Corporate & Commercial
Contracts, structures and governance for businesses that need the paperwork to hold when something goes wrong.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Buying or selling a business, from the term sheet and due diligence through to completion and the restraints that follow.
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.
Technology and Software
Your product scales digitally. Your contracts have to scale with it.
The track record
Judgments and tribunal outcomes, transactions completed, appointments taken, and the conversations we are part of in Australia and in Germany.
Germany
A German desk for businesses moving between Australia and the German-speaking market.
Singapore
Singapore law where it governs the contract, and the arbitral seat that carries much of the region’s work.
Commercial Litigation
We act for businesses in commercial disputes, in court and in arbitration.
For companies, directors and shareholders in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, and for foreign parties in dispute with an Australian counterparty. Every matter is led by a principal, and the first question is always whether the case is worth running.
2007
Practising in Australia since
3
Offices: Sydney, Canberra, Frankfurt
2
Legal systems, one team
1
Principal on every matter
How a dispute runs
Six stages, and the decisions inside them
01
The commercial question, before the legal one
Before anything is filed we work out what the dispute is worth, what it will cost to run, and what can realistically be recovered. You decide whether to proceed on that arithmetic. A claim that costs more to prove than it is worth is not a claim worth running, and we will say so.
02
Correspondence before proceedings
Most disputes are resolved or narrowed before anything is filed. A letter that sets the case out properly, with the documents attached, does more work than a claim form. It can also improve your position on costs if the matter goes on, because courts look at how each side conducted itself before proceedings began.
03
Commencing or defending
The pleading defines the case. It can be changed later, but not freely: past the early stages an amendment needs the court’s permission, costs money, and the later it comes the more likely it is refused. On the defence side the pleading decides which issues stay live and which are conceded, and that choice drives every cost that follows.
04
Evidence and discovery
Witness evidence, expert evidence where it is needed, and documents. Discovery is often the most expensive phase of a proceeding, and its scope is set by the rules and the court, not by what a party wants. We press for narrow, defined categories, agreed with the other side where possible, so you do not pay to review documents that do not matter.
05
Mediation and offers
Most commercial disputes settle before a hearing. An offer properly made does two jobs: it can end the dispute, and if it is refused and the refusal turns out to be the wrong call, it can change who pays the costs from that point on. Timing and form are tactical decisions, and the decision to settle is always yours.
06
Hearing, and then enforcement
A judgment is not a payment. Enforcement is a separate exercise against whatever assets the other side actually has, and it is planned before the hearing, not after it. Where assets sit overseas, or there is a real risk they will move, that planning starts earlier still: courts can freeze assets while a case runs, and judgments and arbitral awards can be enforced across borders.
Selected matters
Disputes we have run
Clients are not named and no proceeding is identified. The forum, the structure of the dispute, the side we acted on and the jurisdiction are.
International arbitration
Singapore-seated arbitration against an Australian counterparty
Acted for the claimant, a European company. Statement of claim, exhibits and the tribunal process.
SIAC · Singapore and NSW
Property development
Defence of a Supreme Court claim arising from a development
Acted for the respondents through pleadings, evidence and interlocutory applications.
Supreme Court · ACT
Asset finance
Recovery proceedings brought by a fleet financier
Acted for the plaintiffs.
Commercial list · NSW
Insolvency
Dispute over the appointment of a receiver
Acted for the company resisting the appointment.
Urgent application · NSW
Building and construction
Defending an owners corporation claim over building defects
Acted for the developer and the builder, including the insurance and funding position.
Supreme Court · NSW
Regulatory
Workers compensation premium dispute with the regulator
Acted for the employer.
Regulatory review · ACT
Employment
Defending a claim brought by a departing employee
Acted for the employer, through to resolution.
Commission · NSW
Mediation
Appointed as mediator in a shareholder dispute
Acted as the mediator, not for either party. The firm is also appointed to sit, not only to appear.
Private mediation · NSW
Who does the work
The person you meet is the person who runs it
Fabian Hoffmann
Principal · Sydney, Canberra and Frankfurt
Juris Doctor (ANU) and the First State Examination in Law (Bielefeld), admitted in the Australian Capital Territory, Notary Public of the Society of Notaries of New South Wales, member of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators, and Vertrauensanwalt for both the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria. Works in German and English, and tutored contract law at the ANU College of Law for four years.
Mason Keene-McCann
Principal · Canberra
Admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria and holds a practising certificate in the Australian Capital Territory. Joined Boettcher Law in 2022 and works with barristers and experts on contested commercial matters.
Australia and Germany
One team, both legal systems
Where a matter runs across both jurisdictions, the German side is handled by our Frankfurt office under German law, not passed to correspondent counsel and marked up. That is the practical difference: one team, one set of documents, and nobody translating between two firms at your cost.
Tax on either side sits with an accountant. We work with Accru Felsers through the German Professional Services Alliance and bring them in at the point the numbers start to matter, which on a restructure or a share transfer is usually before we draft.
Related
Also relevant to a dispute
Tell us about the dispute
Send us what has happened and what you want out of it. We will tell you whether the case looks worth running, what it is likely to cost, and what we would do first. If it is not worth running, we will say that before anything else.
BOETTCHER LAW
PRACTICE AREAS
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- Real Estate and Construction
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- Manufacturing and Industrial Equipment
- Financial Services
- Government and Defence
- Automotive and Mobility
- Mining, Resources and Critical Minerals
- Medical Technology and Life Sciences
- Agribusiness and Food
- Renewable Energy and Hydrogen
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