Lewis Winter

Lewis accepts briefs to advise and appear in criminal, regulatory and public law matters.

In addition to his strong criminal practice, Lewis has particular expertise in white-collar crime, responding to regulatory investigations, commissions of inquiry, and conducting internal investigations into financial and other forms of professional misconduct.

Lewis acts for regulators, individuals and corporates in relation to a broad subset of corporate crime, including fraud, bribery and corruption and breaches of occupational health safety laws. He is also available to appear in civil penalty and other quasi-criminal matters, such as compulsory examinations, confiscation and proceeds of crime applications, disciplinary tribunal proceedings and coronial inquests.

Lewis is recommended by Doyle’s Guide as a Leading White Collar and Regulatory Investigations – Junior Counsel (in 2024 and 2025).

Prior experience 

Before coming to the Bar, Lewis worked in a variety of criminal, commercial and government roles in the public sector and private practice. This experience enabled him to develop strong technical skills across a variety of legal disciplines and an understanding of the unique demands and pressures that come with working on high profile litigation.

Of note:

• Allens:  Lewis worked in the Disputes and Investigations practice group at Allens where he assisted individuals and companies with responding to regulatory and law enforcement investigations into allegations of financial misconduct (including foreign bribery and other forms of corporate crime). He also worked on general commercial and construction disputes.
• Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions:  When he was a federal prosecutor at the CDPP, Lewis  advised regulators and investigative agencies (such as the AFP, ASIC and the ACCC) in relation to investigations into complex commercial crime (including foreign bribery and cartel conduct).
• Royal Commissions:   Lewis also worked on both sides of royal commissions. He was a member of the solicitors’ assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (where he worked exclusively on Catholic Church investigations and public hearings) and the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. While at Allens, he worked on the Victorian and Western Australian Royal Commissions into Crown Casino.

In the early stages of his career, Lewis was the Tipstaff to the (now retired) Honourable Justice Michael Pembroke AO SC in the Equity Division of the New South Wales Supreme Court. Prior to that he worked with the Office of the Co-Prosecutors at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as part of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.

Lewis read with Karen Argiropoulos SC. His senior mentor is Albert Dinelli KC.