As reported by news.com.au, Mortimer was a lawyer and an author who appeared as a defence lawyer in many cases involving freedom of speech. In 1971 he successfully defended Oz magazine against charges of obscenity and in the 1960s he acted for Penguin Books when they published Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence.

Timothy West, who played the character of barrister Horace Rumpole in the popular television series, said that Mortimer had achieved a huge amount in life as a writer and as a QC.

"His creation of Rumpole is, in a way, an expansion of all the things he did and liked to do when he was practising law himself," he said.

According to news.com.au, Mortimer, who was knighted in 1998, died at home after a long illness.

- Zoe Lyon