Dr Gregory D Woods KC

Academic Qualifications

LLD, PhD, Dip Ed

Principal Areas of Practice

Criminal Law

Professional Background

• Adjunct Professor of Law, University of New South Wales, 2016-2013
• Judge, District Court of New South Wales, 1997-2017 & 2019 – 2022
• Director, Criminal Law Review Division, 1979-1984
• Public Defender and Deputy Senior Public Defender, 1979-1984
• Ministerial adviser on law reform to six Attorneys-General, 1977-1984
• Private Bar, 1972-1979, 1984-1997, 2017-2019, 2022-
• Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Sydney, 1970-1979

Publications

• “A History of Criminal Law in NSW: The New State, 1901-1955”, 2018
• “A History of Criminal Law in NSW: The Colonial Period, 1788-1900”, 2002
• “Sexual Assault Law Reforms in NSW”, 1981
• “Law and Order in Australia”, (with PG Ward), 1972

Some recent cases

• Croatian Six Inquiry in 2023-2025 before Justice R A Hulme. Acting for 25 former police.
• Johnson v Commissioner of NSW Police [2025] NSWSC 21. Judicial review of decision to issue search warrant authorizing the seizure of a solicitor’s mobile phone. Warrant declared invalid and order made that the phone be returned.
• Folbigg v R [2023] NSWCCA 325. Acquittal of Kathleen Folbigg following an inquiry in 2022-2023 before the Honourable T F Bathurst AC KC which found there was reasonable doubt as to her guilt.

Some cases of note

• Kable v Director of Public Prosecutions (1996) 189 CLR 51, in which the High Court struck down as constitutionally invalid legislation which provided for the preventative detention of the Appellant.
• R v Grassby (1992) 62 A Crim R 351, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions of a former Cabinet Minister for criminal defamation and entered verdicts of acquittal.
• R v Zaidi (1991) 57 A Crim R 189, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions of a doctor for sexual assaults upon patients and ordered a retrial.
• R v Davies (1991) 53 A Crim R 122, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions of the Appellant for fraud offences and ordered a retrial on the basis of a jury irregularity.
• R v Drummond (No 2) (1990) 46 A Crim R 408, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the conviction of the Appellant for conspiracy to murder and ordered a retrial.
• R v Mok (1987) 27 A Crim R 438, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the conviction of the Appellant for conspiracy to supply heroin and ordered a retrial.
• R v Visconti [1982] 2 NSWLR 104, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal upheld an appeal against a sentence of 24 years of imprisonment for sexual offences and imposed a sentence of 13 years in substitution therefor.
• R v Portolesi [1973] 1 NSWLR 105, in which the Court of Criminal Appeal upheld an appeal against sentence. The Court ruled that, in general, relatively short non-parole periods should be fixed so as to promote rehabilitation. This decision led to a marked decrease in the prison population of New South Wales, until the High Court overruled it in PoweR v The Queen (1974) 131 CLR 623.