Julian McMahon

Julian P McMahon is a Melbourne barrister, who has been the lawyer for Van Tuong Nguyen and members of the Bali Nine. He currently serves as the president of the Capital Punishment Justice Project (formerly Reprieve Australia), an organisation which aims to provide legal representation and humanitarian assistance to those at risk of execution. Early life and education McMahon began studies at the University of Melbourne in 1986, where he was a resident at Trinity College. McMahon was a member of the college debating club known as the Dialectic Society. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 1987, and a Bachelor of Laws in 1990. He later obtained a Master of Laws degree from Monash University in 1998. Career McMahon was admitted to practice as a solicitor in 1992, and worked for Sly and Weigall and then the Office of Public Prosecutions. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1998, and specialises in criminal and human rights law. He describes his chambers as having a history of "looking after people who no-one else really wants to defend". McMahon opposes the use of the death penalty internationally, and challenged Australian citizen Van Nguyen's execution by Singapore in 2005, along with Lex Lasry QC.