Former top barrister Norman O’Bryan charged with fraud over class action scheme

A once-revered Melbourne barrister, Norman O’Bryan, has been charged with fraud offences over his alleged involvement in a class action scheme that allegedly rorted claimants, many of whom were retirees, out of millions of dollars.

O’Bryan, a former senior counsel, was charged with two counts of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception over the class action of the collapse of Banksia Securities Limited.

Norman O’Bryan (pictured in 2010) was once one of the country’s most sought-after silks. Credit: Craig Abraham

O’Bryan was removed from the bar roll in 2021 after a review of the Banksia Securities class action found issues in how members were charged fees by O’Bryan and lawyer Mark Elliott, who died in 2020, during the court action. The review also found both men’s families were shareholders in the class action funder.

A spokesperson for Victoria Police confirmed the 65-year-old from Blairgowrie had been charged.

“Detectives from the financial crime squad have charged a man as part of an investigation into allegations of fraudulent invoices dating back to 2016 and 2017,” the spokesperson said.

O’Bryan will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court later this month. He has been contacted for comment via his legal team.

O’Bryan, a Rhodes Scholar, is from a family of note in Victorian legal circles. Both his father, Norman, and grandfather, Sir Norman, were Supreme Court judges. His brothers are Michael O’Bryan, a Federal Court judge, and Stephen O’Bryan, the former commissioner of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and special monitor of Crown casino.

Before moving into class actions, Norman O’Bryan was known as a formidable advocate for his clients, and ran several successful cases for the corporate watchdog. He also worked as a counsel assisting the royal commission into the failure of HIH Insurance.

The Banksia Securities class action aimed to help the company’s 15,000-plus investors reclaim some of the $660 million they lost when the group collapsed in 2012. Many of the people caught up in the collapse were retirees or from regional Victoria.

The class action was resolved for $64 million, with $20 million in fees and commissions being paid to the lawyers running the case, which included Elliott and O’Bryan, and the families’ class action funder.

The review of the case – conducted by Supreme Court judge John Dixon at the behest of the class action members – ruled that O’Bryan, Elliott and associated entities should refund $11.4 million in legal fees charged to the class action members, and pay a further $10 million in compensation.

In June, O’Bryan lost his bid to have Dixon’s findings against him overturned.

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