““There was a time when I must have come to believe that God gave me the gift of speech to hide my thoughts. I don’t recall when it began but I remember exactly how it stopped””
Charles Waterstreet is an internationally renowned Australian barrister, author, film producer and a co-creator of the hit TV show RAKE.
With a legal career spanning four decades and a celebrated portfolio of some of Australia’s highest-profile criminal cases, Charles has extraordinary appellate and courtroom experience like few in his field.
Charles began his education at St Brigits Primary School, winning the coveted Bishop Henske Travelling Memorial Scholarship for religious knowledge, earning him a place at the prestigious Waverley College boarding school where he went on to be Dux of the college. After graduating, he was released back into the community where he studied arts law at Sydney University before teaching himself at the University of New South Wales and beginning his practice at the Bar.
Charles is also highly-acclaimed in the literary field having written two best-selling memoirs Precious Bodily Fluids and Repeating the Leaving. Precious Bodily Fluids has been translated to the stage by Premier’s Award Winner Cate Kennedy, where it enjoyed long runs.
He has also been a regular contributor to various publications such as The Sydney Morning Herald, Spectator and Penthouse.
His most recent article ‘For Whom the Pell Tolls’ predicted the unprecedented acquittal of George Pell and was celebrated in the legal community as an invaluable assessment of the highly controversial and studied legal proceedings.
However, he is perhaps most notorious as the real-life inspiration and co-creator of the hit ABC TV Show Rake, as the muse for the incomparable and troublesome Cleaver Green. Although a performance and interpretation of his character, Cleaver shares Waterstreet’s obsession with controversial and ‘un-winnable’ cases that push the boundaries of human capability.
He is also a passionate patron of the arts. In 2015, his portrait by Nigel Milsom won the coveted Archibald Prize and is highly regarded as an example of one of the finest pieces of Australia portraiture in modern times.
In his post-legal career his keen legal mind, unparalleled experience in the extremes of legal conflict have made him a valuable and sort-after legal consultant and strategist.
Charles is currently “on sabbatical” from legal practice.
