Dever’s List · Aickin Chambers · Victorian Bar
Melbourne, VIC
Quick answer
Adrian Anderson is a barrister at the Victorian Bar in Melbourne who specialises in sports law, disciplinary tribunals and media law. Before the Bar he was the AFL’s General Manager of Football Operations from 2004 to 2012, where he oversaw the 2005 overhaul of the AFL Tribunal system, and before that a commercial litigation partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He signed the Bar roll in 2015, is clerked by Dever’s List and is Vice-President of the Melbourne Cricket Club.
Admitted
1997
Victorian Bar
2015
Clerk / list
Dever’s List
Chambers
Aickin Chambers
AFL football operations
General Manager, 2004–2012
Melbourne Cricket Club
Vice-President
Adrian Anderson came to the Victorian Bar in 2015 after nine years running football operations at the AFL. He was the league’s General Manager of Football Operations from 2004 until he stepped down at the end of 2012. AFL.com.au reported when he signed the Bar roll that he had overhauled the AFL Tribunal system in 2005, introducing the Match Review Panel, carryover points and the table of offences that shaped how on-field charges are graded. He now appears regularly as counsel in sports disciplinary hearings, including before the AFL Tribunal.
Before the AFL he was a commercial litigator. He was admitted in 1997 and became a partner in the commercial litigation division of Corrs Chambers Westgarth in 2003, where his clerk’s profile says he was a principal media law adviser. Between the AFL and the Bar he carried out an integrity review for Cricket Australia and a player welfare review for the NRL, according to his clerk’s profile, and in November 2013 he was appointed interim chief executive of Cycling Australia, as SBS reported at the time.
Other roles. He has been on the Melbourne Cricket Club committee since 2016 and is its Vice-President. His clerk’s profile also lists him as a Cricket Australia Conduct Commissioner and a member of the Harness Racing Australia rules committee. He co-wrote a 2020 British Journal of Sports Medicine article on consent, capacity and compliance in concussion management.
Education and languages. Bachelor of Laws with honours (University of Melbourne) and an MBA (Melbourne Business School). He speaks Italian.
His Victorian Bar profile lists practice categories of sports law, technology and media law, public and administrative law, inquests and inquiries, appellate, commercial, corporations, common law and personal injury, and international work. In practice that covers:
How a barrister is engaged. Barristers in Victoria are sole practitioners. They are ordinarily briefed by a solicitor rather than retained directly by a client, and their availability and fees are arranged through their clerk.
Sources: his Victorian Bar profile (practice categories, reviewed 24 September 2026) and his Dever’s List profile (reviewed 24 September 2026). Practice descriptions are supplied by the barrister and are not independently verified by the Victorian Bar, his clerk or this site. We do not list individual cases or clients.
Doyle’s Guide does not publish a sports law list for barristers. We searched its 2025 and 2026 Victorian technology, media and telecommunications junior counsel lists and its 2026 national defamation barristers list and did not find him listed; the Anderson in the defamation list is a different barrister, based in Brisbane. Doyle’s ranks a small share of the Bar, so absence from its lists is not a finding about a barrister’s work.
Adrian Anderson is listed on the Victorian register of lawyers kept by the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner. The entry below is reproduced as it appeared on 24 September 2026.
Barristers in Victoria are sole practitioners, which is why the “practising at” field shows his own name rather than a firm, and why accredited specialisation is recorded as not applicable — the Law Institute of Victoria specialist accreditation scheme is for solicitors.
The register shows only one Adrian Anderson entitled to practise in Victoria.
Contact his clerk, Dever’s List, on 03 9225 7999 about availability. He practises from Aickin Chambers in Melbourne. Barristers are normally briefed by a solicitor, although sports clubs and governing bodies often brief counsel for tribunal hearings through their own legal teams. If you do not yet have a lawyer, our matching service can put your matter in front of one who can brief counsel if your matter needs it.
Adrian Anderson is a Melbourne barrister specialising in sports law, disciplinary tribunals and media law. He was the AFL’s General Manager of Football Operations from 2004 to 2012 and a commercial litigation partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth before that, and he came to the Victorian Bar in 2015.
Yes. His clerk’s profile says he was the AFL’s General Manager of Football Operations from 2004 to 2012, and AFL.com.au reported in 2015 that the league’s former football operations manager had signed the Victorian Bar roll.
He oversaw the 2005 overhaul of the AFL’s disciplinary system while running football operations, which introduced the Match Review Panel, carryover points and the table of offences, according to AFL.com.au. The system has been revised several times since.
Sports law and disciplinary tribunals, anti-doping and integrity matters, racing appeals, defamation and media law, administrative law and judicial review, coronial inquests, and restraint of trade and commercial disputes.
Through his clerk, Dever’s List, on 03 9225 7999. Barristers are ordinarily briefed by a solicitor or, for sports tribunals, often by a club or governing body’s legal team.
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