Tomislav Bicanic

Admission dates

Legal Profession: 2017
NSW Bar: 2018
Also entitled to practise in: All Australian jurisdictions (State, Territory and Commonwealth)

Principal areas of practise

• Criminal Law
  • Summary and Indictable
  • Bail, Hearing, Trial, Sentence and Appeal (including Federal Court – Federal Crime and Related Proceedings)
• Quasi-criminal
  • Commissions of Inquiry
  • Crime Commission (State and Commonwealth)
  • Coronial Inquests
• Constitutional Law
• Administrative Law

Memberships and panels

• Director, Trust Chambers (2020-2024)
• NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Private Briefing Panel
• Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions External Briefing Panel
• NSW Legal Aid Indictable Panel
• NSW Federal Court Pro Bono Assistance Scheme
• NSW Bar Association New Barristers Committee (2020-2023)

Recent CPD events

• “Affirmative Consent: The Communicative Model.  An overview of recent amendments to the laws of New South Wales on the issue of consent in sexual offence trials”.  Paper presented at the Hannay Lawyers Queenstown Criminal Law Conference August 2023.  Paper available upon request.
• “District Court Criminal Law Practice” (12 July 2023), co-chaired with Carolina Soto on behalf of the NSW Bar Association New Barristers Committee.  Including panellists The Honourable Justice D M Price AO Chief Judge of the District Court of NSW, Her Honour Judge K N Shead SC and His Honour Judge W J Hunt.
• “Working with Silks 2022” (27 October 2022), co-chaired with Elly Phelan on behalf of the NSW Bar Association New Barristers Committee.  Including panellists Ian Lloyd KC, Kate Eastman AM SC, Richard Pontello SC and Greg O’Mahoney.
• “Local Court Criminal Practice: Tips from the Bench” (7 July 2022), on behalf of the NSW Bar Association New Barristers Committee.  Including panellists Magistrate James Gibson, Magistrate Joy Boulos and Magistrate Peter Thompson.

Recent cases

• R v F, F & B [2024] QDC 1 (Led by Tim Game SC.  Pre-trial application under section 590AA of the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) – application for permanent stay – principles in respect of adequacy and sufficiency of particulars in a large fraud case following previous deficient particulars – consideration of principles in respect of attribution as applied under the Code – particulars struck out – decision currently subject to reference to Court of Appeal by Crown – application pending)
• R v Barkl; R v Dumbrell; R v Theobold [2023] NSWCCA 309 (Led by Ian Lloyd KC.  Responding to Crown sentence appeal asserting manifest inadequacy – section 5D – drug offending – whether sentencing judge determined objective seriousness – parity issue in respect of co-accused who is not subject to Crown appeal – comparative cases – whether range established – Crown appeal dismissed on merits – no error established – no resort to residual discretion)
• Dib v Rex [2023] NSWCCA 243 (Led by Phil Strickland SC.  Sentence appeal – whether previous line of authorities in NSW plainly wrong on issue of backdating unrelated time by reference to practice in other jurisdictions – whether justifiable sense of grievance following successful sentence appeal by co-offender – whether sentence manifestly excessive – extension granted, appeal allowed on parity ground and lesser sentence imposed)
• Li v R [2023] NSWCCA 112 (Led by Ian Lloyd KC.  Sentence appeal – whether unlikelihood of reoffending considered and taken into account – distinguishing Meoli v R [2021] NSWCCA 213 – error established – lesser sentence warranted and imposed – appeal allowed)
• Gavellas v R [2022] NSWCCA 229 (Unled.  Sentence appeal – question of whether statutory aggravating factors erroneously double counted – question of error of fact – factual error established – no lesser sentence warranted – leave to appeal granted but appeal dismissed)
• Ali v R [2022] NSWCCA 199 (Led by Richard Pontello SC.  Conviction appeal – extension of time – question of admissibility of “ad hoc” expert evidence – no error demonstrated – extension granted but appeal dismissed)
• R v BT [2022] NSWDC 527 (Unled.  Appearance on behalf of Crown as Crown Prosecutor in sentence proceedings – sexual offences – two victims – De La Rosa issues – approach to assessment of objective gravity – totality)
• Burke v The Queen [2022] NSWCCA 6 (Unled.  Sentence appeal – manifest excess – asserted internal disparity as between indicative sentences – appeal dismissed)
• Hunt v The Queen [2021] NSWCCA 192 (Unled.  Sentence appeal – principles that apply to backdating commencement date of sentence where broken periods of pre-sentence custody – appeal allowed and appellant resentenced)
• Alameddine v The Queen [2021] HCATrans 198 (12 November 2021) (Led by Guy Reynolds SC.  Special leave application – asserted De Simoni error – proper construction of section 101.4 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth) – special leave refused)
• Doyle v The Queen [2021] NSWCCA 297 (Led by Ian Lloyd QC.  Sentence appeal – historical matter – erroneous reference to non-parole period – error established but no lesser sentence warranted in law)
• Fisher v R; R v Fisher [2021] NSWCCA 91 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Conviction appeal and Crown sentence appeal – whether verdicts inconsistent – whether sentence manifestly inadequate – relevance of self-induced intoxication on sentence – conviction appeal dismissed – section 5D Crown appeal allowed)
• Weaver v R [2021] NSWCCA 215 (Led by Ian Lloyd QC.  Sentence appeal – whether miscarriage arose in proceedings at first instance by tender of offender’s ERISP – appeal dismissed)
• Goldman v R [2021] NSWCCA 197 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Conviction appeal – whether verdict unreasonable – relevance of verdicts of not guilty in assessment of whether verdict of guilty is unreasonable – consideration of R v TK (2009) 74 NSWLR 299 – appeal dismissed)
• Petkos v R [2020] NSWCCA 55 (Led by Ian Lloyd QC.  Sentence appeal – whether DPP v Maxwell (2013) 228 A Crim R 218 should be applied to offences under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) – appeal dismissed).  Special leave refused: Petkos v The Queen [2020] HCATrans 212 (8 December 2020)
• Manojlovic v R; R v Manojlovic [2020] NSWCCA 315 (Led by Ian Lloyd QC.  Conviction appeal – appeal dismissed – Crown sentence appeal – Crown appeal allowed)
• Kim v R [2020] NSWCCA 288 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Conviction appeal – appeal dismissed)
• PQR v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) [2020] NSWSC 731 (Led by A. Bellanto QC.  Interlocutory appeal on question of law from Children’s Court Magistrate – appeal dismissed)
• Casella v R [2019] NSWCCA 201 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Sentence appeal – appeal allowed – ICO imposed in lieu of term of full-time imprisonment)
• Ng v R [2019] NSWCCA 172 (Led by Ian Lloyd QC.  Conviction appeal – appeal allowed – insufficient evidentiary basis to prove existence of joint criminal enterprise – conviction quashed)
• Daaboul v R [2019] NSWCCA 191; 100 NSWLR 682 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Conviction appeal – appeal allowed – verdict unreasonable – conviction quashed)
• Scahill v R [2019] NSWCCA 190 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Conviction appeal – unbalanced summing-up – appeal allowed – convictions quashed)
• Mansweto v R [2018] NSWCCA 232; 86 MVR 309 (Led by Anthony Bellanto QC.  Sentence appeal – dangerous driving – manifestly excessive – proper approach to matters on 166 certificate – appeal allowed)