We are aggressive, decisive, determined litigators and leaders in the field. Our standards are high and we know that results matter. In order to achieve results, we know that our people, our experience and our focus on our clients’ needs are key.
About Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Disputes should be resolved efficiently and cost effectively. At Cornwalls, our team aims to find the best strategies to protect our clients’ interests. Our clients value our ability to understand the key drivers of any dispute, and we use these to effect best-case outcomes.
Our Litigation & Dispute Resolution team is highly experienced in all forms of litigation. Our partners are actively involved, when litigation is unavoidable, in developing strategies to manage court proceedings and achieve the best possible results.
Our expertise covers all forms of litigation, including: commercial and corporate disputes, contractual and property disputes, trade practices, tax, insolvency and insurance litigation. We advise across a range of industries including construction, transport and logistics, energy and resources, intellectual property, information technology, health, retail, property and workplace relations.
We have the skills and resources to manage large scale litigation and tight timeframes. Our aim is to reach the determination of disputes as quickly as possible, always considering commercial imperatives. We use our expertise and industry knowledge to avoid court proceedings where appropriate.
Expertise
- Arbitrations
- Boards of Inquiry
- Body corporate / owners corporations / STRATA
- Class actions
- Claims of abuse
- Commercial disputes and litigation
- Contractual disputes
- Coronial investigations
- Corporate and business disputes
- Corporate governance
- Corporate insolvency and bankruptcy
- Defamation
- Directors’ and officers’ liability
- Dispute resolution
- Estate litigation
- Financial services litigation
- Fraud
- Government and administrative law
- Insurance / risk
- Leasing disputes (retail and commercial)
- Litigation funding interventions
- Media law
- Mediation and alternative dispute resolution
- Proceeds of crime
- Professional negligence
- Property disputes
- Recoveries and collections
- Restructuring and turnaround
- Royal commissions
- Shareholder, unitholder and partnership disputes
- Trust and equitable claims
Examples
Some recent matters our team members have worked on include:
- Appearing as advocates in Supreme Court proceedings defending a client against fraud allegations related to complex commercial transactions involving a claim of approximately $50 million
- Acting for a large private company in meeting all lender’s required due diligence conditions, and advising on the facility and security documents required in a syndicated refinance deal totalling $900 million
- Acting for the investment entities related to the defence of a $15 million claim and related counter claim alleging various breaches of trust in relation to an $80 million project
- Re-drafting various security documents for an invoice-discounting financier, following its amalgamation with a mid-tier bank
- Acting for a mining company in a ‘reverse’ takeover of a us company, involving cross border issues and challenges ($30 million)
- Acting for management in a buyout of one of australia’s largest mortgage originators ($150 million)
- Acting for a major lender in relation to the take-out finance secured over a 155-room hotel ($25 million)
- Appearing for the major investor in a proceeding involving a large hospital project and related investment scheme seeking in excess of $10 million in damages
- Advising a major financier on the implications of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing act
- Acting for arrangers of notice issues and the subscriber; the notice issues are generally secured by securities held under a security trust arrangement and can be subordinated to other facilities
- Preparing standard form asset based facility documents and associated securities for several financiers
- Acting for a Joint Venture in a 80+ unit development project to appoint provisional liquidators in the face to significant opposition
- Acting for Hong Kong based trustees, including appearing in the Federal Court as advocates, to obtain a variety of recognition and examination orders in Australia under the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency of the United National Commission on International Trade
- Advising and assisting various investment funds in relation to the responses to, and dealing with regulators including undertaking legal proceedings in the Supreme Court over the same
- Assisting Trustees in bankruptcy and liquidators in their pursuit of a variety of matters involving recovering funds for creditors
- Acting, including appearing as advocates, in proceedings over breach of copyright and related IP rights
- Assisting, advising upon and some matters appearing as advocates in court for, directors in relation to the defence of various insolvent trading and related claims
- Appearing as the advocates in an appeal, and related applications and 2 separate but related proceedings, regarding the development approval process and validity of some of the standard forms used by the HIA in Queensland
- Acting for an institution regarding its adoption of the basel ii operating risk procedures, and reviewing and advising on the effectiveness of securities and ease of enforcement of securities
- Acting for a bank in the sale of a loan portfolio involving over 100 loans for retirement homes and other real property; the estimated loan value was more than $30 million
- Acting for a bank in relation to providing finance worth approximately $240 million for the purposes of establishing a stamp duty savings arrangement involving delaware (usa), british virgin islands, the channel islands, england and luxembourg
- Acting for a public to private company relative to the provision of finance for a joint venture with various companies to maintain and market privatised utilities for the supply of energy and telecommunications
- Acting for custodians, responsible entities and lenders to managed investment schemes throughout australia and the restructuring of finance and assets involving managed investment schemes
- Acting for a major mining company in restructuring finances with existing lenders and guarantors, including the state and federal governments, and establishing employee loan and capital guarantee schemes
- Conducting due diligence of a lending portfolio and documentation involving lending in excess of $1.2 billion
- Establishing a national lending service provider processing over 50,000 transactions per annum and four national commercial lenders
- Advising a multinational company on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation, establishing their aml/ctf documents and audits, and successfully applying to apra to have $2 million per year of legislative fees waived
- Documenting the funding facilities required for many large commercial and residential developers, including negotiation with builders on the lender’s behalf, review and approval of pre-sale contracts and pre-lease arrangements.
- Acting in and resolving a shareholder dispute in one of Sydney’s most high-profile restaurant chains
- Acting for a prominent property developer in a circa $150m dispute between the partners and financier in a major joint venture development, including allegations of fraud, and proceeded to over two months of hearing resulting in one of the lengthiest
judgments ever delivered by the NSW Supreme Court - Acting as personal counsel for a mining magnate and Australia’s wealthiest individual,
including in relation to complex family disputes and in relation to control of a multi-billion-dollar trust fund.
Commissions of Inquiry:
- Appointed by the NSW branch of a well-known charity to convene a Board of Enquiry, to be chaired by a retired High Court Judge, to enquire into serious allegations of widespread financial abuse in the workings of the State Branch over several years; proceedings were assumed by the NSW government exercising its powers under the Charities Act
- Acted for the lead government agency for the NSW tourism and major events sector, in a coronial inquiry surrounding the death of a tourist attending the Vivid Sydney 2014 event
- Acted for a leading global mining group in a lengthy coronial inquest and associated prosecution arising from the collapse of a massive ore body in an underground mine in NSW
- Acted for the head of a major Church in Australia, in respect of issues before a Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry and before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
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