Charles Waterstreet

Charles Christian Waterstreet (born 17 July 1950) is an Australian barrister, author, theatre and film producer. He has written two memoirs, produced two films,[1] and is now a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.[2] He is best known as one of the co-creators of the ABC Television series Rake which is loosely based on his life.[3]

Early life and education

Born in Albury, New South Wales to publican parents, Waterstreet was educated at Waverley College and the University of Sydney where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, History and Political Science in 1971, and a Bachelor of Laws in 1974.[4] During his time at university, he resided at St John's College and later at St Andrew's College.[5]

Career

Legal career

Waterstreet began his career teaching Public Law at the University of New South Wales from 1974 to 1978.[4] In 1974, he was admitted to the Bar,[6] and practices as a barrister, mainly in criminal law, at Forbes Chambers in Sydney.[7] Waterstreet has appeared in many criminal and civil cases in all courts in New South Wales and in the High Court of Australia. In his early years, he appeared as counsel in R v Barton, R v Miller, the infamous Greek social security fraud case, and a number of murder trails and cases regarding other serious criminal matters.

Waterstreet has appeared in many difficult trials involving complex social and factual issues. In R v English, he won a rare acquittal in respect of a solicitor in the "bottom of the harbour" prosecutions. He appeared regularly in a number of alleged sexual abuse cases including false memory syndrome. He spends most of his courtroom career at the criminal bar, in jury trials on behalf of the defence. He has argued successfully in the High Court on equity and criminal law. In recent years, he has appeared as defence counsel in a number of high profile terrorism and murder trials.

Arts career

Waterstreet is a theatre and film producer. In 1986, he produced Howling III and in 1990 he produced Blood Oath. Along with Richard Roxburgh and Peter Duncan, he is a co-creator of the ABC TV series Rake.[8]

He began a theatrical career in producing the hit Boys Own McBeth with Grahame Bond (Aunty Jack) from 1979 which ran for nearly three years; it played in Los Angeles with an all-Australian cast.[9] In film he co-produced The Marsupials – The Howling III with director Philippe Mora. In 1990 he produced the highly respected Blood Oath which starred Bryan Brown, Russell Crowe and Deborah Kara Unger. The film was successfully released in Japanese theatres in April 1991 and in the United States in June of that year. It was shown at the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention on 12 August 1999 in Moscow to highlight aspects of international humanitarian law.

Waterstreet has been a member of the Aspen FilmFest Advisory Committee since 1993. In 1996, he produced Next to Nothing with TCN9 and Mushroom Pictures.

He is the author of Precious Bodily Fluids: A Larrikin's Memoir (Hodder Headline Australia and UK, 1998), which was re-issued by Hachette in 2008 as an Australian classic, and its sequel, Repeating the Leaving (Hodder Headline Australia, 2001). The third instalment in his autobiographical series Rake Man is due for release in late 2015.

Waterstreet's legal publications include:

He is also a regular columnist for The Sun-Herald where he has a weekly feature article in the "Extra" section named "Waterstreetlife".[4]

Newcastle artist Nigel Milsom won his first Archibald Prize in 2015 for his portrait of Charles Waterstreet, the artist's former defence lawyer.[10]

Personal life

Waterstreet was married to a woman called Fiona and they had a son, Harry. Both now live in the US and Waterstreet maintains contact with them.[3] Waterstreet had been romantically linked to actress Kate Fitzpatrick.[3] He also dated journalist Gretel Killeen for a short time, and the two remain close friends.[11]

Prominent cases

Over the course of his career, Waterstreet has appeared as counsel in many high profile criminal and civil cases in all courts in New South Wales, as well as the High Court of Australia, including social security, murder, drug, sexual assault, false memory and terrorism trials. He has also appeared in cases in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and Vanuatu at various times in his career. Some of his more prominent cases include:

References

  1. ↑ Marx, Jack "Bad Old Days" by Jack Marx, The Monthly, November 2010. Retrieved on 3 October 2012
  2. ↑ "Charles Waterstreet", profile at The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 3 October 2012
  3. 1 2 3 "Nothing But The Truth – Transcript", Australian Story presented by Rachel Ward, 3 March 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2013
  4. 1 2 3 "Panellist Charles Waterstreet – flamboyant barrister". Q&A. ABC. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Waterstreet, Charles (15 November 2009). "Animal rites". The Age. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  6. ↑ Charles Waterstreet, Forbes Chambers
  7. ↑ Our Barristers – Junior Counsel, Forbes Chambers
  8. ↑ "Rake – Creative Team", ABC Television. Retrieved on 3 October 2012
  9. ↑ "Ripper of a lifelong Bond" by Charles Waterstreet, The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 2011
  10. ↑ "Portrait of barrister Charles Waterstreet wins 2015 Archibald Prize", Nine News, 17 July 2015
  11. ↑ "A real character" by Charles Waterstreet, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 2009
  12. ↑ "Supreme Court New South Wales: R v Rogerson; R v McNamara (No 14) [2015] NSWSC 1157". New South Wales Caselaw. Retrieved 19 August 2015.

External links

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