About Me
I am an independent special counsel, practising exclusively in the field of competition and consumer law.
I principally work with small to medium corporate law firms and their clients in relation to merger clearances, ACCC processes (including investigations), risk management and compliance, as well as general advisory work. I also advise a number of commercial clients directly, often in relation to legislative reform or general strategy concerning regulatory engagement.
After several years at national and international law firms, working in corporate commercial teams with a special focus on competition issues, I moved to Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC. For several years, I was the sole enforcement lawyer for the Melbourne office, principally working with the Enforcement, Mergers and Telecommunications teams. Major litigation in which I had a lead role included matters relating to franchising, unconscionability, cartels, and most notably, misuse of market power.
During my time in private practice and then at the ACCC, I undertook post-graduate studies at the University of Melbourne. In 2010, I was awarded a PhD for my thesis on The Assessment and Regulation of Market Power in Australia. I was a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Melbourne from 2005-2017 (an appointment which was concurrent with my other roles). In addition, I have published extensively in a broad range of national and international publications.
I am an active member of the Law Council of Australia’s Competition & Consumer Law Committee, the peak industry body charged with engaging with government and regulators on the issue of competition law and its enforcement. From 2017-2020, I have also been a non-executive Board member of parkrun Australia, Australia’s largest running and walking event.
Current Apointments
Sole practitioner (running my own practice since 2012)
A member of the Law Institute of Victoria
A member of the Law Council of Australia's, Competition & Consumer Law Committee
Key skills & attributes
- Excellent communication skills (oral & written)
- Extensive negotiating experience
- Strategic & analytical thinking
- Commercial nous
Selected academic publications
I have published extensively in a broad range of national and international publications. In addition to peer-reviewed academic works (a selection of which is listed below), I have written extensively for business and lay audiences. As well as our own The State of Competition, I have published articles in The Australian, The Conversation and a variety of industry publications. I was also a long-standing editorial adviser and contributor to CCH’s Australian Competition & Consumer News.
“Representing Colin Firth or Mr Darcy: can competition law handle the reality of modern agents?”
(with Rhonda L Smith)
(2017) 13 European Competition Journal 314
“The application of per ses to SMEs: the Type 1 Error no one notices?”
(with Rhonda L Smith and Rachel Trindade)
in Schaper & Lee (eds), Competition Law, Regulation and SMEs in the Asia-Pacific (2016), ASEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
“Understanding market power”
(in Duns, Sweeney & Duke Eds), Comparative Competition Law (2015), Edward Elgar
The assessment & regulation of market power in Australia: an institutional approach
(2013) LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
“The Australian grocery sector: structurally irredeemable?”
Paper presented at the Supermarket Power in Australia Symposium (Melbourne, 1 August 2013)
“Life in a parallel universe: Metcash and the counterfactual”
(March 2013) Law Institute Journal
“Facing up to (virtual) reality: meeting the online retail challenge”
Paper presented at Competition in the Online Environment (Melbourne, 28 November 2012)
“Playing favourites: the competition effects of preferred customer arrangements”
(with Rhonda L Smith)
(2011) 7 European Competition Journal 179
“Auctions, exclusive contracts and competition for the market”
(with Rhonda L Smith)
(2007) 3 European Competition Journal 163
“Predatory buying: the Weyhaueser decision and its implications for Australia”
(with George A Hay and Rhonda L Smith)
(2007) 15 Competition and Consumer Journal 199
“To buy or not to buy: economic and legal reflections on buyer power”
(with Rhonda L Smith)
(2006) 14 Competition and Consumer Law Journal 100
“Quantitative analysis again up in lights”
(2005) 13 Trade Practices Law Journal 90
“When thieves fall out: Australia’s leniency system”
(with Simon Uthmeyer)
(December 2004) International Business Lawyer 251
“The Court speaks for itself: what Australian decisions say about assessing market power for the purposes of s46 of the TPA”
(2004) 11 Competition and Consumer Law Journal 330
“The intersection between international trade and competition policy: as illustrated by an Australian / American Free Trade Agreement”
(2003) 15 Bond University Law Review 228
