Practice

Andrew Palmer primarily practices in the area of government regulation of business, with a particular focus on occupational health and safety. Andrew acts regularly both for the Victorian WorkCover Authority and for corporate defendants in occupational health and safety prosecutions and at VCAT. He also acts for and advises other regulators including the Environment Protection Authority, the Victorian Building Authority and VicRoads. 

One of Andrew’s particular strengths is in the analysis of complex factual and legal matters, regardless of the area of practice they fall in. Andrew also has expertise in the application of the laws of evidence, privilege and immunity, during discovery, in response to subpoenas, and at trial; and in the area of criminal asset confiscation.

Andrew enjoys developing close working relationships with his instructing solicitors, and is frequently engaged well before any proceedings are issued. Andrew also provides advice on policy and operational issues. Andrew is happy to have preliminary discussions with solicitors prior to being briefed.

Andrew also has expertise in general crime, partiuclarly appellate matters. Andrew is a Victoria Legal Aid Criminal Trial preferred barrister.

Previous academic career

Prior to his career at the Bar, Andrew had a distinguished academic career, including:

• Winning the Supreme Court Prize at Monash
• Travelling to Oxford as a Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Scholar
• Winning the the Vinerian Scholarship for best graduate in the BCL
• Becoming an Associate Professor at Melbourne Law School, where he taught Evidence and Proof and Advocacy in the LLB and JD, and Advanced Evidence, Proof in Litigation and Written Advocacy in the LLM
• Acting as consultant to a number of Parliamentary inquiries
• Authoring several books and numerous articles on evidence and proof, including Proof: How to Analyse Evidence in Preparation for Trial, and Uniform Evidence 

Andrew continues to teach on the LLM program from time to time.  

Seminars, papers and workshops

Andrew is regularly asked to give seminars and papers about the law of evidence, legal professional privilege, proof and investigation, to organisations including:

• The Judicial College of Victoria
• The Victorian Bar
• The Criminal Bar Asssocation 
• The Law Institute of Victoria

Andrew has also been commissioned to develop and deliver innovative in-house training for lawyers, investigators and other regulatory officers at:

• The Victorian WorkCover Authority
• The Australian Securities and Investment Commission
• The Victorian Environment Protection Authority
• The Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions 
• The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions