<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>340059</docID> <postdate>2025-03-10 15:32:31</postdate> <headline>Lehrmann switches solicitor ahead of rape trial</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-331608" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20240617190869757090-original-1-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Bruce Lehrmann has switched solicitors as he defends a rape case in Queensland. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Rex Martinich</strong> in Brisbane</span></p> <p><strong>Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann has changed solicitors months before he's expected to stand trial accused of two counts of rape.</strong></p> <p>Sydney-based lawyer Zali Burrows told AAP on Monday that she was now acting for Lehrmann in the Queensland District Court at Toowoomba.</p> <p>Lehrmann is accused of raping a woman twice during the morning of October 10, 2021 after they met at a strip club the previous night in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.</p> <p>Sunshine Coast-based lawyer Rowan King has appeared for Lehrmann throughout his criminal matter in Queensland, which was first mentioned in court in January 2023.</p> <p>He's been committed to stand trial and at a mention in Toowoomba in January this year, Mr King told Judge Dennis Lynch that Lehrmann's barrister would apply for a judge-alone trial.</p> <p>In Queensland, the grounds for holding a trial without a jury include that the hearings would be lengthy or complex, or both, or "there has been significant pre-trial publicity that may affect jury deliberations".</p> <p>Ms Burrows confirmed to AAP that the District Court registry had been informed she was now representing Lehrmann.</p> <p>She previously represented Lehrmann in Hobart Magistrates Court in Tasmania for the mention of his charge of motor vehicle stealing.</p> <p>It is alleged the 29-year-old stole a Toyota Prado from Mountain River, a rural area southwest of Hobart, on November 20.</p> <p>Ms Burrows has also appeared at the Federal Court in Sydney over Lehrmann's appeal after losing a defamation case he brought against Network Ten, and his attempts to avoid paying costs and sureties.</p> <p>Lehrmann sued over a February 2021 report on The Project interviewing Brittany Higgins about her allegations she was sexually assaulted in Parliament House in March 2019 while both were employed by Senator Linda Reynolds.</p> <p>Justice Michael Lee found in April that Lehrmann was not defamed in reports he sexually assaulted Ms Higgins because the allegations were substantially true.</p> <p>It came after a criminal case against Lehrmann in the ACT Supreme Court was abandoned in 2022 due to juror misconduct with no verdict made against him.</p> <p>Lehrmann's Toowoomba case is due for a pre-trial directions hearing on March 27.</p> </body>