Informer 3838: The gangland lawyer scandal explained

The use of a gangland criminal barrister as a police informer has created an explosive legal scandal and led to Premier Daniel Andrews announcing a royal commission into Victoria Police's mismanagement of some of the state's most notorious criminal investigations.

On Friday afternoon, Informer 3838 was revealed to be former high-profile criminal barrister Nicola Gobbo.

The 46-year-old is part of a Victorian legal dynasty that includes two other well-known barristers and her uncle Sir James Gobbo, a former Supreme Court justice and Governor of Victoria.

This is what you need to know.

Nicola Gobbo in April 2008.Credit: Justin McManus

What has happened?

Informer 3838, who can now be named as Nicola Gobbo, is a Victorian defence barrister who represented a who's who of Melbourne’s underworld, including major drug traffickers, murderers and Mafia figures.

Ms Gobbo, who for years has also been referred to as Lawyer X, provided information about her clients and criminal associates to police. She was often defending her clients in court at the same time she was providing confidential information to police.

She became a barrister in 1998.

Some of the men on her client list were among the biggest names in Australia's underworld, including murdered gangster Carl Williams, jailed drug lord Tony Mokbel and Mokbel's associate, drug trafficker Rob Karam.

She has not been registered to practise law in Victoria since 2013.

What are the consequences?

A series of major criminal convictions could be quashed as a result of the scandal . The Director of Public Prosecutions has been notifying Ms Gobbo's clients that their lawyer was a police informer.

Several high-profile criminals, including Mokbel, are considering appealing.

In December 2018, the Andrews government ordered a royal commission into the controversy and the use of police informers.

As the royal commission began its preliminary work in February this year, it was discovered that the lawyer was in fact registered as a police informer in 1995, not 2005 as Victoria Police had previously said.

That revelation forced the resignation of Malcolm Hyde, a former Victorian police deputy commissioner and former South Australian police commissioner, who was set to be one of two commissioners chairing the inquiry.

Former Queensland Court of Appeal judge Margaret McMurdo, AC, is now acting as the sole commissioner.

What’s wrong with a lawyer being a police informer?

All lawyers have an obligation to act in the best interests of their clients and information given to a barrister by their client must be treated with strict confidentiality, according to Legal Services Commissioner Fiona McLeay.

Is it unusual for a lawyer to become a police informer?

The conduct of the lawyer has been described as "unprecedented" and so unique it "raises grave issues about its effect on the integrity of the criminal justice system", according to Supreme Court Justice Timothy Ginnane.

How did it work in practice?

As well as ratting on her clients to police, the lawyer helped facilitate police investigations by introducing criminals to undercover operatives and also encouraged her clients to plead guilty.

Victoria Police initially said officers began meeting informally with the lawyer in mid-2003 when she disclosed details about her clients and other criminals.

Police had previously insisted the lawyer was registered as an informer from 2005 to 2009 and provided information that led to more than 380 arrests and convictions.

But explosive information came to light on February 6, revealing the lawyer was registered as an informer 10 years before that.

Have other lawyers acted as police informers?

Yes. A court clerk, a legal secretary, a legal adviser, solicitors and a gunned-down Mafia lawyer are among seven people who have been referred to the Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants in addition to Informer 3838.

Between them, those referred to the commission would have had access to highly sensitive information including court records, subpoenaed documents, letters, bank records and contracts.

The solicitors may have heard confessions from their clients, which they were bound to keep confidential, but may have disclosed.

Why was Nicola Gobbo's name a secret for so long?

The court had suppressed her name since 2014 to protect her personal safety, which police and her lawyers argue is in extreme danger from criminals and former clients.

While she was known to police as Informer 3838, she was referred to in court documents by the letters EF. She has also been known as Lawyer X.

The Court of Appeal and the High Court lifted the suppression orders, allowing her name to be published on March 1, 2019.

Who would have known about this?

Regardless of the suppression orders, the identity of the lawyer has long been known in the legal fraternity, law enforcement community, the underworld and media. Rumours that she was helping police began to leak out in 2008 and her former clients began legal proceedings to find out what she had done in 2014, which is when the authorities moved to protect her identity through suppression orders.

Late last year the Director of Public Prosecutions wrote to Ms Gobbo's former clients notifying them that their lawyer acted as a police informer.

What will this mean for her former clients? Will they all be let out of jail?

Ms Gobbo's former clients are now being notified about her conduct by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The process is still being worked out, but clients who believed they have been unfairly convicted will be able to apply for a judicial review of their case by a judge. If there’s a finding in their favour, the Supreme Court will sit in judgment on whether their conviction should be quashed and a new trial ordered.

What are people saying about it?

“Victoria Police were guilty of reprehensible conduct in knowingly encouraging [the lawyer] to do as she did … As a result, the prosecution of each convicted person was corrupted in a manner which debased fundamental premises of the criminal justice system.” High Court of Australia

“This is the most systematic abuse of the justice system in Australia’s history.” Zarah Garde-Wilson, solicitor for convicted drug trafficker Rob Karam, whose conviction is being questioned.

“While these events took place many years ago, the Victorian public has a right to know that every part of the justice system acts fairly and lawfully at all times.” Premier Daniel Andrews, when announcing the royal commission.

"Melbourne was in the grip of what is now widely known as the gangland wars. Over the preceding 12 months, numerous people had been murdered, some in very public locations, and high-profile criminals were vying for control of drug operations that were inflicting serious harm on the Victorian community. It was, accordingly, a desperate and dangerous time." Police Commissioner Graham Ashton about the use of Informer 3838.

How much could this cost the state?

Victorian government agencies are estimated to have spent millions of dollars in legal bills since 2014.

Millions of dollars more will be spent on re-assessing convictions during the judicial review process and running new trials where convictions are set aside.

The royal commission will cost tens of millions more to set up and run. There is also the possibility of civil compensation lawsuits being launched by those who were unfairly convicted.

What will happen to her now?

Ms Gobbo has said she will cooperate with the royal commission.