My focus is: working with producers and contractors in both the oil and gas and mining sectors, and participants in energy markets.

I enjoy: the variety of work that comes with a commercial disputes practice. I find myself assisting clients with all manner of contentious legal issues, including contractual disputes, regulatory investigations and proceedings, insurance claims, disputes with shareholders or joint venture participants, and class actions.

'Do more with less': seems to be a common challenge faced by in-house counsel these days. That challenge has been particularly acute in the oil and gas and iron ore sectors over the past several years, with commodity price downturns leading to redundancies and budget cuts in ‘non-operational’ roles such as legal departments.

On the horizon: we are, to some extent, still at the beginning of the development of a class action regime in Australia. As this ‘market’ develops and matures, the risk of major funded claims being made against corporate Australia will increase. Listed companies, in particular, need to carefully manage their shareholder disclosure and class action risk.