Profile

Recent experience includes:

Commercial

• Acting (led by Michael de Waard) for the claimant in an ad hoc arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules arising from the supply of non-conforming product.
• Acting (led by Matthew Hickey OAM KC) for the first defendant on Supreme Court proceedings concerning the repair and operational readiness of magnetic resonance imaging machines. QRAD Ltd v Philips Electronics Australia Ltd [2025] QSC 317.
• Acting (led by Rob Anderson KC) for the sellers in urgent Supreme Court proceedings concerning the construction of a special condition in a contract for the sale of a cattle station and livestock.
• Acting unled for a supplier of medical equipment in a District Court claim for breach of an agency agreement and an equipment hire agreement, breach of fiduciary duty and misleading or deceptive conduct.

Corporations, regulatory and revenue

• Acting (led by Stewart Webster KC) for the defendants to civil penalty proceedings brought by ASIC alleging the provision of unlicensed financial services, the operation of an unregistered managed investment scheme and misleading representations, and seeking declarations, injunctions, disqualification and publication orders. Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Macrolend Pty Ltd (No 3) [2025] FCA 1158.
• Acting (led by Rob Anderson KC) for the first respondent to freezing orders obtained by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation and in underlying claims for dishonest assistance and knowing receipt. Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Peever (No 3) [2025] FCA 1187.
• Appearing unled for the first respondent in the same proceeding on an application by a national newspaper for access to documents and transcript. Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Peever [2025] FCA 460.
• Advising on whether a proposed acquisition of shares involved the giving of financial assistance by a company for the acquisition of its own shares.
• Advising a cryptocurrency exchange on the legal characterisation of how it holds customer assets.

Insolvency and restructuring

• Acting (led by Stewart Webster KC) for a company in liquidation in response to an application for leave to proceed with claims to recover alleged overpayments and damages under a terminated design and construct contract. Taringa Property Group Pty Ltd v Kenik Pty Ltd [2025] QSC 222.
• Acting (led by Paul McQuade KC) for a church body in receivership in Supreme Court proceedings seeking declarations as to the beneficial ownership of church assets.
• Acting (led by David Chesterman KC) for liquidators on issues arising in the completion of a contract for the sale of a mining business.
• Advising liquidators on the merits of recovery proceedings in relation to potential uncommercial transactions.
• Acting unled for a trustee in bankruptcy seeking to recover real property transferred without consideration under a financial agreement and subsequently sold, including claims in tracing and breach of trust.

Banking and finance

• Acting (led by Ben Katekar SC, Dominic Pyle and Rob Ivessa) for a law firm, its principal and related entities in response to recovery proceedings brought by a bank, and on their counterclaim alleging misleading and deceptive conduct, breach of the Banking Code of Practice and negligent valuation.
• Appearing unled for a bank on an originating application for a declaration that it held an equitable mortgage following the erroneous release of its registered mortgage, and for orders for judicial sale, vesting and possession.
• Acting for a victim of fraud resisting a mortgagee’s claim for possession and its application for summary judgment, on grounds including non est factum and the fraud and in personam exceptions to indefeasibility.
• Acting unled for a guarantor resisting declarations that a guarantee and indemnity created an equitable charge over land.
• Regularly appearing on recovery proceedings for banks and credit providers.

Energy and resources

• Acting for a global energy company in a cross-border dispute concerning breach of warranty and a purchase price adjustment under a share purchase agreement for the sale of an energy business.
• Acting for a global energy company in a dispute arising from a series of agreements for the design and construction of a plastic waste to fuel business.
• Acting (led by Michael May) for the lessor of the site of a Queensland wind farm in a dispute over the operation of the rent formula under a registered lease.

Insurance and product liability

• Acting for Airservices Australia (led by Simon Couper KC and Stewart Webster KC) in Supreme Court proceedings brought by Brisbane Airport Corporation concerning contamination by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances arising from the historical use of firefighting foam, involving claims in nuisance and negligence and under contractual indemnities.
• Acting (led by Matthew Hickey OAM KC) for a major university in a claim against a maintenance contractor and an equipment supplier arising from water damage to a health facility.
• Acting unled for a university in product liability claims arising from separate laboratory and building fires, engaging the consumer guarantee and defective goods provisions of the Australian Consumer Law, the electrical safety legislation and the relevant Australian Standards.
• Appearing unled for a plaintiff on the recoverability of credit hire charges following a motor vehicle collision.

Building and construction

• Appearing unled for the applicant builder on a tribunal review of decisions of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission to issue a direction to rectify and to record unsatisfactory work, where the builder had been prevented from completing the directed work for reasons beyond its control. Abbott Builders (Qld) Pty Ltd v Queensland Building and Construction Commission [2025] QCAT 144.
• Appearing unled for the respondent contractor at a two-day final hearing of a domestic building dispute in QCAT concerning the statutory warranties implied by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld).
• Acting unled for a head contractor in a claim against a subcontractor for defective works under service level agreements and period subcontracts, and on an application for leave to substitute the plaintiff following a corporate restructure.
• Acting for a supplier defending a claim arising from the supply of contaminated soil and mulch.

Class actions

• Tim regularly advises litigation funders on the merits of potential class actions in Australia.