Des Sturgess was the leading criminal barrister of his time, a fearless advocate for the poor and rich, the hoi polloi and the plutocrat, the politician and the police, the indigenous and the industrialist. As a member of a divided profession, which made national representation difficult, he was a colossus in Queensland but still an eminent figure across the country. In short, he had no peer. For three decades, he defended whoever came to him, sometimes for no fee but every time with the determination and dedication that he felt his profession demanded of him. The police were not his…