Lawyer X

Melbourne’s Gangland War was an era dominated by murders, stings, hits, drug busts, corruption and greed - inspiring bestselling books and even a popular TV series. It took the police a decade to bring down criminal kingpins Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel and their accomplices. When the police finally closed the case files, just how they really won the war would become a closely guarded secret - and its exposure the biggest legal scandal of our time.

Lawyer X is the shocking true story of how a promising defence barrister from a privileged background broke all the rules - becoming both police informer and her client’s lover, sharing secrets with the cops and the criminals and helping to trigger numerous sensational arrests and convictions. The story of how Nicola Gobbo became Lawyer X, and why, is a compelling study in desperation and determination.

Lawyer X is based on the ground-breaking work of Herald Sun investigative journalists Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon and their five-year struggle to reveal Gobbo’s identity. For their reporting of the ‘Lawyer X Informer Scandal’, Dowsley and Carlyon received Australian journalism’s highest honour, the Gold Walkley Award, in 2019.