I am a com­mer­cial­ly mind­ed lit­i­ga­tor spe­cial­is­ing in stra­ta, prop­er­ty, and con­struc­tion dis­putes. I com­menced prac­tice over 19 years ago as a prop­er­ty and plan­ning lawyer before focus­ing on a com­mer­cial lit­i­ga­tion and dis­pute res­o­lu­tion prac­tice over 14 years ago. 

A back­ground in prop­er­ty and plan­ning law gives me a com­pre­hen­sive under­stand­ing of the prac­ti­cal as well as legal issues involved in prop­er­ty-relat­ed dis­putes. Util­is­ing that expe­ri­ence I am adept at for­mu­lat­ing prac­ti­cal res­o­lu­tions to resolve com­plex problems

Exper­tise

  • Con­struc­tion
  • Prop­er­ty
  • Stra­ta

Sec­tors

  • Real Estate & Construction

Expe­ri­ence

My expe­ri­ence includes:

  • act­ing for a suc­cess­ful lessor plain­tiff (and respon­dent on appeal) to obtain a dec­la­ra­tion that a lease entered into in 2008 was no longer on foot: Gaz­corp v Wool­worths Group Ltd [2021] NSWSC 308 and Wool­worths Group Ltd v Gaz­corp Pty Ltd [2022] NSW­CA 19.
  • obtain­ing urgent inter­locu­to­ry relief on behalf of a lessee to extend the oper­a­tion of caveats and to restrain the sale of com­mer­cial prop­er­ty to a third par­ty and com­mence­ment of pro­ceed­ings to deter­mine a lease dis­pute on short notice.
  • act­ing for and advis­ing on the pri­or­i­ty of inter­ests grant­ed pur­suant to a put and call option and right of first refusal.
  • act­ing for the suc­cess­ful appel­lant in a lead­ing case con­cern­ing the oper­a­tion of statu­to­ry war­ranties pur­suant to the Home Build­ing Act 1989 (NSW): Ace Wool­lahra Pty Ltd v The Own­ers Stra­ta Plan 61424 & Anor [2010] NSW­CA 101, which case prompt­ed the NSW Gov­ern­ment to intro­duce the Home Build­ing Amend­ment (War­ranties and Insur­ance ) Act 2010.
  • act­ing for builders/​developers in rela­tion to con­trac­tu­al dis­putes and defect claims in the NSW Civ­il & Admin­is­tra­tion Tri­bunal, the Dis­trict Court of New South Wales, and the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
  • advis­ing on and act­ing on prop­er­ty dis­putes con­cern­ing: caveats; ease­ments; co-own­er­ship dis­putes (sec­tion 66G appli­ca­tions); adverse pos­ses­sion claims; fenc­ing and access issues.
  • act­ing on class one appeals against refusal of devel­op­ment con­sent and against orders.
  • advis­ing own­ers cor­po­ra­tions in rela­tion to main­te­nance oblig­a­tions, reme­di­al works, unau­tho­rised works and dis­putes or con­struc­tion mat­ters generally.
  • advis­ing on and draft­ing build­ing contracts.

Roles, mem­ber­ships and education

  • Mas­ter of Laws (Uni­ver­si­ty of Syd­ney) 2012
  • Bach­e­lor of Laws (Uni­ver­si­ty of New South Wales) 2002
  • Bach­e­lor of Arts (Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney)1999
  • Mem­ber of Law Soci­ety of NSW

Direct Contact

Publications

Aqua­land North Syd­ney Laven­der Devel­op­ment Pty Ltd v The Own­ers — Stra­ta Plan No 102091 [2025] NSW­CA 143

A recent NSW Court of Appeal deci­sion gives Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions greater con­fi­dence in defect lit­i­ga­tion, ensur­ing devel­op­ers using SPV struc­tures…

Statu­to­ry Duty of Care – Part 4 Design and Build­ing Prac­ti­tion­ers Act 2020 – ‘…the risk of harm was fore­see­able… not insignificant…not far-fetched or fanciful’

On 5 July 2024, His Hon­our Jus­tice Waugh hand­ed down his deci­sion in The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan 80867 v Da Sil­va…

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