Boasting ‘excellent depth of team and industry knowledge’, Corrs Chambers Westgarth‘s sizeable bi-coastal practice made great strides in expanding its front-end project capabilities with the high-profile lateral hires of A&O Shearman’s projects co-head Adam Stapledon and project finance partners James Abbott and Simon Huxley (all of whom joined the Sydney office in late 2022). ‘Exceptional problem solver’ Chris Ryder (in Perth) and ‘technically brilliant’ practice co-head Andrew Stephenson (in Melbourne) are the standout construction lawyers, while Joseph Barbaro is another key Melbourne contact for project delivery and outsourcing. Litigators Carla Mills and practice co-head Matthew Muir are also highly recommended in Sydney and Brisbane, respectively. In Victoria, senior partner John Walter and David Warren act for governments, sponsors, contractors and financiers on road and rail PPPs, rolling stock procurement and social infrastructure projects.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'Partner accessibility, responsiveness, commercial advice, depth of industry knowledge.'
'Excellent depth of team and industry knowledge. Corrs are able to mobilise large teams to handle large and tricky matters.'
'Matthew Muir is highly engaged with the market my company operates within and is generally across areas of interest before we are. Matt's commercial acumen and broad experience is a highly valuable commodity to be leveraged when providing counsel on large international projects and commercial disputes.'
'Corrs Chambers Westgarth approach every matter, irrespective of complexity or how big/small the engagement, with absolute professionalism. They showed exceptional subject matter expertise, while being engaged on very different matters, engaging the right specialists in-house. Corrs simplified their engagement in terms of billing, looking for the solutions that first met their clients' needs.'
'Chris Ryder is an exceptional problem solver. Chris is able to think ten moves ahead to take the best position on a matter.'
'Andrew Stephenson is an encyclopaedia of construction law, with deep strategic insights. Andrew understands all of the levers that are available to resolve matters, and the potential pitfalls, and importantly, how to avoid them.'
'Andrew Stephenson is technically brilliant but what makes him unique is his ability to build high-performing teams. There is excellent integration between lawyers and counsel which leads to a good working environment and ultimately a better result for the client.'
'The standout partner is Joseph Barbaro. Joe instils a trust and confidence in the client. Able to make himself available for key activities and meets the expectation of the client in this space with consideration for balancing the expertise requirements at each stage.'

Key clients

Acciona
CIMIC
CPB Contractors
Downer Group
INPEX
John Holland Group
Queensland Government
Santos
Tesla
Victorian Government
NSW Government
Fortescue Metals Group / Fortescue Futures Industries
MACH Energy
Laing O’Rourke
Downer
Transgrid

Work highlights

Advising the first ranked proponent, ACE Energy (Acciona, Cobra, Endeavour Energy and Capella), on its bid to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the transmission network infrastructure for the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.
Continuing to advise Santos on the circa A$23 billion GLNG project, an Australian multibillion-dollar investment involving the extraction and processing of coal seam gas in inland Queensland.
Advising INPEX on resolving a series of ongoing, complex disputes relating to the engineering, procurement and construction of the A$37 billion Ichthys LNG project, a large offshore and onshore oil and gas project in Australia.

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