Drumgold grew up in the public housing estate of Mount Druitt in Sydney’s outer western suburbs.

He has referenced the suicide of his father and the death of his younger brother, at three years of age, in his book Palm Tree Justice.

In his occasional address to a 2021 graduation class, he noted that following his graduation he was employed as both a prosecutor at the ODPP and tutor at the Australian National University: I cannot explain the surreal experience of standing before a class of University students, teaching them criminal and evidence law, in a degree program they were accepted into the same year I was rejected.

In 2003 Drumgold was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, studying restorative justice in indigenous communities in the USA, Canada and New Zealand.

[6] Drumgold left school in 1980 at the age of fifteen, starting as a telegram boy for Australia Post in April 1984 in Penrith, New South Wales.

[7] In April 2002, Drumgold commenced working as a Prosecutor at the Australia Capital Territory Office of the Director of Public Prosecution.

[9] He was lead counsel in a case seeking a High Court declaration of unlawful conduct by the then Australian dominated Solomon Islands Corrective Services in Ross & Ors v Attorney General [2006] SBHC 573 of 2005.

Among other things, Shane spoke of our responsibilities as role models and our obligation to build a profession that not only embraces but celebrates diversity in all of its forms.”[14] On 1 January 2019, Drumgold was appointed the Australian Capital Territory's fifth Director of Public Prosecutions.

[15][16] Drumgold was criticised for his decision not to proceed with charges against a man who helped his wife commit suicide on public interest grounds in the matter of Police v O'Riordan.

[19] Section 14B of the Inquiries Act allowed the ACT Government up to one month to consider the response and consult those mentioned in the report, however it was reported on widely by The Australian newspaper after Walter Sofronoff admitted that he provided an advance copy to The Australian newspaper, who published widely on the findings.

[21] Following a three day hearing, Kaye AJ of the ACT Supreme Court declared that all adverse findings against Drumgold gave rise to an apprehension that they might have been influenced by the views held and publicly expressed by Ms Albrechtsen from The Australian, and further declared that one finding that a cross-examination of Senator Linda Reynolds was grossly unethical was also legally unreasonable, and that a further finding that Drumgold made a false statement to the Chief Police Officer also failed to observe natural justice.

[22][23] Evidence was provided that Sofronoff engaged in 91 telephone calls with journalists, 51 of which were with Ms Janet Albrechtsen, and 22 of which were with Mr Hedley Thomas from the Australian.

[26] In September 2024, the ACT Supreme Court released 1700 pages of communications revealing complaints from other journalist including The Australian reporting things that did not happen in the trial.

[29] On 16 October 2024, the Chief Minister of the ACT Andrew Barr publicly stated that it was a mistake to appoint Mr Sofronoff to the Board of Inquiry.

[31] On 5 April 2024, the ACT Integrity Commission published a media release, announcing that it was looking into the conduct of Sofronoff.