Contractual Disputes

Overview

Contractual disputes can quickly turn into protracted, costly and unpleasant litigation. They generally do long-term damage to the relationships of all involved and add to the overall costs of the contract.

The Hall & Wilcox Commercial Dispute Resolution team is made up of skilled professionals who prefer to employ a proactive approach to managing contractual disputes. We believe many issues can be avoided by employing ‘watertight’ contracts that can withstand scrutiny and stem the threat of litigation.

However, when a dispute does arise, we work with you to actively pursue the most appropriate dispute strategy to encourage an early and effective resolution.

We provide the full range of services arising out of contractual disputes, including:

advising on prospects and procedural options;
drafting statutory demands and claims;
conducting negotiations, where appropriate;
instituting and conducting recovery proceedings; and
providing representation in litigation, arbitration and mediation proceedings.

Experience

Our team has recently been involved in a number of significant contractual disputes, which include:

successfully represented Bank of Cyprus Australia in Federal Court and then Supreme Court proceedings in significant recovery proceedings;
successfully represented a major bank in connection with a the recovery of a business debt of more than $2 million secured by several residential and commercial properties in two states, joint and several guarantees and cross guarantees and registered charges given by three associated entities;
successfully represented Underworks Pty Ltd against Pacific Brands and Sara Lee Australasia in Federal Court proceedings and a full Federal Court appeal relating to the assignability of rights under a licence agreement. The judgements are an important addition to the law relating to assignment of choses in action; and
successfully represented a company shareholder claiming to be owed a substantial sum by the company. When extensive negotiations with the company's controlling (overseas) shareholder and its lawyers to recover the debt and sell the shares were unsuccessful, winding up proceedings were instituted, leading to the appointment of a liquidator and our client being paid out most of his debt and his shares acquired.

Expertise