21Aug

Boettcher Law at the German-Australian Chamber’s defence roundtable

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

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Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

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Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

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Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

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Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

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Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

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Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

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More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

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Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

APPEARANCES

Boettcher Law at the German-Australian Chamber's defence roundtable

21 August 2026

The German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce brought its members together in Sydney on the defence sector, with the German diplomatic mission taking part. It is the second time the Chamber has convened this conversation, the first having been held in 2023.

Our contribution was the part that sits before any of the opportunity: what a smaller German supplier actually has to have in place before it can win work here. That means the approvals and registrations a new entrant needs, the entity and the contracts underneath them, and the terms it will be asked to accept as a supplier two tiers down a chain it does not control.

It is work the firm already does for German companies entering the market, and the sector does not change the shape of it so much as raise the cost of getting it wrong.

WHERE THIS SITS

Corporate and commercial The industries we work in

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19Aug

Sharai Projects v Gupta: builder’s claim dismissed for our clients

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Sharai Projects v Gupta: builder's claim dismissed for our clients

19 August 2026

A builder sued our clients for $28,200, said to be the final progress payment due under a Housing Industry Association fixed price contract for the construction of their house. Work had stopped before completion after the relationship with the builder’s director broke down, and our clients finished the project themselves.

Our case was that the fixed price contract was never intended to bind anyone. The only agreement with legal effect was an earlier services agreement, under which the builder was engaged to project manage the build and to provide its licence and insurances for $40,000, and it had already received more than that sum.

The Court agreed and dismissed the claim: Sharai Projects Pty Ltd v Gupta [2026] ACTMC 20. Both construction contracts were machinery documents executed in order to obtain bank finance, were not intended to create legal relations between the parties, and were a sham with no legal effect, so nothing was recoverable under them. In any event the builder had not met the contract’s own requirements for the final progress payment, and the house had not reached practical completion and could not be lived in.

A further $56,400 raised in closing submissions was refused, because it was not pleaded, was not run at the hearing and no amendment was sought. The second defendant, who had no contract with the builder at all, should not have been a party.

We had earlier obtained a freezing order in the Supreme Court over the builder’s assets, licences and receivables, since varied. Costs and the application of those orders remain to be dealt with.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Building and construction Commercial litigation

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4Apr

Manny v David Lardner Lawyers: negligence claim dismissed, and the appeal refused

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Manny v David Lardner Lawyers: negligence claim dismissed, and the appeal refused

4 April 2024

A former client and four of his companies sued their solicitors over the conduct of earlier Family Court proceedings and the loss of a property portfolio. The claims were framed in breach of retainer, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, and were run to a full trial in the Supreme Court of the ACT.

The Chief Justice entered verdicts for the defendants: Manny v David Lardner Lawyers (No 2) [2021] ACTSC 289. Each limb failed independently. There was no breach of the retainer, the conduct complained of had caused no economic loss, advocates’ immunity answered the events of one hearing day, the claims were brought outside the limitation period, and the claims against the solicitor personally were debts provable in his bankruptcy, commenced without the leave the Bankruptcy Act requires.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal with costs: Manny v David Lardner Lawyers (No 4) [2024] ACTCA 12. It found no error in the findings that decided each cause of action, and no basis for the complaints of apprehended bias or want of procedural fairness.

The proceeding ran for eight years and produced nine published judgments along the way, on the reinstatement of deregistered companies, leave to bring a derivative action, security for costs, judicial review, and the form of the notice of appeal.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Commercial litigation Insolvency and restructuring

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17Nov

Gindy v Capital Lawyers: claim against solicitors fails at trial

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Gindy v Capital Lawyers: claim against solicitors fails at trial

17 November 2021

A former client sued a firm of solicitors and two of its principals in the Supreme Court of the ACT, in a proceeding commenced in 2015. It was tried over 88 hearing days spread across two years.

Judgment was entered for the defendants: Gindy v Capital Lawyers Pty Ltd (No 2) [2021] ACTSC 304. An application made during the trial, that the judge recuse herself, had been refused for want of any evidence of actual or apprehended bias: Gindy v Capital Lawyers Pty Ltd (No 1) [2021] ACTSC 303.

The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal against the liability judgment in December 2022, by majority, and remitted the matter: Gindy v Capital Lawyers Pty Ltd [2022] ACTCA 66; 374 FLR 1. The ground was apprehended bias on the part of the trial judge, drawn from her treatment of the lay adviser who appeared with the appellant. One member of the Court took a different view of apprehended bias and would have dismissed the appeal on the grounds he considered.

The distinction is the Court of Appeal’s own, and it matters. What was set aside was the trial, not any finding that the defence was wrong. Having ordered a rehearing, the Court expressly did not need to reach the grounds of appeal that went to the merits. There was no retrial.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Commercial litigation Corporate and commercial

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27Jul

Read v Burns: judgment for our client on a misleading conduct claim

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Read v Burns: judgment for our client on a misleading conduct claim

27 July 2017

The purchaser of a serviced apartment sued his conveyancing solicitor, the promoter of the scheme and the promoter’s director. He alleged misleading and deceptive conduct about what the apartment could be used for and the returns it would produce, and that the management arrangement was an unregistered managed investment scheme.

After trial in the Supreme Court of the ACT there was judgment for the first and third defendants against the plaintiff, with costs: Read v Burns [2017] ACTSC 184. The reasons run to 455 paragraphs.

The claim failed on the evidence as much as on the law. The plaintiff gave his own valuation and loss evidence, and the Court held he had shown no qualification to give it and that there was no reliable evidence of the losses claimed under any head. The claim for exemplary damages failed twice over, because such damages were not available under the statutes relied on and because the case came nowhere near warranting them.

Two earlier judgments in the same proceeding dealt with the shape of the pleading, in 2013 and in 2016.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Commercial litigation Property

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BOETTCHER LAW

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Privacy statement Disclaimer Terms and conditions

Maxlex Pty Ltd (ABN 40 660 742 450), trading as Boettcher Law. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

22Mar

Planet Red v Commissioner of ACT Revenue: two valuations set aside

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Planet Red v Commissioner of ACT Revenue: two valuations set aside

22 March 2017

The Commissioner redetermined the unimproved value of our client’s blocks in the Sydney Building in Civic, which is what the rates assessed on them are calculated from. Our client objected, the Commissioner confirmed the valuations, and the matter went to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal for review.

The Tribunal set aside two of the three determinations and substituted lower values: Planet Red Pty Ltd v Commissioner of ACT Revenue [2017] ACAT 18. The Alinga Street blocks came down from the Commissioner’s $1,398,000 to $1,207,000, and a second parcel was set at $648,000. The third determination was confirmed.

The case turned on three things. How much of the building is actually heritage protected, which the Tribunal found to be the front facades, the colonnades and the surviving terracotta roof sections rather than the whole of it. Which comparable sales the valuers could properly work from. And the value of the improvements to be deducted, which the Tribunal took from a revised replacement cost and depreciated building by building.

The onus in a review of this kind sits with the taxpayer. As the Tribunal confirmed, discharging it does not require the taxpayer to prove that its own figure is the right one.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Property Corporate and commercial

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BOETTCHER LAW

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Privacy statement Disclaimer Terms and conditions

Maxlex Pty Ltd (ABN 40 660 742 450), trading as Boettcher Law. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

6Oct

Basan v Watts McCray: proceeding transferred to the ACT

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Basan v Watts McCray: proceeding transferred to the ACT

6 October 2016

A claim against four sets of professional advisers was commenced in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, although the events, the advisers and almost all of the witnesses were in the ACT. We acted for the second defendant and applied to transfer the proceeding under the cross-vesting legislation.

The Court transferred it: Basan v Watts McCray (A Firm) [2016] WASC 321. The judgment adopts the factors advanced in the second defendant’s written submissions, being that the remaining defendants’ places of business and our client’s registered office were in the ACT, that eleven potential witnesses lived there, that the events giving rise to the claim occurred there, that ACT law governed the claims, and that a trial in Perth would cost the ACT parties more to run.

The Court held that the ACT Supreme Court was the natural and appropriate forum and that the interests of justice favoured the transfer. A transfer decides where a case is heard and nothing about who wins it, and the proceeding continued in the ACT.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Commercial litigation Corporate and commercial

Back to the track record

BOETTCHER LAW

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Sydney

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Privacy statement Disclaimer Terms and conditions

Maxlex Pty Ltd (ABN 40 660 742 450), trading as Boettcher Law. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

30Mar

OneSteel Trading v Arnold: sale proceeds held on trust for our client

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

OneSteel Trading v Arnold: sale proceeds held on trust for our client

30 March 2015

Our client had supplied a company that went into liquidation, compromised the liquidator’s demand, and then claimed what it had paid from the individual who had guaranteed the company’s debts. It protected that claim by caveat, released the caveat to let the guarantor’s property be sold, and accepted undertakings about the proceeds when the sale did not proceed.

The dispute was about what the undertakings covered. They allowed deductions for agency fees, solicitors fees and conveyancing fees, and $21,800 was sought out of the proceeds for costs of the litigation under that wording.

The Court held the undertakings did not reach those costs: OneSteel Trading Pty Ltd v Arnold [2015] ACTSC 81. Conveyancing costs mean the costs of effecting the conveyance, which were $1,976.40. The general word charges, in a clause listing rates, land tax and the like, takes its colour from the government charges around it and does not pick up a solicitor’s fees. The sum was declared to be held on trust under the undertakings, and the costs of the application were ordered against the first defendant.

Read the judgment: AustLII

WHERE THIS SITS

Commercial litigation Insolvency and restructuring

Back to the track record

BOETTCHER LAW

PRACTICE AREAS

INDUSTRIES

FOR CLIENTS

Sydney

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Frankfurt a.M.

Privacy statement Disclaimer Terms and conditions

Maxlex Pty Ltd (ABN 40 660 742 450), trading as Boettcher Law. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

14May

Cooper v Myrtace Consulting: leave for a derivative action refused

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

Corporate & Commercial

Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.

Read about it

Mergers & Acquisitions

Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.

Read about it

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Commercial disputes in the NSW, ACT and Federal courts, resolved early where that is possible and run properly where it is not.

Read about it

More of what we do

Property

Wills and Estates

Industries we act for

International Service

Government and Defence

Supplying government and the defence industry.

Read about it

Technology and Software

Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.

Read about it

Financial Services

A regulated business, on solid legal footing.

Read about it

Also live

Real Estate and Construction

Retail, Trade and Consumer Goods

Transport, Logistics and Shipping

Legal Administration Assistant, Canberra

Canberra office, full time, on site.

Read about it

Wahlstation for German Referendare

Sydney or Canberra, open all year.

Read about it

More about working here

Our people

The track record

What we write

The track record

Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.

Read about it

Latest, and longer form

Modern award coverage: what a high salary does not buy

Pathological arbitration clauses in Singapore

Auditor liability in Singapore and Australia

Guide: company constitutions

Guide: shareholder agreements

Germany

A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.

Read about it

Singapore

Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.

Read about it

Vietnam

Market entry, supply arrangements and dispute resolution for Vietnam.

Read about it

Worth reading first

Vietnam arbitration

Defective arbitration clauses in Singapore

European privacy law for Australian business

Award coverage for German employers

COURT AND TRIBUNAL

Cooper v Myrtace Consulting: leave for a derivative action refused

14 May 2014

A shareholder applied under section 237 of the Corporations Act for leave to bring proceedings in the company’s name against its sole director, alleging misappropriation of the proceeds of a share sale, an improper issue of shares to himself, and a failure to wind the company up.

The Federal Court refused leave and ordered the applicant to pay the company’s costs: Cooper v Myrtace Consulting Pty Ltd [2014] FCA 480. An applicant has to satisfy all five criteria in section 237, and the one that decided the case was whether the proposed action was in the best interests of the company.

The Court accepted there was a serious question to be tried on three of the pleaded claims and none on the rest. Leave still failed, because the applicant could not offer the company a meaningful indemnity for the costs it would be exposed to. Matters put as reasons the director should not be shielded by the corporate form, being unlodged tax returns and financial records not kept, were not pleaded and could not supply the criterion that was missing.

Read the judgment: AustLII

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24Jul

Aboud v Aboud: verdict for our client on a claim over family chattels

by Fabian Hoffmann Track record

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Aboud v Aboud: verdict for our client on a claim over family chattels

24 July 2009

A claim was brought in the District Court of New South Wales for the return of a long list of household items, on the footing that they belonged to the plaintiff’s parents rather than to our client, who had lived with and cared for them.

The Court found for our client on every disputed item: Aboud v Aboud [2009] NSWDC 183. The items fell into three groups, being possessions sent to our client while she was living in London, items given by her father shortly before his death, and items given by her mother while our client lived in the family home.

Each group turned on the two requirements of a gift of goods, being an intention to give and delivery. The Court held that the words used in each case showed an intention to give without qualification, and that delivery was made out, in some instances constructively, which is the settled position for chattels passing between members of one household. Our client was entitled to a verdict on the claim, with costs to follow the event.

Read the judgment: AustLII

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