Qualifications — Experience — Publications
Qualifications
BA, LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD (Mon)
My PhD examined the use, and limits, of a jury-centric approach to improving criminal laws and trials to improve juror comprehension of the issues they must determine.
My Master's thesis was on corporate criminal liability for indictable offences against the person. My Honours thesis was on similar fact evidence.
I was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia in 1989.
Awards
On 26 January 2014, I was awarded a Public Service Medal for "outstanding public service to the community in the area of criminal law.”
Experience
Greg Byrne Law
2019 - present
Independent Legal Policy Consultant, includes work for:
• Juries Victoria - Chair of the Juries Advisory Group (2020-23)
• Victims of Crime Commissioner
Teaching Associate (sessional), Research Assistant, Monash University (2023- present)
• Criminal Law and Procedure
Department of Justice and Community Services (Vic)
I worked in the Department of Justice and Community Services for 22 years. I held executive level positions for 17 years.
Positions held included:
• Director, Legal Policy
• Director, Criminal Law — Justice Statement
• Director, Criminal Law Review
• Special Counsel, Criminal Law Review
• Special Counsel, Criminal Law Reform
I managed business units of different sizes, between 10 and 45 people. My work involved:
• providing advice to Attorneys-General and senior departmental executives about current criminal law issues and first law officer responsibilities
• researching, analysing and developing policy proposals to improve criminal laws and the criminal justice system• writing discussion papers and reports on complex criminal law issues
• managing government and stakeholder consultation and reform processes
• developing legislation• implementing changes to the law, and• managing staff, budgets and work.
National Committees
I was Victoria's representative on the Model Criminal Code Officers' Committee (1997 to 2011)
Committees Chaired included:
• Jury Directions Advisory Group
• Sexual Offences Advisory Group
• General Offences Advisory Group
• Criminal Procedure Advisory Group
• Criminal Procedure and Evidence Implementation Group
• Tendency and Coincidence Advisory Group
• Summary Procedure Steering Group
• Children's Koori Court Group (Co-chair)
• Family Violence Court (Establishment) Group (Co-chair)
Legislation and reform projects that I led included:
• Jury Directions Act 2015
• Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Act 2014 and 2016
• Crimes Amendment (Abolition of Defensive Homicide) Act 2014
• Criminal Investigation Powers Bill Exposure Draft 2014 (I led this until 2013)
• Criminal Procedure Amendment (Double Jeopardy) Act 2011
• Criminal Procedure Act 2009 and separate reforms to committal proceedings, summary procedure, trial proceedings and appeals
• Crimes (Homicide) Act 2005
• Crimes (Property Damage and Computer Offences) Act 2003
• Sentencing (Amendment) Act 2003 (Sentencing Advisory Council)
• Crimes (Workplace Deaths and Serious Injuries) Bill 2002
• Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances (Amendment) Act 2001
• Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001
• Juries Act 2000
• Confiscation Act 1997
• Children's Court reforms (increasing the jurisdiction to 18, Children's Koori Court, appeals reforms)
Department of Justice and Community Services (Vic)
I worked in the Department of Justice and Community Services for 22 years. I held executive level positions for 17 years.
Positions held included:
• Director, Legal Policy
• Director, Criminal Law — Justice Statement
• Director, Criminal Law Review
• Special Counsel, Criminal Law Review
• Special Counsel, Criminal Law Reform
I managed business units of different sizes, between 10 and 45 people. My work involved:
• providing advice to Attorneys-General and senior departmental executives about current criminal law issues and first law officer responsibilities
• researching, analysing and developing policy proposals to improve criminal laws and the criminal justice system• writing discussion papers and reports on complex criminal law issues
• managing government and stakeholder consultation and reform processes
• developing legislation• implementing changes to the law, and• managing staff, budgets and work.
National Committees
I was Victoria's representative on the Model Criminal Code Officers' Committee (1997 to 2011)
Committees Chaired included:
• Jury Directions Advisory Group
• Sexual Offences Advisory Group
• General Offences Advisory Group
• Criminal Procedure Advisory Group
• Criminal Procedure and Evidence Implementation Group
• Tendency and Coincidence Advisory Group
• Summary Procedure Steering Group
• Children's Koori Court Group (Co-chair)
• Family Violence Court (Establishment) Group (Co-chair)
Legislation and reform projects that I led included:
• Jury Directions Act 2015
• Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Act 2014 and 2016
• Crimes Amendment (Abolition of Defensive Homicide) Act 2014
• Criminal Investigation Powers Bill Exposure Draft 2014 (I led this until 2013)
• Criminal Procedure Amendment (Double Jeopardy) Act 2011
• Criminal Procedure Act 2009 and separate reforms to committal proceedings, summary procedure, trial proceedings and appeals
• Crimes (Homicide) Act 2005
• Crimes (Property Damage and Computer Offences) Act 2003
• Sentencing (Amendment) Act 2003 (Sentencing Advisory Council)
• Crimes (Workplace Deaths and Serious Injuries) Bill 2002
• Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances (Amendment) Act 2001
• Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001
• Juries Act 2000
• Confiscation Act 1997
• Children's Court reforms (increasing the jurisdiction to 18, Children's Koori Court, appeals reforms)
Office of Public Prosecutions
I worked in the Office of Public Prosecutions for 8 years, and I:
• held positions of solicitor and solicitor-advocate
• prosecuted a wide variety of indictable offences and some summary offences
• appeared in the Supreme, County and Magistrates’ Courts including committal proceedings, summary contests and pleas in the higher courts
• appeared at two separate inquests concerning the deaths of two people killed by police officers, and
• was the prosecuting solicitor in the first prosecution in Australia of a corporation for a serious indictable offence against the person.
Publications
Sexual Assault Trials: Challenges and Innovations (Lexis Nexis, 2025) (forthcoming) co-editor with Jacqueline Horan
Waller & WIlliams Criminal Law : Text and Cases (LexisNexis, 15th ed, 2025) (co-author)
‘Juries and the “Detective Juror”: Improving Public Discussion about Juries and Jurors’ (2023) 48(3) Alternative Law Journal 185
'Helping Jurors to Understand: Misconceptions about Delay in Making a Complaint' (2022) 47(1) Alternative Law Journal 16
'A Pathway to Fair(er) Trials: Why We Need a Juries Advisory Council' (2021) 31(2) Journal of Judicial Administration 49
'The High Court in Pell v The Queen: An "Unreasonable" Review of the Jury's Decision' (2020) 45(4) Alternative Law Journal 284
'Making Trials Work for Juries: Pathways to Simplification' [2020] (11) Criminal Law Review 1034, co-authored with Justice Chris Maxwell, then President of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria
'Putting Jurors First: Legislative Simplification of Jury Directions' (2019) 43(3) Criminal Law Journal 180, co-authored with Justice Chris Maxwell, then President of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria
‘Simplifying Homicide Laws for Complex Situations’ in Kate Fitz-Gibbon and Arie Freiberg (eds), Homicide Law Reform in Victoria: Retrospect and Prospects (The Federation Press, 2015), 144
Model Criminal Code Officers' Committee, Contamination of Goods, Public Order Offences, Chapter 8 (1998)
When working for the Department of Justice, I wrote (at least 100,000 words), edited (more than 400,000 additional words), and was responsible for the content and publication of the following reports:
• Criminal Procedure Legislative Guide• Criminal Procedure Act 2009: A Brief Introduction • Review of Sexual Offences: Consultation Paper• Review of the Offence of Defensive Homicide: Discussion Paper• Defensive Homicide: Proposals for Legislative Reform, Consultation Paper• Jury Directions: A New Approach• Jury Directions: A Jury-Centric Approach• Jury Directions: A Jury-Centric Approach Part 2• Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Act 2016: An Introduction.
Links to most of these reports are provided on the 'Case Studies' page, and may also be accessed via this general link:
https://www.justice.vic.gov.au/justice-system/laws-and-regulation/criminal-law
Presentations
Conference and seminar presentations include: • 2023 – Monash University: Emerging Challenges in Managing Sexual Assault Trials (victim legal representation)• 2018 – Australasian Jury Research and Practice Conference (jury directions)• 2016 – Law Institute of Victoria (sexual offence reforms)• 2014 – Judicial College of Victoria (sexual offence reforms)• 2014 – Law Institute of Victoria (sexual offence reforms)• 2014 – Monash University: Homicide Law Reform in Victoria Conference• 2013 – Australasian Jury Research and Practice Conference (jury directions)• 2013 – Law Institute of Victoria (Jury directions)• 2013 – Office of Public Prosecutions (jury directions)• 2010 – Law Institute of Victoria (criminal procedure)• 2009 – County Court of Victoria (criminal procedure)• 2009 – (May and July) - Law Institute of Victoria (criminal procedure)• 2009 – (October and November 2009) Victoria Police (criminal procedure and offence reforms)• 2005 – Office of Public Prosecutions (criminal procedure)• 2005 – Victoria Legal Aid (criminal procedure)