- Administrative law
- Class actions
- Competition law
- Constitutional law
- Corporate governance
- Corporate social responsibility
- Funds management and superannuation
- Public Inquiries
- Regulatory investigations and compliance
- Resources
- Tax
Administrative law
Infrastructure access
Acting for Rio Tinto in defending applications seeking third-party access to its
Pilbara rail infrastructure.
Airservices Australia
Acting for Airservices Australia and other government enterprises and statutory
bodies in administrative law challenges.
Corruption and bribery
Advising numerous clients on actual and potential incidents of corruption and
bribery of public officials.
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Representing several joint venturers in an Administrative Appeals Tribunal
review of the decisions of the Industry Research and Development Board relating
to the application of the R & D tax concession.
Ministerial powers
Advising Rio Tinto on its submissions to the WA Minister for Resources to
exercise his discretionary power to terminate an application for a mining
tenement over the Shovelanna iron ore resource, and defending a subsequent
application for judicial review of the Minister's decision.
United Nations
Advising the United Nations Special Representative on Business and Human Rights
on numerous aspects of his mandate, including the extent to which human rights
law obligations apply to corporations under Australian domestic law.
Class actions
Aristocrat
Acting for Aristocrat in Australia's largest shareholder class action to go to
trial, including in relation to settlement negotiations.
Ord Minnett
Acting for Ord Minnett in proceedings brought by more than 100 investors,
arising from trading in derivatives and equity financial products.
AWB
Acting for AWB in class action proceedings in Australia commenced by shareholders and
in the United States commenced (separately) by Iraqi citizens and US wheat farmers.
Amcor
Acting for Amcor in defending a class action for alleged cartel conduct with
Visy.
Philip Morris
Representing Philip Morris in Australia's first and only class actions brought
against Australian tobacco manufacturers.
Rio Tinto
Advising Rio Tinto on class action proceedings in the US Federal District Court
regarding alleged breaches of the US Alien Tort Claims Act arising from conduct
at the Panguna mine on Bougainville.
Asia
Acting for various insurers in separate securities class actions brought against
Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese companies listed in the US, involving allegations
which include financial misreporting and misleading public statements.
Visit our dedicated class actions pages.
Competition law
News Ltd
Acting for News Ltd, in the C7 litigation.
Amcor
Acting for Amcor in the ACCC cartel investigation.
Queensland Rail
Acting for Queensland Rail in the Acacia Ridge dispute with Pacific National.
Rio Tinto
Acting for Rio Tinto in access disputes under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices
Act, relating to its Pilbara iron ore infrastructure.
Visit our dedicated Competition Law section.
Constitutional law
Vickie Roach
Assisting Vickie Roach, an Aboriginal prisoner, to pursue successfully a
constitutional challenge in the High Court to the validity of the prisoner
disenfranchisement provisions of the Electoral Act, focusing on the fundamental
human right to vote.
'Stolen Generations' case
Acting in the 'Stolen Generations' case, the High Court proceedings seeking to
establish that the removal of certain Aboriginal children breached a number of constitutional rights
and protections.
Andrew Theophanous
Acting against Andrew Theophanous in High Court proceedings that established the
ambit of the implied constitutional guarantee of free speech in relation to
political matters in the context of defamation proceedings. We also acted in
subsequent High Court proceedings (Levy and Lange) seeking to reconsider the
constitutional protection of free speech established in Theophanous.
Corporate governance
Directors' duties
Advising senior and board-level executives at a range of clients including Allco,
AWB, Brambles, Durban Roodeport Deep, JPMorgan, Rio Tinto and UBS on
reputationally significant issues such as continuous disclosure, insider
trading, class actions and ASIC investigations.
Opes Prime
Acting for ANZ in relation to various aspects of the Opes Prime collapse.
Westpoint
Acting for KPMG in relation to the Westpoint collapse, including advising on
responses to ASIC investigations and public examinations by liquidators.
Continuous disclosure
Advising Rio Tinto on an ASIC investigation concerning continuous disclosure
provisions of the Corporations Act in connection with Rio Tinto's A$38 billion
acquisition of Alcan.
Trading activities
Acting for a major international investment house to defend a claim against a
stockbroking firm for loss and damage to clients arising from trading in shares
and leveraged equities.
National Australia Bank – Cathy Walter
Acting for the chairman and non-executive directors of the National Australia
Bank in the Cathy Walter matter.
Visit our dedication Corporate governance section.
Corporate social responsibility
Foreign Corrupt Practices and RICO Acts
Advising clients on litigation brought in the US under the Foreign Corrupt
Practices and RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations) Acts, as well as advising Dyno Nobel, Newcrest, Macquarie
Group, Mitsubishi and Orica on companywide compliance programs for the
prevention of bribery, corruption or otherwise improperly influencing public
officials.
International law and standards
Advising multinational clients on international law and standards relevant to
offshore operations (including in China), particularly in relation to
resettlement and labour issues.
Charter of Human Rights
Advising Group 4, operator of correctional facilities, on its obligations under
the Victorian Charter of Human Rights.
Cole Inquiry Task Force
Acting for AWB in proceedings emanating from the Task Force established by the
Australian Government following the Cole Inquiry into AWB's involvement in the
UN Oil-for-Food Program.
Vist our dedicated Corporate social responsibility pages.
Funds management and superannuation
Superannuation fund
Acting for a superannuation fund in various proceedings, including
pre-litigation discovery applications in NSW, Supreme Court proceedings in
Brisbane and matters before the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.
Trust deed rectification
Acting for a client to rectify the trust deed of its employee superannuation
plan which had the unintended effect of giving rise to a $400 million liability.
Superannuation fraud
Representing a global investment bank's interests in relation to Australia's
largest superannuation fraud case involving $170 million transferred from the
Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (involving successful recovery actions
undertaken in Switzerland, Greece and Hong Kong).
Visit our dedicated Funds management and Superannuation sections.
Public Inquiries
Rail Infrastructure Corporation
Acting for Rail Infrastructure Corporation in the public inquiries into the Glenbrook and Waterfall train
disasters.
HIH Royal Commission
Acting for various parties in the HIH Royal Commission.
James Hardie
Acting for James Hardie in the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Medical
Research and Compensation Foundation concerning the availability of funding to
meet future claims arising from exposure to asbestos.
Sydney Ferries
Representing Sydney Ferries in the Special Commission of Inquiry established
after it experienced a succession of accidents resulting in five fatalities on
Sydney Harbour.
Grand Prix Corporation
Acting for the Grand Prix Corporation in the public inquiry into the death of a marshall.
Tabcorp
Advising Tabcorp on a select committee investigation into the political
integrity of gaming licence renewals in Victoria.
Radio 2UE
Representing Radio 2UE in the 'Cash for Comment' Inquiry, concerning alleged
payments made by advertisers to radio broadcasters.
Regulatory investigations and compliance
ASIC and ASX investigations
Acting for numerous clients in ASIC and ASX investigations, including:
- KPMG in relation to the Westpoint collapse, including advising on responses to ASIC investigations, public examination by liquidators and other potential litigation;
- Macquarie Group in its dealings with the ASX regarding futures trading;
- a large mortgage finance company regarding ASIC inquiries in relation to securities which were subject to margin loans and stock lending arrangements; and
- a major Australian bank in an investigation by the ASX regarding the trading of certain securities.
APRA
Advising on various dealings with APRA, including acting successfully for a
trustee director of the AXA Staff Superannuation Fund in proceedings commenced
to set aside his purported disqualification by APRA.
Cole Inquiry Task Force
Representing AWB in any formal inquiries, investigations, prosecutions or
administrative proceedings arising out of the Task Force established following
the Cole Inquiry into the UN Oil-for-Food Program.
Cartel investigation
Advising Amcor in relation to various actions, including an ACCC investigation
arising from its involvement in alleged cartel conduct with Visy.
ACCC oil raids
Acting for Shell regarding the ACCC's 'oil raids' on premises in Victoria and
New South Wales.
Resources
Rio Tinto
Acting for Rio Tinto in US class action proceedings regarding alleged breaches
of the Alien Tort Claims Act arising from conduct at the Panguna mine on Bougainville.
Barrick Gold
Representing Barrick Gold in an application for judicial review regarding the
exercise of administrative powers by the PNG Department of Mining.
Ensham Resources
Acting for Ensham Resources in the Southern Cross Mine Management case.
Rio Tinto
Advising Rio Tinto on its submissions to the WA Minister for Resources to
exercise his discretionary power to terminate an application for a mining
tenement over the Shovelanna iron ore resource, and defending a subsequent
application for judicial review of the Minister's decision.
Visit our dedicated Resources section.
Taxation
Tax disputes
Acting for several large multinationals in tax disputes (regarding
transfer pricing, dividend stripping and other matters) against the ATO,
including in the Federal Court and High Court.
ATO litigation
Acting for a client in a $500m tax dispute with the ATO, which was
ultimately settled on terms favourable to our client (with the ATO refunding
part of the monies paid by our client to commence litigation against the ATO).
Visit our dedicated Taxation section.
