Gabriel Chipkin

  • Admitted: 2011
  • Bar: 2022

Location

Level 2, 550 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000

Biography

Gabriel is an experienced courtroom advocate and accepts briefs to appear in criminal matters, regulatory and administrative law matters, inquests and inquiries.

Gabriel has appeared unled as defence counsel in jury trials in the County Court of Victoria and the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory for white collar fraud, blackmail, kidnapping, drug trafficking, dangerous driving causing death, sexual offences and serious violence offences.

He has also appeared in the Court of Appeal in Victoria and Court of Criminal Appeal in the NT in respect of sentence and conviction appeals and has experience drafting written cases.

Gabriel also appears in crimes mental impairment and unfitness proceedings as well as serious offender applications. He also appears in migration matters (primarily pertaining to visa cancellations) in the AAT.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Gabriel was a Public Defender at Victoria Legal Aid Chambers. He previously worked as a Senior Lawyer (Trial Advocate) at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, where he was based in Darwin for over 3 years. Before NAAJA, Gabriel worked at the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW) as a solicitor-advocate. He began his career in 2011 as a commercial lawyer at global firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

Gabriel has a broad range of experience appearing in serious criminal matters in the Magistrates’ Court, County Court and Supreme Court including committal proceedings, pre-trial hearings, ss 198A & 198B examinations, special hearings, jury trials and appellate proceedings post-conviction.

He is particularly interested in the intersection between police powers and civil liberties, especially matters that raise issues relating to police misconduct (such as unlawful search, seizure, arrest and the excessive use of force by police). Gabriel also has a keen interest in DNA evidence and has presented papers at a national legal conference on DNA evidence in circumstantial cases and defence tendency applications.

Gabriel holds an LLM from New York University and an LLB (with first class honours) from the University of New South Wales. He read with Sarah Keating and his senior mentor is His Honour Judge John Kelly SC.

Gabriel is an approved member of the VLA Criminal Trial Preferred Barrister List.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

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