Bilal Hussain

Bilal advises on public law matters and acts for public entities in litigation and major inquiries.

He has particular expertise in providing strategic and pragmatic legal advice in relation to the powers of State and Commonwealth Royal Commissions and sensitive public interest immunity claims, preparing witnesses to give evidence before Commissions and the preparation of State responses to Commissions.

Bilal also has experience managing litigation in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Supreme Court and Federal Court.

Bilal is experienced in Royal Commissions and inquiries, public law, Aboriginal heritage, environmental law, commercial law and litigation. His experience includes:

• advising on the powers, privileges and immunities of Royal Commissions and inquiries, and their application to the Royal Commissions into National Natural Disasters, Aged Care, Mental Health and the Management of Police Informants;
• advising on sensitive decision making processes, statutory interpretation, legal liability, regulatory enforcement and compliance powers, delegations, authorisations, freedom of information and legislative development;
• acting for the Commonwealth in sensitive class action proceedings for historic land contamination;
• advising on Commonwealth environmental approvals for major infrastructure and mining projects;
• working in the Solicitors-Assisting team of the Don Dale Royal Commission; and
• drafting, negotiating and advising on contracts, panel arrangements, software licences, approach to market documents and inter-governmental memoranda of understanding.

Before joining VGSO in 2020, Bilal worked at a specialist government law firm in Canberra advising some of the Commonwealth Government's largest agencies. Bilal also supported the ACT Law Society's Pro Bono Clearing House as a secondee and later as an assessment panel member. At university, Bilal volunteered at a community legal clinic and completed internships with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the ANU College of Law.