Search

Experience

I completed my Articles in 1982 at Adams Maguire (now Adams Maguire & Sier), and was called to the Bar that year. After appearing for about ten years in the civil and criminal jurisdictions of the Magistrates' Court and in the Family Court, I concentrated on commercial and professional negligence litigation in the Supreme and County Courts, appearing most recently in the following matters: 

Supreme Court:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Codovo Developments Pty Limited & Ors [2016] VSC 122, 

Hycenko v Hrycenko & Anor [2016] VSC 112, 

Lombardo v Bahnan [2014] VSC 410, 

Gill v Gill [2014] VSC 250, 

Fato v Fato & Anor [2013] VSC 125, 

State Trustees Limited v Hassett [2013] VSC 55, 

Roads Corporation v Pearse [2012] VSC 527, 

Shtrambrandt & Anor v Hanscombe & Ors [2012] VSC 102, VSC 508, 

Cassar v Pendergast & Anor [2010] VSC 559, 

Bernstein v Georgakakis & Anor [2010] VSC 52 and 

Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited v Schmidt & Anor [2010] VSC 67.

County Court:

White Cleland Pty Ltd v. Burgess Properties Pty Ltd [2012] VCC 266, 

Villafuerte v. Ahmed & Anor [2010] VCC 874 and 

Denysenko v. Dove [2010] VCC 7.

I have appeared on an irregular basis in the Court of Appeal, the two most recent matters being: Marijancevic v Ferraro & Anor [2013] VSCA 124 and Violet Homes Loans Pty Ltd v Schmidt & Anor [2013] VSCA 56.

In more recent times, I have concentrated on succession law, both as an advocate and mediator (for which I am fully accredited). My most recent appearances are: Re Williams, Smith v Thwaites [2017] VSC 365, Re Mountney [2017] VSC 364, Thompson v Thompson [2015] VSC 706, Bailey v Richardson [2015] VSC 255, Re Salvana; State Trustees Ltd v Attorney-General (Vic) [2013] VSC 117 and Re the will of Meshakov-Korjakin (dec’d) [2011] VSC 372.

In 2017, I completed writing "The Three Brothers“ when George Washington and Edmund Barton sat down to dinner, a historical novel about a chance meeting between the first president of the United States and the first prime minister of Australia in a London restaurant at the time of the First World War. It is my fourth book. Between 1974 and 1978 I taught at Strathmore High, principally Legal Studies. During my teaching career and I continuing after I was called to the Bar, I co-authored what became the standard Legal Studies textbook for Year 12 students. The book was published in eight editions over seventeen years. I also co-authored a Legal Studies textbook for Year 11 Students as well as the first Australian Legal Dictionary for secondary and tertiary students. In an earlier life, I was a bookmaker's clerk and operated a small fencing staining business in partnership. My interests are American, Australian and British history, and music (in particular the drums). I am married. I have two children and six grandchildren.