Chief Justice Lucy McCallum warns of 'oppressive' scrutiny on lawyers

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, who oversaw the aborted trial of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, issued the message on Monday.

The note followed revelations, a day earlier, that the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions had resigned.

"The administration of justice in the ACT has been the subject of unprecedented attention in the past year," Chief Justice McCallum wrote.

"While public scrutiny is a welcome and necessary incident of open justice, a point can be reached where the personal toll on the practitioners concerned becomes oppressive and unfair.

"I urge all practitioners to show kindness and respect towards each other at this time and look forward to continuing to work with the local legal profession to build on the many strengths of this jurisdiction."

The Chief Justice has made headlines in recent days, with an inquiry into Mr Lehrmann's case finding Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC knowingly lied to her in court.

This finding concerned Mr Drumgold's characterisation of a note about a meeting he had with Lisa Wilkinson before the television host made a Logie awards speech that delayed Mr Lehrmann's trial.

A furious Chief Justice McCallum ordered the delay last year, saying Ms Wilkinson's speech had generated publicity with the power to "obliterate" the distinction between an allegation and proof of guilt.

The judge did so after Mr Drumgold tendered a note, which he described as a contemporaneous account of a meeting at which he claimed to have warned Ms Wilkinson about the dangers of pre-trial publicity.

It in fact contained information that was only added after Ms Wilkinson, whose account differed significantly, had given the infamous speech.

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Inquiry chairman Walter Sofronoff KC made numerous other adverse findings against Mr Drumgold, who insisted on Sunday he had not acted in an underhanded or dishonest manner.

The findings are yet to be released publicly, though they have been widely reported after Mr Sofronoff provided copies to two journalists without ACT government approval.

Mr Drumgold claims this denied him procedural fairness and has found support from Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson SC, who has suggested he could ask a court to set the findings aside.

The trial of Mr Lehrmann, who has always denied raping fellow former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins at Parliament House, was derailed last October by juror misconduct.

Mr Drumgold subsequently discontinued the case, citing fears for the mental health of Ms Higgins.

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