Andrew Fraser

Born in Melbourne in 1951 into a family of lawyers, Andrew Fraser was destined to follow the same path. For thirty years Fraser was one of Australia’s high-profile criminal lawyers. He defended the likes of Alan Bond, Melbourne’s underworld family the Morans, footballer Jimmy Krakouer and killer Dennis Allan. His clients could reach him 24/7 and he worked tirelessly to free them from the clutches of the law.

As his success as the “go to” lawyer grew, so did his addiction to cocaine. Eventually cocaine use unravelled everything. Police bugged his office and, in an unfortunate sequence of events, charged Fraser with being knowingly concerned with an importation of cocaine – serious charges that received no mercy.

This was the beginning of the end of life as Fraser had known. It was the wake up call he desperately needed. He admitted himself into hospital to withdraw from his drug addiction. This was the start of his long road to recovery. Over the two long and difficult years he was on bail he managed to remain drug free.

Fraser had little choice but to plead guilty. Expecting a first offender’s sentence of six months, he was instead sentenced in December 2001 to seven years imprisonment with a minimum of five years. A crushing sentence.

Fraser was sent to a maximum-security prison housing thirty-eight of the most dangerous inmates in Victoria, despite the fact that he was a low-threat prisoner. His life was at risk every minute of every day. In those five years, Fraser would hear the most disturbing tales from Australia’s most notorious prisoners. All his years as a very experienced defence lawyer, including visits to clients in nearly every jail in Australia, did not remotely prepare him for the shock that is life on the inside.

On his release, Fraser wrote his runaway best seller, “Court in the Middle”, a revealing insight into the prison world from someone who knows the criminal system inside out. It blows the whistle on the sorry state of our prison system and how successive governments have played the law-and-order card without regard to the appalling outcomes. Andrew Fraser lost everything: he was disbarred, discredited, broken financially and his marriage was destroyed, but he refuses to play the victim.

Fraser has now gone full circle. He is a champion of survival, overcoming adversity through persistence and perseverance. He communicates valuable tools that can be applied to every person’s life. His true life experiences intermingled with his hilarious anecdotes leave audiences spell bound.

Following the success of “Court in the Middle” (sales to date approaching 40,000 copies) Fraser has written a follow up book titled “Lunatic Soup” (released 1st November 2008 published by Hardie Grant – 1st print run 20,000 copies). This book examines Fraser’s journey through the darkness of maximum security to being the pivotal Crown witness against serial killer Peter Dupas in the Mersina Halvagis murder.

Fraser has now gone full circle. He is a champion of survival, overcoming adversity through persistence and perseverance. He communicates valuable tools that can be applied to every person’s life. His true life experiences intermingled with his hilarious anecdotes leave audiences spell bound.

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