Find Lawyers in Sydney, Australia for Commercial Law
Practice Area Overview
At its heart, corporate/commercial law involves:
- The consideration of the Law of Contract as it applies to corporations engaging in trade and commerce; and
- The interpretation and application of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) which is the central statute governing corporate law in Australia.
As such, the practice of corporate/commercial law in Australia requires:- A deep understanding of the Law of Contract which is largely derived from the Common Law (i.e. case-based and Court-developed precedent) with certain parameters imposed by statute (such as legislation dealing with consumer protection, unjust contracts, competition/anti-trust law, and time-bars on claims)
- Considerable knowledge and experience of corporate law, in particular the Corporations Act which applies to bodies corporate and includes foreign incorporated bodies carrying on business in Australia and certain trust structures such as managed investment schemes.
The Corporations Act governs: the establishment of corporations; membership rights and obligations; corporate governance (e.g. director's duties and requirements for meetings of members and directors); solvency; funding (both debt and equity) and the associated financial services licensing regime which regulates offers of financial products, providing financial advice and related services; capital management (e.g. share buybacks, capital reductions, and financial assistance); continuous disclosure, disclosure of direct and indirect share ownership and related issues such as insider trading, where company securities trade on a financial market; and acquisitions (including public company takeovers, schemes of arrangement, and compulsory acquisition of securities).
It is also important in the practice of corporate and commercial law in Australia to have an understanding of a number of important regulatory bodies, such as the Takeovers Panel (which has a significant oversight of takeovers and schemes of arrangement involving companies with 50 members or more) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (the main Australian corporate regulator, which operates under a separate statute and is responsible for both the regulation of bodies corporate and the development of policy and guidelines for the operation of the Corporations Act). Additionally, in the listed company environment, an understanding of the financial markets and financial markets operators that carry on business in Australia, (principally ASX Ltd and the listing rules of ASX Ltd) is required.
As a consequence, corporate/commercial lawyers are required to have the skills and experience to canvass a very wide range of issues at some depth.
Select a location from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Andrea specialises in financial services, banking and corporate law. Andrea brings legal capability and insight into regulatory matters, corporate governance, compliance and risk management. She assists her clients to adapt to the changing regulatory landscape to ensure they meet the expectations of their customers and shareholders and regulators. Andrea’s expertise extends to designing and conducting a broad range of financial services training for financial services providers, their s...
John is a senior corporate and commercial lawyer who has specialised in technology and intellectual property law for over 25 years. He is a partner in the Corporate and Commercial team at Hall & Wilcox. John advises clients on commercial transactions and legal disputes in the fields of IT, telecommunications and media. His expertise covers all the legal issues associated with the use of technology in business and government, including licensing, privacy and data protection, copyright, bra...
Consistently ranked by clients and peers as a leading corporate lawyer, Kain Lawyers’ founder and Managing Director has over 25 years’ experience in M&A and equity capital markets law. John’s experience ranges across private equity, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions. His experience in advising public and private companies and investment funds has seen him consistently ranked by the AFR’s ‘Best Lawyers in Australia’ and Doyles Guide as a leadi...
Stephen is a well-respected commercial litigation lawyer with almost 30 years’ experience. His area of specialisation is in corporate and commercial dispute resolution, with a particular focus on complex debt, consumer law, contract, corporations law, equity, real property and regulatory investigations. Stephen has represented both public and private companies across a range of industries and issues, in the Supreme Court, the Federal Court and High Court, and has led large-scale matters...
Scott McDonald has more than 30 years' commercial litigation experience. He works on complex commercial disputes, competition law litigation, alternative dispute resolution, bankruptcy and insolvency. He also practises in the emerging field of international commercial arbitration with a particular focus on cross-border trade disputes. What he does Scott provides regulatory advice to publicly listed companies, and their directors and officers, on statutory notices or examination requests from ...
Leon is a senior property partner who primarily advises on major development projects where his skills in structuring joint ventures and negotiating finance facilities are highly valued by clients ranging from developers to government entities. What he does Leon's skills in property and finance along with his commercial acumen, negotiating skills and affable style make him a valued team player on project teams responsible for completing complex development projects within time and budget. Who...
Lucinda is a Partner in the firm’s Corporate team. She also sits on the firm’s National Executive Team, in the role of Partner – Service Delivery. In this role, she manages and oversees the firm’s ability to drive improvement in and modernisation of our service delivery in all parts of our business. Lucinda is a specialist in the health, aged care, and retirement village industries and brings a commercial, solutions-driven approach to corporate transactions. Her work i...
Nicholas has a broad commercial and public law practice. He is regularly briefed in class actions, with his expertise also extending to a range of private law claims, including disputes concerning commercial contracts, unjust enrichment, professional and medical negligence and intentional torts. As a solicitor, Nicholas worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in International Arbitration and at King & Wood Mallesons and HWL Ebsworth in commercial litigation. In 2014 Nicholas was Tips...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.