Boettcher Law is an Australian commercial law firm acting on transactions, disputes and the regulation underneath them.

Sharai Projects v Gupta

Builder’s claim dismissed for our clients. We defended a builder’s claim against a homeowner. The Court held the fixed price contract was a sham and dismissed the claim.

A foreign defence supplier’s Australian start-up

A national security business has no monetary threshold. The duty to notify does not wait for a deal to be big enough, and it can be triggered by what a business intends to do rather than by anything it has done.

The trap is in the definition and not in the numbers. An intention to provide critical services to defence personnel is enough on its own, and supply that is intended for military use counts before any supply has happened. A group that reads the threshold tables and finds itself comfortably under them can still be required to notify, and starting the business without approval is the contravention.

The rest of the work was sequencing. The approval, the corporate steps, the registrations and a foreign parent’s own joint signature requirements each have their own trigger and their own clock, and several cannot start until an earlier one has finished.

The sale of a freight and logistics business

A private company sale is decided in the warranties and the completion mechanics long before it is decided in the price.

Seller side, into a buyer group advised separately and buying through trusts, with the client’s own tax adviser in the room on the structuring.

Award coverage for a European manufacturer’s Australian staff

A modern award applies because of the work performed, not because of the contract or the salary, and the back pay runs for six years.

The question arrives most often from employers who have assumed that paying well above the award puts them outside it. It does not, and the exposure compounds quietly until somebody asks.

A German manufacturer’s entry into the Australian market

Four years of one client’s Australian life, from an empty company to a shareholding that had to be rearranged.

Incorporation is the beginning of market entry. The parts that decide whether it was done well arrive later: whether the terms of trade are secured, whether the employment contracts survive contact with the award system, and whether the shareholders’ agreement can carry a change of shareholder without a dispute.

Manny v David Lardner Lawyers

Negligence claim dismissed, and the appeal refused. We acted for a firm of solicitors sued in negligence. The Supreme Court entered verdicts for the defendants and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Gindy v Capital Lawyers

Claim against solicitors fails at trial. We acted for a law firm and two of its principals in a professional negligence claim tried over 88 days. Judgment was entered for the defendants.