Sam Pararajasingham SC

Admitted as a legal practitioner in 2009
Admitted as a barrister in 2011
Appointed Senior Counsel in 2024

Download CV

Principal areas of practice

  • Criminal Law
  • Commercial Crime
  • Corruption
  • Appellate

Sam Pararajasingham appears in complex criminal trials as well as appeals against conviction and sentence in appellate jurisdictions.

A substantial part of Sam’s practice is criminal defence work in the area of Commercial Crime. This includes criminal prosecutions and other proceedings arising out of investigations by the AFP, ASIC, ACCC and other regulatory bodies. Sam also advises directors and corporations regarding criminal liability under State and Federal legislation.

Sam has been consistently listed as a Leading Criminal Law Barrister by Doyle’s Guide as well as a Leading White Collar Criminal Law and Regulatory Investigations Barrister.  He has also been ranked in the Legal 500's listing as leading counsel for the "Crime and regulatory (including white-collar crime)" category.

Recent notable cases include:

  • Sam recently successfully defended an Accused in a foreign bribery conspiracy prosecution: R v Sornalingam Ragavan.
    ​
  • Sam is presently briefed for an Accused in a complex money laundering prosecution in the ACT: Shane Anthony Scott v Benjamin Joseph Aulich and Michael Papandrea.
 
  • In 2022 Sam successfully defended an Accused in a foreign bribery conspiracy prosecution in the Supreme Court of NSW: R v Dougas; R v Read; R v Linke.
 
  • In 2022 Sam successfully defended an individual Accused in the banking cartel prosecution in the Federal Court of Australia: CDPP v Citigroup & Others.
 
  • In 2021 Sam appeared for the Accused in a prosecution for contravening a UN Sanction Enforcement law in the Supreme Court of NSW: R v BB.

Sam has also advised and appeared in various statutory commissions of inquiry (including the ICAC, the Police Integrity Commission, ASIC and the Australian and NSW Crime Commissions). Most recently Sam appeared in ICAC on behalf of key individuals in Operations Mantis (2024), Galley (2022), Keppel (2020-2021) and Dasha (2020-2021).  Sam was recently briefed for an interested party in the ACT Board of Inquiry into the Criminal Justice System as well as an interested party in the inaugural public hearings conducted by the ACT Integrity Commission (Operation Kingfisher).​


Sam further appears in the Court of Criminal Appeal and High Court. Recent notable cases include:
​
  • Shortland v R [2024] NSWCCA 174 – appeal against sentence on the ground that a miscarriage of justice was occasioned by the failure of the Applicant’s legal representatives to present evidence from a psychologist at the sentence hearing (leading Caitlin Akthar).
 
  • Bott v R [2023] NSWCCA 255 - appeal against sentence to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning the application of Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Maxwell (2013) 228 A Crim R 218; [2013] VSCA 50 to a manifest excess ground (led by Phil Strickland SC).
 
  • Restricted judgment [2023] NSWCCA 164 – appeal against conviction to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning reasonable doubt as to existence of joint criminal enterprise or an extended joint criminal enterprise to murder (led by Stephen Odgers SC). 
   
  • Tiriaki v R [2023] NSWCCA 73 – appeal against conviction to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning fresh evidence following murder conviction (led by Murugan Thangaraj SC).​
 
  • Kemal v R [2022] NSWCCA 83 – appeal against sentence to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning proper application of section 5.4 Criminal Code (Cth) (unled).
 
  • MN v R [2022] NSWCCA 78 – appeal against sentence to Court of Criminal Appeal about whether sentencing judge failed to properly take into account applicant’s mental disorders (led by Stephen Odgers SC).
 
  • SY v R [2020] NSWCCA 320 – appeal against sentence to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning assessment of objective seriousness and discount for assistance (led by Murugan Thangaraj SC)
   
  • Sidaros v The Queen [2020] ACTCA 11 – appeal against interlocutory decision to ACT Court of Appeal concerning the application of sections 90 and 138 Evidence Act 2011 (ACT) (led by Stephen Odgers SC)
   
  • Restricted judgment [2018] NSWCCA 217 – appeal against conviction to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning the application of section 137 Evidence Act (led by Stephen Odgers SC)
 
  • Chong v R [2017] NSWCCA 185 – appeal against sentence to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning the denial of procedural fairness by the sentencing judge to the offender and the offender’s representative at sentence hearing (unled)
   
  • MJB v R [2016] NSWCCA 210 – appeal against sentence to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning what constitutes “exceptional assistance to authorities”, warranting a combined discount on sentence in excess of 50% (unled)
 
  • Lee v R; Tang v R [2015] NSWCCA 157 – appeal against conviction to Court of Criminal Appeal concerning an irregularity at trial due to the illiteracy of one juror (led by Murugan Thangaraj SC)
 
  • Lee v R (2014) 308 ALR 252 – appeal to High Court concerning the illegal possession at trial by the prosecution of the appellant’s compulsory interview before the NSW Crime Commission and the proper construction of the compulsory examination provisions in the NSW Crime Commission Act 1985 (led by Tim Game SC)

Sam has lectured in Evidence Law at the University of Sydney and is the author of the text Navigating Uniform Evidence Law published by Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited (June 2022).

Sam previously played first grade for Western Suburbs in the NSW Premier Cricket Competition and was recently on the Board of Western Suburbs District Cricket Club.


For further details or enquiries regarding Sam Pararajasingham's areas of expertise, fees and terms of engagement please contact his Clerk.

CONTACT HERE
Forbes Logo