About Doogue + George

About Doogue + George.
Melbourne’s Specialist Criminal Law Firm.

Doogue + George are one of Australia’s leading firms of specialist criminal lawyers. 

Over the years we have appeared for defendants in over 24,000 prosecutions and from this we have gathered much knowledge.

Our clients range from Federal Politicians, Police Officers and CEO’s of Publicly Listed Companies to small business owners and their employees.

We pride ourselves on giving 100% for every client regardless of what they have been charged with.

There are two sides to justice. We’re on yours.

Our team do not just go through the motions. Proper criminal lawyers will decide a strategy with you and then pursue the plan decided on. The most important part of your case is having a plan in place to defend or mitigate your penalties.

Criminal Law Experience

Doogue + George criminal lawyers have been involved in a number of the largest cases run in Victoria including defending in the largest Commonwealth prosecution. Currently we are defending an accused where there are allegations that companies owned by the Australian Reserve Bank have been involved in bribery of Foreign Officials. The firm has conducted numerous cases in the following areas:

Our criminal lawyers, in Melbourne have acted in all the Victorian Courts and appear interstate for clients as well occasionally. Generally we refer interstate matters to colleagues from the Australian Defence Lawyer’s Alliance. Doogue + George are founding members of ADLA, a collective of the leading criminal law firms in Australia. We are able to count on the considerable experience of our colleagues for any matters that cross State borders.

Why Doogue + George Criminal Lawyers?

By putting yourself in the hands of accredited criminal law specialists your increase your chances of getting the best result possible. The problems and issues that criminal lawyers face are often extremely complex and we are trained and experienced in dealing with those issues. Our firm are committed to ongoing training of our staff in the area of criminal law. We often organise experts to come and provide in-house training and our solicitors all attend external training. Criminal Law is different to commercial law and the strategic decisions you make need to be based on experience (not guesswork). You need a firm of criminal lawyers acting for you that has constant experience in the area to get you the best outcome. We can tell you how how a jury will react to a defended case or when a Prosecutor might be ready to accept a plea offer. We will assess your case and give you honest and pragmatic advice. Our general advice to people looking for a lawyer is following;

  • Make sure the person is in a firm of accredited specialists.

    Criminal Law Specialist Logo
    They should have the LIV specialisation logo on display on their website or business card. The Law Institutes has an accreditation process that involves examinations and performance review. That is the most basic starting point.

  • Ensure that the person involved is well known in criminal law and that they have been involved in many jury trials.
    Ask them how many trials their firm have run and when they last ran one. You will be surprised to find that some firms never run criminal jury trials. Or do so very rarely. The firm should be running at least one jury trial a month.
  • Go and talk to them about what they would do for you.
    If your matter is serious most would be willing to talk to you initially to give you some idea of their approach. Contact criminal lawyers in Melbourne and assess whose approach appeals to you most.
  • Discuss costs at the first meeting.
    Some matters can just come down to which lawyer gives you the best price.
  • Take a list of questions to ask the lawyer.
    Often when you first meet them you may forget to ask things that are actually very important to you. Use this list as a starting point of questions.
  • You have to feel comfortable with your lawyer.
    Their role is very important and if you do not feel they are up to the job then go and see someone else. A lawyer who is comfortable with their skills will not try to hard sell you their services.
  • Do not believe someone just writing on a website that they are an expert lawyer.
    Nor believe someone saying that they are widely accepted as being a specialist. Search their cases on the Law Case website AustLII, where you can read reported Court cases. Seeing actual examples of how often the firm you are talking to has appeared in higher courts is instructive and may indicate that they have a busy jury practice if they are appearing regularly in the appeal Courts.

Below are just a couple of search links. Enter “Doogue” into the search terms to find some of our cases.

If a firm has not appeared much in the Higher Courts they may still be good lawyers. It just means you need to ask them different questions. There are a number of lawyers and criminal firms who hold themselves out as expert Melbourne criminal lawyers who clearly are not. Put their name in and search the databases for the work that they have done. Keep asking questions of your lawyers until you are satisfied that you have the answers you want.

History of Doogue + George

Doogue + George are a specialist Melbourne criminal lawyers firm and one of Australia’s leading firms, co-founding the Australian Defence Lawyer’s Alliance in 2008.

Bill Doogue was a criminal lawyer at the Aboriginal Legal Service in the early 1990s when he decided to start a firm that specialises in criminal law.

The first office was in Broadmeadows in 1995. This was followed in 2001 by a Melbourne CBD office and an third office in 2008 at Heidelberg.

In February 2013, the firm merged with Andrew George solicitors to become Doogue + George, securing its fourth office in Sunshine.

The firm is led by 4 Directors:

With a team of accomplished specialist criminal lawyers, the firm has defended over 10,000 criminal prosecutions and appear daily in all Victorian Courts from the Court of Appeal to every suburban and regional Magistrates’ Court.

Doogue + George have defended a number of the largest Commonwealth and State prosecutions over the last 5 years, including high profile cases, amongst others, former Federal Member of Parliament Andrew Theophanous’s trial on corruption charges and Abdul Nacer Benbrika in the first major terrorism trial in Australia in 2008.

From humble beginnings, Doogue + George have grown into a firm of innovative criminal lawyers. We understand what criminal law is about and how to help you. We also understand that you need to be constantly learning to continue to provide excellent service to your clients. We created our own practise management software and also create databases to manage evidence in complex cases. We regularly use private investigators and experts to challenge the evidence of the Prosecution. We strongly believe that you have to take every step that you can (inside the law) to help your case.

Why leave a stone unturned when so much is at stake?