Sam Vandongen

Sam Vandongen has practiced as a barrister since 2008, in the areas of criminal law and commercial litigation, and has extensive experience at trial.

Appointed a senior counsel in 2010, he has participated in more than 170 appeals before the WA Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia. Mr Vandongen was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of WA in November 2022, and as a judge of the Court of Appeal in May 2023.

Admitted to practice in Western Australia over 30 years ago, Mr Vandongen became a Crown Prosecutor for the WA Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions from 1996 to 2004. He moved interstate to continue as a Crown Prosecutor in NSW before returning to WA in 2006, serving as a consultant state prosecutor for two years.

In 2017, Mr Vandongen won an Attorney General’s Community Service Law Award for pro bono work that included appearing as lead counsel for a man wrongly convicted of manslaughter.