Adrian practices in a range of areas including criminal law, child protection, family violence and family law. Adrian also has an interest in civil liberties and human rights. As a Reader, his Mentor was Justin Hannebery at Crockett Chambers (now a County Court Judge) and his Senior Mentor was Robert Richter QC.
Prior to commencing at the Bar, Adrian worked as a Legal & Policy Officer within the human rights unit at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. His particular areas of interest included the rights of older people, the rights of people with disabilites, guardianship and adminstration, housing and homelessness, mental health, local government and the use of force by police. He has wide experience in legal research, analysis and reasoning and preparing written submissions on policy and human rights.
Adrian has a Juris Doctor Law degree from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Leicester in the UK. He is a prize winning graduate of the Juris Doctor winning the 2007 Clayton Utz Award for Dispute Management, the 2006 Clayton Utz Award for Principles of Private Law and the 2006 Subject awards for Legal Research & Method (joint) and Civil Procedure (joint). He was also awarded the Valerie & Lawrence Kennedy Scholarship in 2006. During and after his law degree, Adrian provided legal research services to a number of barristers.
After graduating, Adrian became a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Law School where he co-authored a reference work published by Oxford University Press titled 'Documents on the Law of UN Peace Operations'.
After publication, Adrian left the university to project manage the establishment of a ‘Street to Home Project’ aimed at supporting rough sleepers in Melbourne into long term accommodation.
Prior to undertaking his law studies, Adrian worked as a Senior Project Manager at the State Library of Victoria for ten years managing a broad range of community Internet projects. In this role he gained great experience in running major projects, managing staff, timelines and budgets, and using his initiative and creativity to solve problems.
Outside work, Adrian has acted in a number of short films and plays football for the Melbourne University Masters team on a Sunday and five a side on a Wednesday. In his younger days he had a trial with Aston Villa Football Club in the UK though his undying support is for his home town team of Manchester City.
Outside his usual practice areas, Adrian appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria in the case of Doe v Howard [2015] VSC 75. This was a summary judgment aplication in a case involving human trafficking and the enforcement of a US judgment in Victoria. It raised important issues relating to the enforcement of foreign judgments at common law in Victoria.
Adrian holds an Indictable Crime Certificate and is member of the VLA Criminal Trial Preferred Barrister List.
You can connect with Adrian at au.linkedin.com/in/batesadrian