Leading independent law firm McCullough Robertson has announced the appointment of four new partners effective 1 July 2024: Ms Mezinec specialises in environmental, planning, local government and property law. She has over 13 years experience appearing as advocate across various jurisdictions in the Supreme Court and Land and Environment Court. Kara advises various state government …
Category Archives: News
McCullough Robertson adds further depth to its Sydney offering with key lateral Construction partner and team hire
Leading independent Australian law firm McCullough Robertson Lawyers has announced the appointment of Mark Riddington as a partner in the Construction and Infrastructure team based in Sydney. Mark joins McCullough Robertson from HWL Ebsworth where he spent seven years as a partner, and brings a team of three lawyers including Senior Associate Julia Lane. Mark’s …
McCullough Robertson appoints Pro Bono Partner as it looks to the future and its centenary
Leading independent Australian law firm McCullough Robertson Lawyers has announced the appointment of Tim Longwill as the firm’s Pro Bono Partner. Tim is a senior partner of the firm, recently celebrating 25 years at McCullough Robertson. He has actively participated in the firm’s pro bono program throughout his career providing advice to NFP and charitable …
McCullough Robertson adds further depth to its Resources & Renewables expertise with key environmental partner appointment
Leading independent Australian law firm McCullough Robertson Lawyers announced today the appointment of Madeline Simpson as a partner in the Project Approvals team based in Brisbane. Ms Simpson joins the firm from Herbert Smith Freehills where she spent the last 23 years and was Head of HSF’s Queensland environmental team from 2016 – 2022. Madeline’s …
McCullough Robertson advances women in leadership commitment, adding further depth to its Sydney offering with key lateral Corporate and Employment Relations and Safety partner hires
Leading independent Australian law firm McCullough Robertson Lawyers has announced the appointments of Natalie Kurdian as a partner in the Corporate team and Kate Peterson as a partner in the Employment Relations and Safety team both based in Sydney. These appointments are part of delivering on our strategic priorities to grow our Sydney office and …
McCullough Robertson adds further depth to its Sydney offering with key lateral insolvency partner hire
Leading independent Australian law firm McCullough Robertson Lawyers announced today the appointment of Chris Barr as a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution team based in Sydney. Mr Barr’s appointment is part of delivering on our strategic priority to grow our Sydney office and a desire to increase the firm’s capability in the restructuring, …
McCullough Robertson adds depth to women in leadership and Corporate team, with all female round of partner promotions
Leading independent law firm McCullough Robertson has announced the appointment of two new partners effective 1 July 2023: Ms Morgan is a corporate lawyer experienced in unregulated mergers and acquisitions and who advises clients on all aspects of corporate transactions and foreign investment regulation. She has a deep understanding and knowledge of traditional energy markets …
Safeguard Mechanism Reforms: what you need to know in the race to net-zero
Against the backdrop of a decarbonising global economy and as part of Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement (now enshrined in Commonwealth legislation), the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Safeguard Mechanism) Amendment (Reforms) Rules 2023,[1] are set to come into force on 1 July 2023. These reforms have been designed by the Federal Government to …
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McCullough Robertson adds further depth to its Corporate and Food and Agribusiness offering with key lateral partner hire in Sydney
Leading independent Australian law firm McCullough Robertson Lawyers announced today the appointment of Stephen Iu as a partner in the national Corporate team. This appointment supports three key areas of focus for McCullough Robertson: Mr Iu has supported both private and public sector domestic and international clients with mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, commercial transactions …
McCullough Robertson appoints female Chair as it looks to the future and its centenary
One of Australia’s leading independent law firms, McCullough Robertson Lawyers, today announced a number of changes to the Executive Leadership team, including the appointment of Kristan Conlon as Chair of Partners. Ms Conlon takes up her position as Chair of Partners immediately, replacing Reece Walker who has held the position of Chair since 2019 and …
McCullough Robertson adds depth to growth industries in Government, Renewables and ESG, with key lateral partner hire in Brisbane, appointment of a new partner in annual promotions and development of ESG diversified business
Today we are pleased to announce the appointment of two new partners in our latest round of promotions: Michael Lucey – Litigation and Dispute Resolution Andrew Bukowski – Corporate Advisory Mr Lucey joins McCullough Robertson from well regarded national firm Clayton Utz and adds further depth to its Government practice. Mr Lucey joins Government partners Dominic …
Changes to the WHS Model Laws – coming to a state and territory near you!
On 20 May 2021, the Ministers responsible for Work Health and Safety (WHS) from the Commonwealth and each state and territory met to consider a range of matters, including the response to the 2018 “Boland Review”. On 14 April 2022, a raft of amendments were made to the Model WHS Laws – but for reasons …
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Individual jailed for WHS Industrial Manslaughter in Queensland
History was made on Friday, 25 March 2022 when Gympie business owner Jeffrey Owen was found guilty of an industrial manslaughter offence under Queensland’s work health and safety laws, and sentenced to a five year jail term (with 18 months to be served until the remaining period is suspended). This is the first successful prosecution …
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Sort out your priorities! .au direct domain names launch on 24 March 2022
Australia’s country-code top-level domains (or ccTLDs) currently include ‘com.au’, ‘net.au’, ‘org.au’, ‘id.au’, ‘gov.au’, and ‘edu.au’. As flagged in our news update of 9 September 2021 see here, a new ‘.au’ domain namespace will soon be available. As of 13:00 AEDT on 24 March 2022, eligible registrants can apply for the new, shorter ‘.au’ direct ccTLD. …
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The verdict is in, the climate change duty is out: Full Court overturns Sharma
On 27 May 2021, in the ground-breaking decision of Sharma by her litigation representative Sister Marie Brigid Arthur v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 (Sharma), the Federal Court of Australia determined that the Federal Minister for the Environment had a duty to avoid causing personal injury or death to children in Australia as …
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Will Guardian protect family trust distributions from attack by the ATO?
On 8 February 2022, the Commissioner appealed Justice Logan’s decision on section 100A in Guardian AIT Pty Ltd ATF Australian Investment Trust v Commissioner of Taxation [2021] FCA 1619(Guardian) to the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia. Over the past several years, section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) has …
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Contract conquers conduct: The High Court decides the contractor/employee question
Yesterday, the High Court published two decisions addressing the “central question” of whether the workers involved were contractors or employees.[1] The decisions could not have come at a better time. With the rise of unconventional contracting businesses like Uber, and companies often engaging individuals rather than a corporate entity with key personnel, the line between contractor and …
Road to mandatory VAX hits consultation roadblock
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found BHP’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate is not reasonable and lawful, but reached this decision based on its failure to consult on whether to implement the policy, rather than consultation on how to implement. The decision, which many expected would clear the way for mandatory COVID-19 policies, has instead delivered …
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Recent ATO audit activity signals a tighter, tougher and better-policed application of section 100A to trust distributions
Section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Section 100A) has attracted significant attention amongst tax advisors in recent years – and for good reason. With the much-anticipated ATO ruling expected to be released early in 2022, the question is what should you be doing now in preparation for its release. The Commissioner’s view …
The launch of .au direct: an entirely new domain
auDA recently announced that a new domain namespace will become available on 24 March 2022 for .au direct. This new extension will allow you to register your domain name directly preceding .au, for example: mycompany.au or newdomain.au. What is the benefit of .au direct? The new .au direct namespace is shorter, cleaner and likely to …
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Keeping the lights on and costs down
McCullough Robertson has always had a finger on the pulse when it comes to the discussion surrounding the development and progression of Australia’s energy policy. A topic which is certainly nothing new to Australians. For years, there has been concern and debate surrounding price volatility, reliability of supply and how to ensure future sustained investment …
High Court fixes casual employment uncertainty
The High Court provided welcome clarification in the casual employment debate on Wednesday 4 August. It has overturned the Full Court of the Federal Court’s findings that Mr Rossato was not a casual employee and was due permanent employment entitlements. The Full Court of the Federal Court’s decision had been a cause of significant concern …
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COVID relief package announced for New South Wales
Yesterday 13 July 2021, the New South Wales Government (NSW Government) announced a myriad of relief measures for residents, in the midst of the current COVID-19 crisis in Greater Sydney. The measures are primarily focused on bolstering businesses with a view to keeping them operational, rather than concentrating on underlying employees (as we saw with …
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McCullough Robertson continues to add depth and support industry growth, with the appointment of two new partners in annual promotions
Today we are pleased to announce the appointment of two new partners in our latest round of promotions: Marianne Lloyd-Morgan – Real Estate Strati Pantges – Construction and Infrastructure Responding to client needs in a booming infrastructure and property market, we have recognised and promoted these exceptional practitioners Reece Walker, McCullough Robertson Chair of …
Key lessons in Australian crowd-sourced funding.
From set up to shareholders- understand your legal obligations to ensure success. Part 2 of 5: managing the logistics of increased shareholders In this, the second of a series of five articles, McCullough Robertson’s start-up expert, Partner Ben Wood discusses some of the options available to a crowd-sourced funding (CSF) company to handle its members …
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Key lessons in Australian crowd-sourced funding.
From set up to shareholders- understand your legal obligations to ensure success. Part 5 of 5: getting the most out of your directors In this, fifth, and final, article of the series, McCullough Robertson’s start-up expert, Partner Ben Wood shares his insights into building a board of directors and facilitating director and shareholder meetings. Director …
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Key lessons in Australian crowd-sourced funding.
From set up to shareholders- understand your legal obligations to ensure success. Part 4 of 5: mechanisms to control how shareholders manage shares In this, the fourth of a series of five articles, McCullough Robertson’s start-up expert, Partner Ben Wood examines some of the mechanisms a crowd-sourced funding (CSF) company can include in its constitution …
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Key lessons in Australian crowd-sourced funding.
From set up to shareholders- understand your legal obligations to ensure success. Part 3 of 5: defining the rights and obligations of shareholders in a CSF company One of the complexities that we have dealt with in working with equity crowd-sourced funding (CSF) companies is reconciling the interests of existing shareholders with those of the …
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Key lessons in Australian crowd-sourced funding.
From set up to shareholders- understand your legal obligations to ensure success. Part 1 of 5: an overview of crowd-sourced funding Since October 2018, the Corporations Amendment (Crowd-Sourced Funding For Proprietary Companies) Act 2017 (Cth) has allowed proprietary companies to raise capital through crowd-sourced funding (CSF) in return for equity in the company. Prior to …
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The 2020 Projects and Construction Review
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] The McCullough Robertson team is proud to have contributed to the Australia chapter in the 10th edition of the 2020 Projects and Construction Review, published by Law Business Research. In this edition, we highlight some of the significant projects across Australia and consider the complex framework for the development and implementation of major …
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