Lawyer X

Dowsley and Carlyon, journalists for Melbourne’s Herald Sun, detail their decade-long investigation into Nicola Gobbo, a promising Australian defense barrister from a prominent family who found herself at the center of one of largest police corruption scandals in the country’s history. The book follows Gobbo from law school to her rise as a defense lawyer who represented members of organized crime. But she was living a double life as a police informant and betraying countless clients. Dowsley and Carlyon offer a vivid portrait of Gobbo, who had grown to become a minor celebrity in Melbourne prior to her unmasking as an informant; her social life and extravagant homes and automobiles were constant fodder for the gossip columns. Although Gobbo is at the center of this narrative, the authors also offer a detailed history of the figures involved in the Melbourne gang war and Gobbo’s complicated relationship with them and the police. Despite their penchant for forcing ill-fitting pop-culture references into the book, Dowsley and Carlyon offer a solid recounting of this bizarre tale of corruption and perfidy.