His former clients include a woman who skinned her partner before boiling his head with some vegetables, a notorious gang rapist, and the axe-wielding nephew of Ivan Milat.
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John Stratton, SC, can now add Eddie Obeid to his client list.
Mr Stratton, a respected and popular member of Sydney's criminal bar, has been retained to represent the former Labor powerbroker who has been charged with misconduct in public office.
For 16 years Mr Stratton was a public defender. He was deputy senior public defender when he decided to return to the private Bar in 2013.
Over the years, Mr Stratton has worked on some of the state's most high profile cases. He represented Katherine Knight, a Hunter Valley abattoir worker who is serving a life sentence for stabbing, decapitating and cooking her partner's body parts.
Another of Mr Stratton's clients was Wayne Flentjar, who was found not guilty of murder after he was one of three people charged with the gruesome killing of two south coast horse stud owners, whose bodies were found in smouldering 44-gallon drums in the Tomerang State Forest in 2006.
He was also successful in having the 55-year jail term of serial gang rapist Bilal Skaf reduced to 22 years on appeal. But he lost a bid to appeal the 43-year sentence given to Matthew Milat over the brutal torture and axe murder of Milat's teenage friend, David Auchterlonie, in the Belanglo State Forest.
Mr Stratton's next challenge is to defend Mr Obeid, 71, who faces the prospect of a jail sentence if he is found guilty of misconduct in public office for corruptly lobbying colleagues over his family's secret business interests at Circular Quay.
The first steps in what is likely to be a long legal battle will be taken on Thursday in the Downing Centre Local Court, where the court is expected to order a brief of evidence be served on Mr Obeid's legal team.
He may also enter a plea, before the matter is adjourned until next year when he is likely to be committed to stand trial in the District or Supreme Court.
Mr Obeid's former ministerial ally, Ian Macdonald, has also been charged with misconduct in public office for giving a Hunter Valley coal licence to a company chaired by his "mate" and former union boss John Maitland, who has been charged as an accessory.
The case against both men is also listed for a preliminary hearing on Thursday. The charges against Mr Obeid and others are the first of a series expected to be laid as a result of the Independent Commission Against Corruption's inquiries in recent years.
The commission has also recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions consider charges against Mr Obeid, his middle son, Moses, and Mr Macdonald for corruptly agreeing to create a coal tenement over the Obeid family's farm.
