Our Team

Helen Kow­al

Partner
Prop­er­ty, Plan­ning & Projects, Stra­ta

I pride myself on lis­ten­ing to the client, think­ing out­side the square and find­ing a solu­tion that meets the client’s needs. I con­duct pro­ceed­ings in the NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Local Court of New South Wales and in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of New South Wales.

Expe­ri­ence

With a legal career span­ning over 25 years in gen­er­al prac­tice, for the past decade I have spe­cialised in build­ing, con­struc­tion, stra­ta and prop­er­ty. I have worked for many own­ers cor­po­ra­tions, devel­op­ers and builders in all facets of build­ing and con­struc­tion law in all jurisdictions. 

  • Act­ing for own­ers cor­po­ra­tions, own­ers and builders in build­ing defect claims under the Home Build­ing Act 1989 in NCAT and Supreme Court of NSW 
  • Act­ing for devel­op­ers, own­ers cor­po­ra­tions and lot own­ers at the fore­front of stra­ta renew­al leg­is­la­tion intro­duced in Novem­ber 2016
  • Act­ing for own­ers cor­po­ra­tions and own­ers in stra­ta dis­putes aris­ing under the Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015
  • Nego­ti­a­tion and draft­ing of build­ing con­tracts, project man­age­ment and super­in­ten­dent agreements
  • Act­ing in bound­ary and devel­op­ment mat­ters includ­ing ease­ments, crane and ground anchor licence deeds, bound­ary, tree and fenc­ing dis­putes and plan­ning issues.

Expertise

  • Building and Construction
  • Strata
  • Property
  • Local government law
  • Environment and planning
  • Commercial law
  • Litigation and Dispute resolution

Roles, memberships and education

  • Master of Laws (University of Sydney) 2000
  • Diploma of Law (LPAB) 1994
  • Member of Law Society of NSW

Publications