evil … we represent many of the baddest crooks. It makes sense we’d come on the radar.”

In late November, Magill was back in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. CCC detectives had learned he’d come into some money – $90,000 – and was planning to travel to the US the following day for a holiday.

Investigators did not want him leaving the country.

Magistrate Penelope Hay agreed. There was no suggestion he intended to flee, she told the court, but the allegations against him were serious.

The lawyer was ordered to surrender his passport.

Then, hours later, Magill was arrested again.

He’d spend another two nights in the Brisbane Watch House before being released again on bail.

The court heard Magill had made a phone call to Brisbane barrister Alastair McDougall, one of the 55 people on his no contact list.

McDougall hadn’t answered. Magill had followed the call with a text, the court heard.

“I’m allowed to talk to you now,” he wrote.

“You sure?” Mr McDougall replied.

Magill was wrong. And there was worse – the barrister had been meeting with a CCC detective at the exact moment his phone rang. The detective was well aware Magill should not have been contacting Mr McDougall.

Later, Magill would claim in court his then-solicitor told him it was OK to contact “the boys” – criminal barristers he often worked with. The court heard he was only allowed incidental contact – like running into them at court.

Ahmed Dib, Magill’s new lawyer, said his “deteriorating mental health” had played a role.

Chief Magistrate Ray Rinaudo said it was “simply not believable” that Magill, an experienced criminal defence lawyer, had not understood his own bail conditions.

“It’s impossible to accept the defendant, an experienced solicitor … could not be aware that he was precluded from contacting the barristers except in the limited conditions referred to in the bail.

“In my view, he heard what he wanted to hear, not what he was told.”

The lawyer was fined $1200 for breaching his bail conditions with no conviction recorded.

Three months later, Magill was back before the court again.

“The CCC has today issued a notice to appear in court to a 47-year-old Tarragindi man for allegedly breaching the conditions of bail,” a statement issued by the agency said.

Detectives had charged the lawyer again after discovering he’d had a three hour lunch and drinking session in Fortitude Valley with Lawler.

Magill told detectives it had been a business meeting – he was allowed to speak to Lawler only about work matters.

Later, he’d plead guilty to the offence.

Then, in July, he was arrested again.

This time, he was charged with four counts of breaching his bail. Again, the allegation involved contacting people on his no contact list.

He’d spend another two nights in custody before fronting a magistrate yet again.

Magill was accused of speaking to Crown witness and bar owner Kwan Leigh Fong, as well as co-accused Lam Ta.

The bail conditions placed on Magill were as extraordinary as the behaviour – an accomplished criminal defence lawyer ordered to wear a tracking device and abide by a curfew.

Magill was not allowed to enter the Brisbane and Fortitude Valley Safe Night Precincts between 10pm and 5am and could not leave his home between those hours unless accompanied by his wife or children.

This meant the lawyer would need to represent his clients in court while wearing a tracking device.

“I’ve had worse,” Magill told reporters on his way out of court that day.

In August, 2019, the lawyer was in court to plead guilty to all five breaches.

He would be fined $9600 – but the two convictions Magistrate Tina Previtera would record would prove far more damaging.

Magill’s actions, his lawyer Ahmed Dib argued, were those of a “socialite who buries his head in the sand … who is holding onto a past life”.

“It is a life that he needs to let go of, especially when facing such serious charges,” Mr Dib said.

Ms Previtera was not convinced, saying Magill was a “solicitor of many years standing with a successful criminal law practice … who knows what these things mean”.

What it meant was the loss of his practising certificate. The convictions meant Magill could no longer act as a lawyer.

In May 2020, former solicitor Adam Magill went before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in an attempt to have his certificate reinstated.

“While my decision making in relation to the breaches of bail was not entirely rational, there was an element of burying my head in the sand as to the position I was in,” he submitted to the tribunal.

“I never thought that I would find myself on bail conditions and I was to an extent in denial about the changes that needed to be made to my life to comply with those conditions.

“I have always been a very outgoing, gregarious person and it is my nature to be sociable with friends and acquaintances.

“My network of contacts has been a big part of my professional branding and business development from the outset of my career.

“It was this approach, combined with denial about the seriousness of my position, that caused me to have contact with persons I was prohibited from being in contact with.

“I am embarrassed to acknowledge that it took some time for the gravity of my position to sink in.”

It was not enough.

“The applicant is not presently a fit and proper person to hold a practising certificate,” the Tribunal found.

Magill will face committal proceedings in March. He continues to strenuously deny fraud and money laundering allegations.

With the firm in chaos, Lawler would also find himself on the wrong side of the law. In January 2020, after representing a client at Maroochydore Magistrates Court, a drunk Lawler was stopped as he attempted to reverse out of a car park. The Brisbane Magistrates Court in March last year heard he was more than five times the legal limit. Lawler pleaded guilty to being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced to 12 months probation and ordered to do 100 hours of community service. His licence was disqualified for 15 months and a conviction was recorded against him. His attempt to drive would later cost him his own practising certificate.

MAJOR PLAYERS

Piet “Bruce” Ta – Former Magill client who went on the run while awaiting sentence for drug trafficking. Jailed for 10.5 years. The CCC has alleged Magill secretly pocketed $200,000 of drug money for defending Ta and his brothers. The money is alleged to be on top of the $320,000 already paid by Legal Aid to defend the brothers. Ta is facing charges of fraud and money laundering over the matter.

Lam Quoc Ta – Brother of Piet “Bruce”. Facing fraud and money laundering charges. Committal proceedings are listed for next month. Ta denies the charges.

Cuong Quoc Ta – Brother of Piet and Lam Ta. Pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to one count of fraud and two counts of falsifying a document. Fined $6000 and conviction recorded. Ta in 2013 falsified two pay slips for his brothers Piet and Lam Quoc “Chops” Ta.

Ivan Tesic – Gold Coast drug lord and former bikie associate who Magill represented briefly after his arrest in 2014. Tesic would be sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for the possession of meth oil. While Tesic was in custody, Magill started a relationship with his fiance.