Helen Fatouros

Experience

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  Office of Public Prosecutions, Victoria

  Mar 2001 - Jan 2007

  Articled Clerk, Solicitor & Senior Solicitor, Project Manager

  Principal Solicitor, General Prosecutions Section | 2007Transition Unit Project Manager | 2006 to 2007Articles of Clerkship, (Senior) Solicitor Drug & General Prosecutions Sections | 2001 to 2006Prepared and variously appeared on some of the most complex prosecutions across the above period including the State's most serious multi-fatality culpbable driving case (R v Thomas Towle); the first mitocondrial DNA murder case (R v Craig Rye); the first aggregate large commercial drug trafficking prosecution (R v Barbaro & ors) and a multi-infant murder case (R v Carol Matthey). Promoted to support the Solicitor for Public Prosecutions in organisational wide re-structure as Transition Unit Porject Manager for a year. Show less

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  Office of Public Prosecutions, Victoria

  Jul 2007 - Dec 2012

  Promoted to a senior advocacy and change leadership role, I defined and implemented a disruptive advocacy program across the OPP, Victoria’s largest prosecution legal practice. Forging relationships across the judicial system, I challenged an established culture to enable skilled solicitor advocates to undertake more complex work on behalf of the DPP, driving excellence and efficiency in prosecution services to improve community outcomes and more readily meet the needs of victims. In addition, I managed >20 in-house advocates, overseeing all in-house solicitor advocate prosecutions on indicatable criminal matters across Magistrate, Coroner, County and Supreme Courts while appearing as the lead solicitor advocate in many complex prosecution hearings.• Improved solicitor-advocate performance, designing a briefing, training and performance management program driving clear accountabilities;• Returned to Specialist Sex Offences Unit to recover and deliver the launch of the Sexual Offences Interactive Legal Education Project in April 2012;• As a result of the above, delivered an award-winning skills and cultural change program which included an avatar based cross-examination simulation program, an early AI initiative providing a behavioural benchmark for barristers and advocates cross-examining children in sexual offence cases Show less Progressing within the OPP to a senior leadership role, I led multimillion-dollar service expansion and cultural change initiatives including the establishment of a specialist sex offences prosecution office regionally to support the community of Western Victoria. My focus was on leading the design and delivery of best practice prosecution services that improved both victim and witness supports through infrastructure and service projects; all while leading a team of 40 specialist lawyers with a small team of Crown Prosecutors embedded within the team. I created a culture that encouraged high quality service delivery and helped shape policy and law reform that embedded improvements to the way in which courts, prosecution and defence managed sexual offence cases.• Established the Specialist Sex Offences Unit in Geelong opened by the Attorney General in 2009, the office being the OPP’s first and only regional office delivering specialist prosecution services and serving as a key outreach location for the Western region• Project managed a public tender delivering an interactive legal education training program to prosecutors and defenders, improving the consistency and quality of professional conduct in sexual offence cases through an integrated model of training incorporating online and face to face learning models, with complex contract and knowledge management in terms of technology providers, evaluation, research and sector experts• Established and Chaired the Sexual Offences Interactive Legal Education Steering Committee as part of the change agenda bringing the whole sector together to deliver and lead systemic cultural reform. Show less

  • Legal Prosecution Specialist, Advocacy

    Jun 2009 - Dec 2012

  • Directorate Manager, Specialist Sexual Offences Unit

    Jul 2007 - Jun 2009
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  Sentencing Advisory Council

  Jan 2013 - now

  Council Director
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  Victoria Legal Aid

  Jan 2013 - Jan 2018

  Executive Director, Criminal Law Services

  Leading strategic reform across VLA’s largest division, my key aim was to improve the quality and efficiency of legal aid services for disadvantaged individuals eligible for aid. Leading 200 professionals across Indictable, Summary Crime, Youth Crime, Appeals & Strategic Litigation programs, I established service models, training and inter-agency collaboration standards and frameworks that have positioned the division to meet evolving challenges. In addition, I provided thought leadership across the criminal justice system, acted as VLA media spokesperson and continued to act on behalf of clients in complex criminal cases including representing VLA in Victoria’s first ever guideline judgment in the Court of Appeal - Boulton v R (2014) 46 VR 308 regarding community corrections orders.• Led a number of critical multi-year projects including the Summary Crime Evaluation highlighting congestion in the Magistrates’ Court, forming the foundation for significant system review and re-design alongside State Government investment• Re-established the Goulburn Valley office as a premium regional presence with new premises, improving VLA’s role in the local community while managing significant cultural change and re-profiling the office as a provider of more holistic legal services that increase access to justice • Led a review of VLA’s Higher Court Appeals processes including ground-breaking work engaging with victims of crime from within a legal aid commission, in the glare of considerable political and media scrutiny and public disquiet about some of VLA’s appeal funding decisions• Delivered the High Quality Criminal Trials Project, improving trial services in response to judicial & government concerns around the quality of publicly funded criminal trials. Key initiatives included a Preferred Criminal Barrister List and Major Criminal Cases Framework resulting in system quality & accountability uplifts; leading the Victorian Bar to establish an accreditation scheme. Show less

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  Victorian Law Reform Commission

  Jan 2014 - Jan 2018

  Commissioner
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  Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC)

  Jan 2019 - Feb 2021

  Director, Legal