The St Kilda resident first entered the public eye when she was cast as a lawyer in 1980s TV drama Skyways. “I did the whole gamut of the TV shows that were on in the ’80s,” she recalls.

Lobez suited the role so well, she went on to work as a criminal lawyer in real life. “When I realised I wasn’t going to be a great star, I thought ‘everyone’s convinced I look like a lawyer, so I may as well be a lawyer’.”

By the time she was 37, Lobez was working as a high-flying barrister and loving every minute of working with Melbourne’s hard-bitten criminal scene.

“I gave very good plea,” she says. “If someone was guilty and they pleaded guilty, I was able to use some magic and make the judge see the human behind the criminal.”

It was Lobez’s genuine interest in people that made her such a formidable force in court. “I was able to identify with the person who had been shoplifting, or the gangs having fights with each other, or the fellow who had been a child molester but was now on medication,” she says.

Next came a 10 year stint as the presenter and producer of Radio National’s popular Law Report program, which discussed often complex legal ideas.

She still admits to be fascinated by crime and these days, Lobez spends her time tracking the shady history of Melbourne’s past. Alongside English gangland expert James Morton, Lobez has written a number of titles including Gangland Australia, Dangerous to Know and Kings of Stings.

Lobez says its her hometown that provides her with constant inspiration. A former boyfriend introduced her to some of Melbourne’s big crime families, and from then on she was hooked on researching the treasure trove of gangland history. “There was a really seedy side to Melbourne, and by 1939 Melbourne had even more crime than London,” she says. “On a per capita basis, Australia had out-ganged every other country in the world.”