View source for George Hampel (judge)

{{Short description|Australian barrister and judge (1933–2024)}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
'''George Hampel''' [[Member of the Order of Australia|AM]] [[King's Counsel|KC]] (4 October 1933 – 8 October 2024) was an Australian barrister and judge. He was a Justice of the [[Supreme Court of Victoria]] from 1983 to 2000, having previously practised as a barrister from 1958.<ref>http://www.supremeco{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ' urt.vic.gov.au/CA256CC60028922C/Print/4097C6A5C7F1508DCA25732A00021F92?OpenDocument</ref>
==Early life==
Hampel was born in Poland just prior to [[World War II]], on 4 October 1933,<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=George Hampel |url=https://tributes.theage.com.au/obituaries/523675/george-hampel/?r=https://tributes.theage.com.au/obituaries/theage-au/ |access-date=14 October 2024 |publisher=The Age |date=11 October 2024}}</ref> as the son of Polish Jews. His family escaped from Poland to spend the wartime years in Russia. Although his immediate family survived the Holocaust, much of his extended family did not.<ref name="autogenerated1">[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/22/1061529322527.html The power of two - www.theage.com.au<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
When the war ended, he moved with his family to France, and then eventually to Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dosinc.org.au/reviews8.html |title=Child Survivors: "the factors which have influenced their lives and achievements"<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=13 August 2007 |archive-date=29 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829181714/http://www.dosinc.org.au/reviews8.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was then educated at [[Melbourne High School]] and the [[University of Melbourne]].
== Career ==
Hampel held numerous positions in the legal profession, such as Vice-President of the [[Law Council of Australia]], Vice-Chairman of the Victorian Bar Institute and Chairman of the Constitution Commission of Victoria, for which he received a [[Centenary Medal]].<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1125293 It's an Honour: Centenary Medal]: Retrieved 29 May 2013</ref>
From 2000, he was Professor of Trial Practice and Advocacy at [[Monash University]], and Chairman of the Legal Practice Board of Victoria. He was also President of the [[International Institute of Forensic Studies]].<ref>[http://www.law.monash.edu.au/staff/ghampel.html Professor The Hon. George Hampel QC, Monash Law<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He was considered a leader in the teaching of advocacy,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Passing of Professor the Hon George Hampel AM KC. {{!}} Judicial College of Victoria |url=https://judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/news/passing-professor-hon-george-hampel-am-kc |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=judicialcollege.vic.edu.au |language=en}}</ref> and together with his wife, trained war crime prosecutors at [[The Hague]].<ref name="autogenerated1" />
In 2006, he was appointed a Member of the [[Order of Australia]].<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1131393 It's an Honour: AM]; Retrieved 29 May 2013</ref>
==Personal life and death==
Hampel was married to [[County Court of Victoria]] judge [[Felicity Hampel]], [[Senior Counsel|SC]], with whom he often taught.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> They have two children:
* Hampel's son, Antony Hampel, an event coordinator, was the de facto partner of Phoebe Handsjuk, who plunged to her death in the garbage chute of their luxury apartment in Melbourne, in 2010, aged 24.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marieclaire.com.au/what-happened-to-phoebe-handsjuk |title=What really happened to Phoebe Handsjuk? |last=Hardy |first=Robert |date=31 October 2016 |website=Marie Claire |publisher=Pacific Magazines |access-date=17 March 2019}}</ref> Despite a coroner's finding in 2014 that the death was a sleepwalking accident caused by a combination of depression, alcohol, and [[Zolpidem|Stilnox]], many questions remain.<ref>{{cite news|authorlink1=Michael Bachelard |last1=Bachelard |first1=Michael |last2=Baker |first2=Richard |date=23 September 2016 |title=Death in a garbage chute: a new investigation into the mysterious death of Phoebe Handsjuk |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/family-of-dead-girl-phoebe-handsjuk-wants-justice-and-believes-the-coroner-got-it-wrong-20160922-grlz3w.html |newspaper=The Age |accessdate=6 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2016/phoebesfall/ |title=Phoebe's Fall |website=smh.com.au |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=6 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/phoebe-handsjuks-waste-chute-death-unlike-anything-else-20160929-grqz0a.html |title=Phoebe Handsjuk's waste chute death unlike anything else |last1=Bachelard |first1=Michael |last2=Baker |first2=Richard |date=29 September 2016 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |publisher=Fairfax Media |access-date=17 March 2019 }}</ref> In 2018, Hampel's then girlfriend, Baillee Schneider, was found dead on the kitchen floor of her parents' home with a cord wrapped around her neck. The Victorian coroner ruled in 2020 that the death was a suicide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/coroner-finds-baillee-schneider-death-was-self-inflicted-after-break-up-20200616-p552y1.html |title=Coroner finds Baillee Schneider death was not suspicious |last=Baker |first=Richard |date=16 June 2020 |website=The Age |location=Melbourne |publisher=Nine Entertainment Co
|access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/baillee-schneider-vic-coroner-rules-death-of-model-was-not-suspicious/news-story/762ee38765a25d1ca1e63810a9fcb04f |title=Baillee Schneider: Vic coroner rules death of model was not suspicious |last=Schelle |first=Caroline |date=17 June 2020 |website=news.com.au |publisher=News Corp Australia |access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref>
* Hampel's daughter, Kristina Hampel, escaped conviction in 2014 for selling cocaine and possessing a can of tear gas.<ref>{{cite news |author=Cameron Houston |date=1 December 2014 |title=Judge's daughter escapes conviction for cocaine trafficking|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/judges-daughter-escapes-conviction-for-cocaine-trafficking-20141201-11xorr.html |newspaper=The Age |accessdate=6 March 2018}}</ref>
Hampel died on 8 October 2024, at the age of 91.<ref name="obit" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 October 2024 |title=Obiturary |url=https://www.vicbar.com.au/Web/Contents/News/Obituary/professor-honourable-george-hampel.aspx}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.georgehampel.com/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025184752/https://www.georgehampel.com/ |date=25 October 2017 }}
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[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian judges]]
[[Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria]]
[[Category:Australian legal scholars]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Monash University]]
[[Category:Australian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Australia]]
[[Category:People educated at Melbourne High School]]
[[Category:University of Melbourne alumni]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to Australia]]
[[Category:Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
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