The competition watchdog's new chairman is no pup when it comes to law enforcement.

Jim Byrnes, Alan Bond's former bankruptcy advisor, has admitted to destroying a solicitor's office with a baseball bat, been convicted of assaulting a bikie and twice been banned by ASIC from managing corporations. But now he's back in business – big time.

Phillip Bradley is in charge of Australia's most controversial crime-fighting agency. He's domineering, abrasive and obsessed with secrecy.

The man most responsible for protecting Australia from a terrorist attack is not your typically dour spook.

John Lawler runs an organisation with extraordinary powers, but he's not an extraordinarily powerful man.

Judges, police officers, corporate regulators, crime commission bosses and even a spymaster: our assortment of powerful Law Enforcers sure is a motley crew.

When it comes to wielding influence, Wayne Martin puts almost every other judge in Australia to shame.

He's not in Michael Kirby's league yet, but Justice Dyson Heydon has a growing reputation as the High Court's new great dissenter.