Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo to be struck off

Proceedings are under way to strike gangland lawyer and informer Nicola Gobbo off the roll of people who are allowed to practice law in Victoria.

Nicola Gobbo. Picture: ABC

Proceedings are under way to strike gangland lawyer and informer Nicola Gobbo off the roll of people who are allowed to practice law in Victoria.

The Legal Services Board and Commissioner have issued proceeding in the Supreme Court to have Ms Gobbo, known as Lawyer X, removed from the roll despite her not having practised law in six years. The proceedings have been issued under a section of the Legal Profession Uniform Law.

Ms Gobbo was first recruited as a police informant when she was a law student in 1995 and turned on a former boyfriend for drug dealing. Between 2005-09 she informed against famed underground clients including Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams.

Following a High Court ruling in 2018 which exposed Ms Gobbo as a police informant and condemned her conduct, the Victorian government established a royal commission which is due to report by the end of next month.

In submissions to the commission, the Victorian Legal Services Board said lawyers should gen­erally not become police informants. “That is because of the position occupied by lawyers in the justice system,” the submission said. “They are to be (and must be seen to be) independent, with a primary duty to their court, and their client.”

Victoria Police has apologised for using Ms Gobbo as an informant against her own clients.