Profile
Year of Call:
2019Overview
Sophie’s commercial dispute resolution practice encompasses banking, insolvency and corporations law, building & construction, competition, insurance, property disputes and regulatory matters.
Approachable and client focused, Sophie’s experience acting for government and private sector clients and their insurers, external administrators and individuals ranges from large-scale resource disputes and significant appeals, through to discrete first-instance matters. With considerable advocacy experience as sole counsel both at interlocutory and trial level, she appears led and unled in all State and Federal courts and has appeared in the High Court. She also has experience in various commissions of inquiry and tribunals. Sophie enjoys working collaboratively with teams of lawyers and experts. Before being called to the Bar, Sophie worked as an Associate in the commercial litigation group of Norton Rose Fulbright, acting for both national and international clients on a range of complex disputes.
She is presently a member of the author team for Civil Procedure Queensland, together with the Honourable Justice Bond of the Supreme Court of Queensland and Mr Mohammud Jaamae Hafeez-Baig.
Sophie served as associate to the Honourable Justice Patrick Keane in the High Court of Australia in 2016-2017.
Experience
A selection of past and ongoing cases in which Sophie has been briefed includes:
> Acting (led by Shane Doyle KC and Scott Hooper KC) for defendants in Supreme Court proceedings in a complex multiparty contract dispute concerning the resources sector.
> Appearing (led by Michael Wyles KC) in the Federal Court for a provider of small amount consumer credit in regulatory proceedings brought against it by ASIC.
> Appearing–for a body corporate (led by Paul McQuade KC) in the Queensland Court of Appeal in an appeal concerning whether 126 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) prevented the body corporate from lawfully terminating a management agreement.
> Appearing (led by Michael Hodge KC and Nicholas Loos) for the Department of Environment and Science in an appeal to the Planning and Environment Court from a decision of the Department to refuse an application for an amended transitional environmental program under the Environment Protection Act 1994 (Qld).
> Acting, unled, for a director of a bulk fuel supply company, in liquidation, during a two day public examination in the New South Wales Supreme Court by the financiers of the company who were owed collectively more than AUD 64 million.
> Appearing (led by Nicholas Andreatidis QC) for a leading engineering consultancy firm before the Paradise Dam Commission of Inquiry.
> Appearing (led by Simon Couper QC) in the Queensland Court of Appeal for Royal and Sun Alliance Plc, a London based insurer, regarding the reasonableness of a settlement reached by the insured with the Commonwealth of Australia in relation to the total constructive loss of HMAS Bundaberg- judgment pending.
> Appearing (led by Melanie Hindman QC) in the Supreme Court of Queensland representing a building contractor in relation to the provision of further security under a construction contract.
> Acting (led by Nicholas Andreatidis QC with Anthony Messina) in the High Court of Australia for trustees of a pension fund in relation to whether a mortgage agreement properly precluded the mortgagor from relying on the Limitation of Actions Act.
> Acting (led by Declan Kelly QC) for a telecommunications company in respect of a judicial review application relating to the proper construction of the Telecommunications Act.
> Recent matters as sole counsel include advising and appearing for litigants in building disputes, contractual disputes, body corporate disputes and judicial review applications.
Member
Bar Association of Queensland
Career
2019 Barrister
2017 Solicitor, Norton Rose Fulbright
2016 Associate to the Honourable Justice Keane, High Court of Australia
Education
2016 Bachelor of Laws (Hons), Queensland University of Technology
