[4] Later that year he represented accused serial killer William MacDonald, mounting an unsuccessful insanity defence.
[2] Birney was reportedly an "enthusiastic backbencher" with "a talent for getting his name in print, usually as a champion of the bizarre or the sanctimonious".
[1] In 1984 he represented Lebanese organised crime figure Frank Hakim at a special commission inquiry into alleged bribery of the state prisons minister Rex Jackson, which ultimately led to Jackson's imprisonment.
He had a total of five children across his marriages,[3] including Matt Birney who briefly served as leader of the Liberal Party in Western Australia.
[11] Birney died in his sleep on 1 January 1995, aged 66, while on holiday at Coolah, New South Wales.