Professor The Honourable George Hampel AM QC was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1983–2000, having previously practised as a barrister since 1958.[1] He has held numerous positions in the legal profession, such as Vice President of the Law Council of Australia, Vice Chairman of the Victorian Bar Institute and Chairman of the Constitution Commission of Victoria, for which he received a Centenary of Federation Medal.[2] Since 2000, he has been Professor of Trial Practice and Advocacy at Monash University, and Chairman of the Legal Practice Board of Victoria. He is also President of the International Institute of Forensic Studies.[3] He is considered a leader in the teaching of advocacy, and has trained war crime prosecuters at The Hague.
He is married to County Court of Victoria judge Felicity Hampel SC, with whom he often teaches.[4]
Hampel was born in Poland just prior to World War II, the son of Polish Jews. His family escaped Poland to spend the wartime years in Russia. When the war ended, he moved with his family to France, and then eventually to Australia.[5] Although his immediate family survived the Holocaust, much of his extended family did not.[4]