<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann has changed solicitors months before he's expected to stand trial accused of two counts of rape.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sydney-based lawyer Zali Burrows told AAP on Monday that she was now acting for Lehrmann in the Queensland District Court at Toowoomba.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/newspoll-shows-labor-or-coalition-majority-government-unlikely/a3cf2f2d-1ef4-4020-b8d3-5a9acdf31435" target="_blank"><strong><span>Albanese leads Dutton as preferred leader as chance of minority government increases: poll</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He's been committed to stand trial and at a mention in Toowoomba in January this year, King told Judge Dennis Lynch that Lehrmann's barrister would apply for a judge-alone trial.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/plane-crashes-near-retirement-community-in-us/fa9c6d83-0553-403b-896a-82af97258548" target="_blank"><strong><span>Plane with five aboard crashes near retirement community</span></strong></a></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/bruce-lehrmann-switches-lawyer-toowoomba-rape-trial/bb1b97f2-1bee-4975-97ee-acab0a2fe043" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burrows confirmed to AAP that the District Court registry had been informed she was now representing Lehrmann.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She previously represented Lehrmann in Hobart Magistrates Court in Tasmania for the mention of his charge of motor vehicle stealing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/tropical-cyclone-alfred-disaster-relief-payments-how-to-claim-everything-to-know-explainer/b2925c86-0647-47f6-832d-2525432af180" target="_blank"><strong><span>PM confirms ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred victims will be eligible for Disaster Recovery Allowance</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It is alleged the 29-year-old stole a Toyota Prado from Mountain River, a rural area southwest of Hobart, on November 20.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lehrmann sued over a February 2021 report on </span><em><span>The Project</span></em><span> interviewing Brittany Higgins about her allegations she was sexually assaulted in Parliament House in March 2019 while both were employed by Senator Linda Reynolds.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Justice Michael Lee found in April that Lehrmann was not defamed in reports he sexually assaulted Higgins because the allegations were substantially true.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lehrmann's Toowoomba case is due for a pre-trial directions hearing on March 27.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Support is available from the</span></strong><span> </span><strong><span>National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service</span></strong><span> </span><strong><span>at</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.1800respect.org.au/" title="https://www.1800respect.org.au/"><strong><span>1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)</span></strong></a><strong><span>.</span></strong></div></div>