Gim Del Villar KC SG

Gim commenced at the private Bar in 2008 and took silk in 2019. He was appointed as Solicitor-General for Queensland in 2022.

Gim practices extensively in public law, with an emphasis on constitutional law and administrative law. He also practices extensively in the areas of native title and proceeds of crime. He regularly appears in the Supreme Court of Queensland, the Queensland Court of Appeal, the Federal Court (at first instance and on appeal), and the High Court. 

Notable matters in which Gim has appeared include:

• Vanderstock v Victoria [2023] HCA 30; 98 ALJR 208 (a challenge to the validity of Victorian legislation imposing a tax on zero and low emission motor vehicles)

• Attorney-General (Cth) v Ogawa (2020) 281 FCR 1 (judicial review of a decision not to refer a petition for mercy to the Queensland Court of Appeal)

• Spence v Queensland (2019) 268 CLR 355 (a challenge to the validity of Queensland laws prohibiting the making of political donations by property developers)

• Australian Conservation Foundation Incorporated v Minister for the Environment and Energy (2017) 251 FCR 359 (judicial review of a ministerial decision to approve a coal mine project) 

• Attorney General of New South Wales v Ohlsen on behalf of the Ngemba/Ngiyampaa People (2022) 290 FCR 173 (whether historical leases extinguished native title)

• Mace v State of Queensland (2019) 274 FCR 41 (a non-claimant application under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth))

• Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Hart (2018) 262 CLR 76 (proceeds of crime and derivation of assets from unlawful activity); and

• Addy v Commissioner of Taxation (2021) 273 CLR 613 (the operation of a nondiscrimination clause in a double taxation agreement).

Gim also appears in inquiries and inquests. In 2022, for example, Gim was appointed as Senior Counsel Assisting the Commission of Inquiry relating to the Crime and Corruption Commission, chaired by the Hon Tony Fitzgerald KC and the Hon Alan Wilson KC.