Peter Lavac: Colourful life of Sydney barrister with ‘offensive’ Lamborghini plate

The Sydney barrister who won a battle over his “offensive” Lamborghini number plate has led a colourful life which reads like a movie script.

The Sydney barrister who won a battle over his “offensive” Lamborghini number plate has led a colourful life parts of which read more like a movie script.

Peter Lavac took Transport NSW to court after bureaucratic busybodies attempted to revoke his custom plate which reads, “LGOPNR”.

The Palm Beach legal eagle told The Sunday Telegraph most people would never connect the dots and realise it meant “leg opener”, in a cheeky reference to his playboy reputation as a young man – when he discovered he could “get girls very easily”.

“A lot of guys ribbed me about it, some guys hate me for it but it stuck with me my whole life,” he told the newspaper.

“It is a massive taking-the-piss exercise.”

Peter Lavac during his early days in Hong Kong. Picture: Supplied

Mr Lavac said he was now “working hard to work as little as possible”, after more than 35 years in the courtroom.

Practising in Sydney since 2004, he previously served as a barrister and crown prosecutor in Hong Kong from 1986 until 2003, after spending his early career as a solicitor in Australia.

A celebrity speaker’s bio says Mr Lavac has prosecuted and defended in close to 100 murder trials, “from white-collar corporate criminals to triad gangsters in Hong Kong and motorcycle outlaws in NSW”.

As a 15-year-old he began going to the gym to be able to protect himself from an alcoholic father.

He set a world record for a 900km surfski voyage. Picture: Supplied

That sparked a lifelong interest in health and fitness, competing in mixed martial arts, earning a gold medal in surf lifesaving and setting a world record for a 900km surfski voyage from Hong Kong to the Philippines.

“His varied skills have so far helped him to disarm a gunman at the Sydney Hilton, save a District Court judge from an attack by a prisoner during sentencing in court and save the lives of a father and son in huge seas,” his bio reads.

The latter event happened in 1971 when he was working as a beach inspector at Queenscliff Beach.

A 12-year-old boy had been swept out by a rip, along with his father who had gone into the water to save him.

Thanks to Mr Lavac and his fellow lifesavers, both survived the ordeal – something he says remains his proudest achievement.

Outside the courtroom and the surf, Mr Lavac is perhaps best known as a “non-smoker’s activist”.

He was training for another competition when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Picture: Supplied

A lifelong non-smoker and teetotaller, he was shocked to be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008 after what he thought was a bad bout of the flu.

He survived after a major operation to remove 30 per cent of his right lung, and “knew he was fully recovered” when he could bench press 300lbs – 136kg – in the gym again.

Mr Lavac famously blamed the cancer on second-hand smoke from chain-smoking neighbours in the flat below.

“These neighbours smoke incessantly, both inside the flat and on the balcony,” he told a 2006 NSW parliamentary inquiry into tobacco smoking.

“Second-hand smoke constantly permeates my apartment and my only relief from the burning sore throat, constant coughing, hoarseness and breathing difficulty occurs when they are out of the building or unconscious. I have tried everything – talking to them, reasoning with them and even remonstrating with them – to no avail.”

He unsuccessfully approached the body corporate, strata title management and the tenancy tribunal, before considering legal action.

“What chance does the little Aussie battler have facing a similar situation?” he said.