Stan Winford

Stan Winford is Associate Director at the Centre for Innovative Justice, RMIT University where he is particularly interested in exploring how the justice system can have a positive impact on people’s lives through restorative and therapeutic approaches to justice, as well as the development of justice systems designed and informed by the experiences of those who use them.

Stan is a practising lawyer who has held a number of senior roles in government and community legal services both in legal practice and legal policy. Between 2007 and 2010, Stan was Senior Legal Advisor to the Hon Rob Hulls MP, the Attorney-General and Deputy Premier of Victoria, where he was responsible for advising the Attorney-General on operations, policy and legislation in a range of justice portfolio areas. As the Senior Legal Advisor to the Attorney-General, Stan was involved in major changes to Victorian law as well as the development of solution-focussed courts.

Stan has also been Principal Lawyer and Legal Projects Officer at Fitzroy Legal Service, where he led law reform campaigns and public interest litigation. He also worked as the Drug Outreach Lawyer at Fitzroy Legal Service and as a specialist criminal law advocate for many clients whose contact with the justice system was linked to their drug use.

Stan has published on justice issues and appeared in national and international media as a legal commentator. He is Chair of the Mental Health Legal Centre and the author of the drug offences chapter of the Law Handbook.