Power 20 list: The top influential players in the South Australian legal system ranked

Inside the courtroom and once the wigs come off these are the state’s top legal eagles holding the strings of power. The jury has decided, see the 2024 rankings.

Andrew Hough and Sean Fewster – The Advertiser

It’s common, in interstate and overseas jurisdictions, for lawyers to hold press conferences on the steps of court – but Adelaide has never embraced that spectacle.

It is a rare barrister or solicitor who pauses, on Victoria Square, to protest their client’s innocence to the media or hold forth on the judgments of courts.

The courtroom is where South Australia’s legal fraternity does its work and, when it needs to opine, does so through peak bodies.

When the wigs come off and the gowns are put to one side, then, who are the powerbrokers within Adelaide’s legal profession?

Some names are obvious due to the standing conferred by their professional positions – even if, some would argue, those above them really hold the strings of power.

Others earn their place through respect, cultivated after many years of service to either the state or a private client.

And some may seem surprising choices – until one considers the close ties between the halls of justice and the corridors of political influence.

This list continues the countdown to The Advertiser’s annual power rankings with South Australia’s 100 most influential people of 2024 to be revealed in December.

In the lead up, The Advertiser has ranked the state’s most powerful people across different industries with our interstate and overseas expats yet to come.

See the top 20 law rankings below.