A barrister may report confidential client communications to police where their client has threatened the safety of another person, but going beyond such discrete instances is ethically fraught.
No-one can be convicted or punished for a crime unless there has first been a fair trial.
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Unless Lawyer X had next to no role in the defence of her clients, all the results of any trial where she represented them could be overturned. And this could mean release from prison with no retrial.
Tony Mokbel was sentenced to at least 22 years in jail in 2012 after pleading guilty to large-scale drug importation - but some argue he could get a new trial or even walk free given the latest revelations.
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The royal commission will examine the conduct of a defence barrister who became an informant to the police - supplying information on her own clients that had been given to her in strict confidence.