Peter Faris
Encyclopedia
George Peter Faris, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 is a criminal lawyer, media commentator and former radio broadcaster in Melbourne, Australia.

He commenced practice as a solicitor in 1963 under the tutelage of the Australian defence lawyer Frank Galbally
Frank Galbally
Francis Eugene 'Frank' Galbally CBE was an Australian criminal defence lawyer.Galbally initially trained to be a priest after he left school at the age of 16 but after the events of Pearl Harbor joined the Navy....

. He rapidly became a successful advocate with a reputation for his tenacity.

Faris signed the roll of counsel of the Victorian Bar
Victorian Bar
The Victorian Bar is the bar association for the Australian State of Victoria. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 19 January 2006, there were 1627 counsel practising as members of the Victorian Bar. Once a barrister has been admitted to practice by the Supreme Court...

 in 1970 and practiced as defence and prosecuting counsel in serious criminal cases. In the mid-1980s he "took silk" and became a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

. Since that time he has appeared in some of Australia's most sensational criminal trials.

From 1989 to 1990 he was chairman of Australia's peak crime-fighting taskforce, the troubled National Crime Authority
National Crime Authority of Australia
The National Crime Authority was an Australian law enforcement agency established in 1984.In 2003 it was superseded by the Australian Crime Commission .The NCA was set up in the wake of the Costigan Commission into tax evasion and organised crime...

 (now the Australian Crime Commission
Australian Crime Commission
The Australian Crime Commission is an Australian Government national criminal intelligence and investigation agency. It was formulated under the Australian Crime Commission Act which came into effect on 1 January 2003, establishing the ACC as a national statutory authority to combat serious and...

).

After leaving the NCA Faris returned to private practice as a barrister. He has since combined his legal practice with his double life as a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

ger, broadcaster and media commentator.

As well as prosecuting and defending criminal trials, his practice includes appearing for witnesses summoned by investigative crime and corruption bodies and conducting appeals against the decisions of those bodies.

His bluntness of expression and conservative political views tend to alienate his opponents, but they also earned his weekly 3AW
3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.-History:...

radio spot an enthusiastic following.

In 2007 Faris asserted in the media that cocaine use was rife among Melbourne's legal profession, prompting an investigation of him by the Victorian Bar's ethics committee. In response, Faris accused the committee of shooting the messenger and announced that he would resign his Victorian Bar membership to practice as independent counsel.

On 25 January 2009, Faris announced that he would discontinue blogging:

Goodbye to all.
I am closing this blog as I wish to concentrate my writing efforts elsewhere.

Thank you all for your support over the years.http://www.farisqc.observationdeck.org/?p=587

The blog has since been dismantled http://www.farisqc.observationdeck.org/.

External links

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