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Mark Tedeschi AM KC

1975 Master of Arts (Business law) City of London Polytechnic (now, London Metropolitan University)

1974 Bachelor of Laws: University of Sydney

Called to the bar 1977

Appointed Kings Counsel 1988

Since joining Wardell Chambers in early 2018, Mark has expanded his areas of practice to include commissions and inquiries, criminal defence, disciplinary proceedings, and inquests.

In his former position as Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales, Mark conducted some of the most high-profile and complex criminal trials in Australia. He has recently been involved in the Inquiry into the ACT Criminal Justice System (the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann) and the NSW Gay Hate Crimes Inquiry. He conducted a lengthy Inquiry into the NSW Department of Education’s Employee Conduct and Performance division. Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia.

Mark has authored a textbook on the law of International Business in Australia, and has written numerous articles on commercial law, environmental law, criminal law and history. He is also the author of four true-crime books published by Simon & Schuster Australia. He has delivered hundreds of presentations to legal societies, community groups, libraries, bookshops, charitable organisations, universities, and high school students.

Mark was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2013. He is a Trustee of Sydney Grammar School, and was previously a Councillor of the State Library of NSW and a Board Member of the National Art School in Sydney.

Practice Areas

Criminal Law

Inquests and Commissions of Inquiry

Mediation

Professional Disciplinary

Regulatory and Compliance Law

Experience

2018 – present: Senior Counsel, Wardell Chambers

1997 – 2018: Senior Crown Prosecutor for NSW

1990 – 1997: Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor

1983 – 1990: Crown Prosecutor

1977 – 1983: Barrister at the Private Bar

Accolades

Member of the Order of Australia (AM): 2013

Appointed an Italian Cavaliere for services to the law and photography: 2009

Professional Appointments and Memberships

New South Wales Bar Association

Visiting Professor University of Wollongong (2013-18)

Councillor, State Library of New South Wales (2018-23)

Trustee, Sydney Grammar School (2011- present)

Former Member, Board of Directors, National Art School, Sydney (2009 – 2018)

Publications and speaking engagements

Mark has written several books, legal articles and manuals relating to commercial, environmental, criminal law and history. He has also written four true-crime books and was the co-ordinator of a team of Crown Prosecutors who wrote and edited a Crown Prosecutors’ Manual.

He has also delivered hundreds of papers to legal associations, community groups, charitable organisations, university student groups, photographic societies and has given many talks about his true-crime books throughout Australia.

Selected Cases

Private Bar

Gay Hate Crimes Inquiry

ACT Inquiry into the Criminal Justice System (the Bruce Lehrmann trial)

Inquest into the deaths of the Balibo Five

Prosecutor

Mark prosecuted many of the most complex and high-profile trials in Australia between 1998 and 2018. A selection of these cases is provided below.

Name of accused: Ivan Milat

The “backpacker murders” case. Milat was convicted of the murder of seven young backpackers, many of them overseas visitors, whose bodies were found in the Belanglo State Forest. One of Australia’s worst serial murderers. My cross-examination in this case has been the subject of a book ‘R v Milat: A Case Study in Cross-Examination’ by Dan Howard (LexisNexis), 2014.

Phuong Ngo

Assassination of John Newman MP, a sitting member of Parliament, by a political rival. The only political assassination in Australia’s history.

Chiew Seng Liew & Phillip Choon Tee Lim

Murder of Australia’s most prominent heart surgeon, Dr Victor Chang, in a botched extortion attempt in a suburban street of Sydney.

Tim Anderson & Evan Pederick

Hilton Hotel bombing trials. The explosion of a bomb outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney during a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting caused three deaths. Two accused, both members of the Ananda Marga, were charged with the bombing. One confessed to the bombing and went to trial on a purely legal issue, and then gave evidence against the other, who was convicted at trial but acquitted on appeal.

Sef Gonzales

A young man convicted of murdering his parents and sister in their suburban Sydney home in order to inherit his parents’ wealth. He alleged they were victims of Asian crime gangs or that it was an anti-Asian hate crime and he raised two false alibis.

Dr Suman Sood

Australia’s first illegal abortion trial in over 30 years, in which the doctor was charged with negligently causing the birth of a foetus at 24 weeks gestation.

Gordon Wood

The death of Caroline Byrne at the Gap in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was considered as suicide for many years but was subsequently reinvestigated by police. The accused was a member of a group of young men who worked for controversial stockbroker, René Rivkin. Wood was convicted by a jury of the murder of Caroline Byrne but acquitted on appeal.

Mark has also prosecuted several high-profile political cases overseas, including:

Fiji

In 2006, Mark conducted the prosecution of the former and current Prime Minister and former Military Commander of Fiji, Major General Sitiveni Rabuka, in the High Court of Fiji on charges of inciting mutiny. The mutiny occurred in 2000 soon after the violent coup by George Speight and a group of Fijian soldiers. The mutiny was ruthlessly suppressed and resulted in many deaths of serving soldiers. This trial was complicated by the fact that it took place during the 2006 military takeover of Fiji by Commodore Bainimarama.

In 2004, Mark conducted the prosecution of the Vice-President of Fiji and four other prominent people, including the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, a government minister and two other prominent citizens, in the High Court of Fiji. They were charged with taking treasonous oaths of office as rebel President and Ministers during the violent coup by George Speight in 2000. After convictions of four of them, Mark returned to represent the State in their appeals to the Fiji Court of Appeal where their convictions were confirmed.

Tonga

In 2002, Mark provided advice to the Solicitor General of Tonga on a high profile and sensitive prosecution of a prominent Member of Parliament on a charge of sedition.

East Timor

In 2001, Mark provided a lengthy written advice on international criminal law to the UN Prosecutor General of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (Mr Mohamed Othman) on the criminal liability of persons alleged to be responsible for the deaths of five journalists at Balibo during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.