ACT Bar Association drops complaints against ex-top prosecutor Shane Drumgold

The ACT Bar Association has dropped all of the complaints it made about former top prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC’s conduct during the proceedings relating to Bruce Lehrmann.

Mr Drumgold said the association resolved to dismiss the first 10 complaints and withdraw the 11th it made against him as the former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

“The ACT Bar Association has found there is no evidence to support a finding that I engaged in either professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct in relation to any conduct surrounding the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann,” he said.

“This is the first investigation of the merits of the Sofronoff findings and whether any conduct amounted to either professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct, with the ACT Bar Association concluding that none of the 11 Sofronoff findings examined were made out on the evidence.

“I have always maintained that my conduct has been proper and appropriate.”

After the trial of Mr Lehrmann ended due to juror misconduct in December 2022, Mr Drumgold discontinued his charge.

The Board of Inquiry was then launched to examine the prosecution, and Mr Drumgold resigned from the DPP in August 2023 after the inquiry’s findings made his position untenable.

Afterwards, he launched his own case in the ACT Supreme Court, with a judge finding inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff KC’s private communications with The Australian journalist Janet Albrechtsen gave rise to apprehended bias against him but also rejected some of his claims.

However, the ACT Government said his position would still have been considered untenable.

Meanwhile, in December 2023, the bar association launched its complaint about Mr Drumgold, alleging he engaged in professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct while DPP.

According to the reasons for its decision, seen by Region, these complaints related to his conduct during the prosecution of Mr Lehrmann, the release of an unredacted copy of his letter to then-ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan in 2022 that helped spark the Board of Inquiry and evidence he gave during the inquiry.

The minutes of the bar association’s proceedings say the first 10 of its complaints against Mr Drumgold were dismissed because the association determined there was no reasonable likelihood he would be found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct.

“Drumgold does presently hold a practising certificate issued by the bar council,” the council wrote in its decision.

“Understandably, in the period from May to September 2022, there were many pressures operating on Drumgold in relation to the Lehrmann trial.”

Region contacted the ACT Bar Association about its decision, but it said it would not be commenting on the matter.

Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations against him, but earlier this year the Federal Court found it was likely he had sexually assaulted Brittany Higgins in Parliament House on the balance of probabilities.

Meanwhile, it was announced earlier this year that the ACT Integrity Commission would launch a full investigation into the conduct of Mr Sofronoff in relation to him giving his report to journalists before handing it to Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

Then in June, the five police officers who began the process of suing the ACT Government for $1.4 million over their claims that they had been defamed Mr Drumgold dropped their case.

Mr Sofronoff was then back in the spotlight in September when the Supreme Court released communications that showed he had appeared to have accused the ACT’s two chief law officers of defending Mr Drumgold instead of fixing issues in the legal system.