Explained: Misconduct case against SA barrister Enzo Belperio, accused of sexual misconduct toward junior lawyer

He’s the heir to an Adelaide dining institution and one of the city’s top lawyers. Now SA’s legal profession has been split by the misconduct case of barrister Enzo Belperio.

It is the case that has divided Adelaide’s tight-knit, cloistered legal community, about which seemingly every practitioner has an opinion.

Victoria Square has been alive, all week, with one question: Did barrister Enzo Belperio engage in professional misconduct, despite his denial?

A simple question, but one that inflames passions based on many factors, from gender equality and generational divides to the oh-so-Adelaide private school alumnus cliques.

At stake is not merely one practitioner’s reputation and professional future, but a broader conversation about allegations of harassment, sexual assault, intimidation, bullying and abuse of power within the legal profession.

And at its core is a man who is well-known for his legal acumen, but who went out of his way to avoid the spotlight.

WHO IS ENZO BELPERIO?

Enzo Belperio is a member of a well-known Adelaide hospitality family that founded the Fasta Pasta restaurant chain.

He is a former student of St Peter’s College, where he was known as a talented student debater who participated in two state debating teams.

Mr Belperio graduated from Adelaide University with first class honours in law and commerce, majoring in corporate finance.

Enzo Belperio leaves the tribunal hearing on Wednesday. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

He was admitted to law in 2006, serving as an associate to then-Supreme Court Justice Tom Gray from 2007 and 2009.

When he undertook the bar readers’ course, he was mentored by now-Court of Appeal President Mark Livesey.

Mr Belperio worked for the Lipman Karas firm from 2009 to 2012, then with DMAW Lawyers until 2015.

In 2015 he became a barrister, based at the prestigious Bar Chambers and specialising in commercial dispute resolution, insolvency, wills and estates, trade practices, corporate governance, building and construction, and franchising.

Mr Belperio served as Bar Association treasurer between 2021 and 2024, and has been a Women’s Insolvency Network SA committee member for the past six years.

He has also served as chairman of the Ice Factor Foundation, which benefits at-risk children and was set up by top barrister and former judge Marie Shaw KC.

HOW DID THE ENZO BELPERIO ALLEGATIONS COME TO LIGHT?

Mr Belperio’s case is occurring in the broader context of an industry-wide reckoning with alleged misconduct.

In April 2021, an Equal Opportunity Commission report found “appalling” behaviours went “all the way to the top” of the profession.

That led to Magistrate Simon Milazzo being fired by parliament after a tabled report found he engaged in inappropriate conduct with sexual connotations relating to four women over a number of years.

In 2022, Mr Belperio was accused of having made “inappropriate and uninvited physical and sexual contact or advances” to a junior solicitor in mid-2020.

He has never been charged with any criminal offence and denies the allegations.

Those accusations became public in September 2024, when The Advertiser challenged suppression orders imposed upon the case.

That challenge drew support from peak bodies who warned such draconian secrecy would erode the essential principle of open, transparent justice and also discourage other complainants coming forward.

In November 2024, the Court of Appeal ruled against Mr Belperio and lifted the suppression orders, and further ruled abuses of “imbalanced” power relationships can extend to social events.

That meant Mr Belperio’s misconduct tribunal hearing whilst be held in public, starting this week.

WHAT ALLEGATIONS HAS THE TRIBUNAL HEARD ABOUT ENZO BELPERIO?

Opening the hearing, Frances Nelson KC, for the Legal Practitioners Conduct Commissioner, outlined the case against Mr Belperio.

“This is not a criminal matter (but) it is an allegation of a sexual assault of a young practitioner relating to events five years ago, in 2020,” she said.

Adelaide barrister Enzo Belperio with his counsel, former Victorian County Court judge Julie Condon KC. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“The complainant had only been admitted (to practice) … the barrister is considerably older than her.

“He maintains it was all consensual … our position is it was not, that she said no, that she protested.

“After the events at Bar Chambers, which is where she says she was sexually assaulted, after she had gone home in an Uber, she was shaken up.

“When she went into her bedroom, she saw she had hickies on her neck … she says in her (written) evidence ‘these were from Enzo, I was shocked’.”

Former Victorian County Court judge Julie Condon KC, for Mr Belperio, said her client “agrees that there were hickies”, but not that he was guilty of professional misconduct.

“This tribunal will be dealing with personal matters that occurred in an extended work setting … Ms Nelson will need to negate a reasonable belief in consent on the behalf of Mr Belperio,” she said.

“This tribunal will be dealing with specific states of mind – those of the complainant and Mr Belperio – when the specific alleged sexual assault is said to have occurred.”

WHAT HAS THE COMPLAINANT SAID ABOUT ENZO BELPERIO?

In her evidence, the junior female lawyer – whose identity is suppressed – said she told Mr Belperio to stop “four or five times” as he repeatedly assaulted her.

She said “friendly, professional, polite” after-work drinks with Mr Belperio and her colleagues had turned into an incident that left her “startled, frozen, overwhelmed” and “distraught”.

Mr Belperio’s behaviour, she said, escalated from discussing his music mix tapes and “strained” relationship with his wife to touching her hip and backside, and kissing her, prompting her to whisper “help” in a friend’s ear.

The barrister, she said, promised to take her to the suburban home she shared with her parents but instead went to prestigious Bar Chambers, turned off the lights and backed her onto a couch.

“He was on his knees rubbing outside my pants, I remember thinking I didn’t want him to do that, saying ‘no, stop’ but he kept trying to take off my pants,” she said.

“He kept saying ‘come on, please, it will feel good, will you let me go down on you?’ … because I didn’t want him to take off my pants I remember holding onto their clasp really tight.

“I said ‘no, you are not going to take off my pants’ … he said ‘please, you can sit on me’.

“He put his hand under my top and was groping my breast … I felt his cold hand on my skin … I was so startled, I froze.”

HOW DID MR BELPERIO’S COUNSEL RESPOND TO THE COMPLAINANT’S ALLEGATIONS?

In cross-examination, Ms Condon said the lawyer had not “disclosed the tongue kissing” in her initial complaint.

“You didn’t want to convey that you had, physically at least, engaged in a tongue kiss with Mr Belperio, that’s why you didn’t include it,” she said.

The lawyer said that was “not a deliberate omission”, conceding she “participated” in and was “reactive” to kisses at a CBD bar and in Mr Belperio’s darkened Bar Chambers rooms.

However, she said that was only because the thought of “jeopardising the professional relationship” with a senior practitioner “was mortifying” to her.

“I was brought up to believe the best way to avoid conflict was to be quiet, docile and submissive … I associated defiance with fear, disrespect and shame,” she said.

“I’ve often tolerated my own discomfort for the sake of others by being compliant … I participated (in the kissing) because I wasn’t brave enough to cause a scene.

“I didn’t want to be the reason the firm’s name was tarnished … the idea of being, or coming across as, rude or disrespectful to a person in a position of power was painfully unimaginable to me.”

Ms Condon suggested the lawyer “was comfortable” in Mr Belperio’s presence, asking why she “did not go home” otherwise.

“There was nothing stopping you getting up and saying ‘I’m going to catch the bus home, goodbye’,” she said.

“You were very aware of your senses, you had agency, you were capable of making decisions for yourself.”

The lawyer replied: “Yes, but in circumstances where, with who Enzo was to me, I felt like I had to listen to him throughout the night.”

Ms Condon suggested the lawyer was “not being completely candid with the tribunal”.

“Mr Belperio never did anything to make you feel threatened, never did anything to make you feel scared,” she said.

“He never said anything menacing toward you about why you had to come back to (chambers) because you were happy to go back to (chambers).

“He only asked to perform oral sex on you on one occasion … as soon as you said ‘no’, he took his hands off your pants and got up straight away.

“It was not uncomfortable, the mood was still happy and friendly.”

The lawyer replied: “No, I disagree … I went along with it because I was worried.”

Mr Belperio will give evidence, from the witness stand, on Friday.

Originally published as Explained: Misconduct case against SA barrister Enzo Belperio, accused of sexual misconduct toward junior lawyer