Criminal Law Firm Provides Junior Lawyers Unrivalled Exposure to Drugs, Alcohol and Gambling. Also Some Legal Work.

 29 April 2026

Newcastle — A Newcastle criminal defence firm has been recognised for the exceptional breadth of professional development opportunities it makes available to junior lawyers, with current and former staff describing an environment of unparalleled exposure.

Henderson Chambers, which has operated from the same premises since 1976, is led by Graham Henderson, a criminal solicitor of considerable reputation and, by all accounts, equally considerable appetites. The firm describes itself as a chambers. It is a solicitors office. Graham has never updated the sign. He sees no reason to begin now.

Graham does not ask questions he does not want answered. This is both a professional philosophy and, colleagues note, a general approach to life. It has served him well. It has served others less well. He does not distinguish between the two.

The firm’s professional development program begins, for most juniors, at the bar across the street.

Graham maintains a tab at the Criterion Hotel, available to all staff as a networking resource. Junior lawyers are encouraged to use it when meeting with clients, colleagues, and the various professional contacts Graham has accumulated over five decades of criminal practice. The tab is, in practical terms, an extension of the office.

“Graham introduced me to someone on my third day,” said one junior, identified here only as the tall one. “I’m not entirely sure what he does. But he has been very helpful.”

The tall one noted that the tab had been particularly useful during the Marchetti matter, which is currently in its third week. He did not elaborate on the Marchetti matter. His hands were steady when he said this. They had not been, he later clarified, earlier in the week.

The tab has no formal limit. Graham has not checked the balance since 2019. He describes this as a management philosophy.

“You have to trust your people,” Graham said.
He did not specify in what.

The firm also maintains what staff refer to as the open packet. A box of cigarettes sits on Graham’s desk at all times, available to anyone who needs one. Several juniors who did not smoke when they joined the firm have since found it a useful resource. Others have found it difficult to stop.

“It takes the edge off,” said one junior, identified here only as the second-year who drives the red car. “Graham says it’s important to decompress.”

The second-year mentioned, in passing, that she had appeared in the Supreme Court last Tuesday. She had sought special leave to appear, not yet being admitted. The application had taken some time. The matter was a homicide. She said the cigarettes had been helpful in the days since.

She said Graham had been encouraging.

“He said I’d be fine,” she said. “He said that before he left for court.”

She was asked which court Graham had gone to.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Not mine.”

Beneath Graham’s desk sits a box. Its contents are not described in any firm documentation, as there is no firm documentation. It is understood to contain a collection of powders, the precise inventory of which is, at any given time, approximate. The box is not locked. It has never needed to be.

The box is shared with a number of Graham’s professional contacts, who visit the office periodically, often in the evening. These include His Honour, who prefers not to be named and does not stay long. A detective named Mick, who sometimes brings a colleague and sometimes does not. A man who comes on Thursdays whose precise professional role has never been established to anyone’s satisfaction, including Graham’s. He is always on time.

Graham does not ask about the box. This is consistent with his broader practice. In thirty years of criminal law, Graham has found that the question you do not ask is often the one that matters most. It is also, in many cases, the one that cannot later be put to you.

“You just don’t ask,” Graham said. “That’s not negligence. That’s discipline.”

The firm’s networking opportunities are considered its greatest asset.

Junior lawyers at Henderson Chambers are introduced, over time, to a professional ecosystem that corporate firms cannot replicate. Graham’s network spans the criminal bar, the magistracy, the police force, and several adjacent industries whose precise nature is understood by all parties but rarely discussed directly. Introductions are informal. They are rarely written down.

His Honour has on several occasions provided what Graham describes as useful perspective. Mick has, on more than one occasion, been unable to locate a file that Graham considered unhelpful to a client’s matter. The man who comes on Thursdays has never been unable to help with anything, a record Graham considers remarkable and has never examined too closely. No one has asked him for a surname.

“Sometimes you need a favour,” Graham said. “That’s just practice.”

Junior lawyers who remain at the firm long enough are introduced to Damo. Damo assists with financial planning, specifically for staff who have explored the firm’s hospitality and recreational opportunities with particular enthusiasm and find themselves requiring short-term liquidity solutions. His office hours are flexible. His terms are not.

“Damo sorted it out,” said one junior, identified here only as the one who no longer brings her lunch. She is a volunteer at the firm, an arrangement Graham describes as a foot in the door. She had recently concluded a sentencing hearing that had run for four days. She had prepared the submissions herself. She had given up shifts at her other job, which where she derives her income to support her studies. She said Damo had been very understanding.

“Graham vouched for him,” she said. “The rates are fine.” She did not elaborate on what “fine” meant in this context.

Graham said Damo was an excellent contact.

“Very reasonable man,” Graham said. “Known him for years. I’ve never asked too many questions and neither should you.”

The firm does not ask clients whether they are guilty. This is standard criminal practice — a lawyer who knows too much cannot act freely. Graham applies the same principle internally. He does not ask the tall one how the tab got to where it is. He does not ask the second-year how the Marchetti matter is going, though he notes she has been smoking more. He does not ask the one who no longer brings her lunch how she knows Damo well enough that Damo now calls her directly.

Graham considers this supervision. Others have described it as a form of delegation.

“You can’t know everything,” Graham said. “Frankly, it’s better if you don’t.”

Asked about the legal work, Graham said it was going well.

“Plenty of it,” he said. “Complex matters. Good experience for them.”

He was asked whether the juniors found the matters stressful.

“Builds character,” Graham said. “I was thrown in the deep end. Everyone was.”

He paused.

“Which one’s the tall one again?” he said.

The firm is currently recruiting. Graham said he was looking for self-starters.

“People who use initiative,” he said. “Who don’t need their hand held.”

He lit a cigarette from the open packet and considered it briefly, as though confirming something.

“Good opportunities here,” he said. “For the right person.”

He looked briefly toward his desk.

“Plenty of opportunities,” he said.
He did not specify for what.

This article is a work of satire. Any resemblance to actual practitioners, judges, detectives, or men who come on Thursdays is a matter best not examined too closely. Graham would agree. He would not, however, confirm this on the record.