Prominent Sydney barrister Charles Waterstreet has been referred for possible contempt of court proceedings over social media posts.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has heard a captioned photo of Mr Waterstreet and another person was recently posted on Instagram and Twitter.

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After the posts were brought to his attention in court, Mr Waterstreet withdrew his representation for Glen McNamara, who, together with Roger Rogerson, is awaiting trial for the murder of Jamie Gao in Sydney.

The contents of the photo caption have not been disclosed, but the matter has been referred to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, who will take advice on whether contempt of court proceedings should be launched.

The trial has been put off until the new year.

During his high-profile career, Mr Waterstreet has written a regular column for Fairfax, authored memoirs, produced films, and is the co-creator or ABC TV series Rake.

A portrait of him by artist Nigel Milsom won the prestigious Archibald Prize in July.

McNamara will be now be represented by Senior Counsel Greg Smith, the state’s former Attorney-General.

– ABC