The ‘high-quality, talented advisers’ in Ashurst‘s dispute resolution team offer a range of industry specialisms, from financial services to energy and resources. Team lead Jeremy Chenoweth, working out of both Sydney and Brisbane, is particularly sought after for energy and resources matters, along with infrastructure work. In Sydney, Andrew Carter is a key name for corporate and securities litigation, an area in which ’outstanding litigator’ Wen-Ts’ai Lim is particularly strong, while Rani John specialises in sensitive white-collar issues. Nicholas Mavrakis, also in Sydney, is adept at regulatory work, representing both domestic and international clients. Perth-based Catherine Pedler is praised for her ‘sound judgement on complex issues’, with expertise across the mining, energy, agribusiness and manufacturing sectors. In Melbourne, Lucinda Hill is recommended.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The Ashurst Team has outstanding depth of talent with the Partners supported by a strong cohort at the Senior Associate level. This provides comfort when dealing with complex matters as the capacity of the Senior Associates to manage complex litigation allows numerous work streams to be progressed by the Senior Associates with guidance from Partners.'
- 'Wen-Ts'ai Lim is an outstanding litigator with a capacity to manage a complex work stream whilst maintaining overall control of the legal and commercial issues.'
- 'Nicholas Mavrakis understands commercial issues from a client perspective, articulates clear strategy for moving matters forward, distills legalese into digestible format for clients so that clients feel safe and well covered.'
- 'The team has consistently high-quality talented advisers. Provision of excellent legal advice is a given, but the group is also responsive, reliable and provides excellent service. They are astute in advice and think laterally about complex problems.'
- 'Catherine Pedler is articulate, well experienced and provides sound judgement on complex issues. She is focused on service and is solution driven.'
- 'The people are first rate - in particular, the way the people construct their teams. Affable, efficient, and able. You get attention to detail; independent thinking; and problems are not pushed onto counsel to sort out. It is very much a team approach. This is what sets this top-tier practice apart from other top-tier practices.'
- 'They are polite, decent, and hard-working. They understand the importance of teams working harmoniously, and they encourage debate. Jeremy Chenoweth is a standout.'
Key clients
- Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited
- Westpac Banking Corporation
- Northern Star Resources
- Macquarie Bank
- Commonwealth Government of Australia
- NSW Government
- Woolworths Group
- Downer EDI
- AGL Energy
- BMW Australia
- AGL Energy Limited
- AIA Insurance
- Airservices Australia
- Alcoa Corporation
- AMP Life
- Australian Naval Infrastructure Pty Ltd
- ANZ Bank
- Australian Rail Track Corporation
- AxiCorp
- BOC
- CBRE Pty Limited
- Commonwealth Bank
- Gold Coast City Council
- Goldman Sachs
- Hochtief AG
- Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Limited
- JP Morgan
- KPMG
- LafargeHolcim Ltd
- Leighton Offshore Pte Limited
- McDonald's
- MMA Offshore Limited
- MMI Indonesia Investments Pty Ltd
- Nexus Infrastructure Pty Ltd
- Northern Oil & Gas Australia Pty Limited
- Northern Star Resources Ltd
- NorthWest Healthcare Australian Property Proprietary Limited
- NSW Government
- Orica Limited
- Paladin Solutions PNG Ltd
- PIMCO
- PriceWaterhouse Coopers
- Resolution Life
- Rio Tinto
- Roads and Maritime Services
- S&P Global
- Shell International Limited
- Societe Generale
- SRG Global Limited
- Sydney Metro
- Sydney Trains
- Westpac
- Whitehaven Finance Company Pty Ltd
- Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal Pty Limited
- Woodside Energy Ltd.
- Woolworths
- WorkPac Pty Ltd
- WSA Co Limited
- Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited
Work highlights
- Acting for the ASX-listed multinational mining company, Rio Tinto Limited, in civil penalty proceedings before the Federal Court of Australia commenced by ASIC in March 2018 concerning an alleged failure to promptly impair an overseas mining asset at 2012 half-year in accordance with the relevant IFRS international accounting standards.
- Acting for PwC, defending a substantial privilege dispute in which the Commission of Taxation is challenging over 15,000 privilege claims in the Federal Court.
- Acting for Westpac and two of its subsidiaries in civil penalty proceedings commenced by ASIC in relation to their failure to properly disclose, and as a result their improper charging of, "contribution fees" on investments made by retail clients.
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Practice head
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Jeremy Chenoweth