Darren is an international award-winning, commercial litigation lawyer. He has 21 years of experience providing advice and representation in significant and high profile commercial disputes.

Darren draws on the depth of his experience and expertise to help his clients achieve their commercial objectives when faced with the wide range of legal, commercial, insurance and brand issues often associated with significant commercial disputes, incidents and regulatory investigations.

Darren has been described as “stand[ing] apart from and above other litigation partners,” as having “exceptional ability, both as a technical lawyer and as a strategic thinker” and as “resilient and tough.”

He is a Fellow of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA) and is on their Panel of Arbitrators.

Expertise

Darren’s expertise includes:

• Class actions
• Complex commercial proceedings
• Regulatory investigations and prosecutions
• Domestic and international arbitration.

Recent projects

Recent examples of Darren’s work include:

• Acting for the Liquidators of Timbercorp Finance in a class action brought by over 12,000 investors and borrowers seeking to avoid their investments in 33 agri-business managed investment schemes between 1992 and 2008, and loans entered into to fund those investments totalling in excess of $477m. All claims by the investors were dismissed following a complex trial. An appeal brought by the investors also failed on all grounds, as did an application to the High Court of Australia for special leave to appeal. Darren is now assisting the Liquidators to recover monies owed by investors under their loans with Timbercorp Finance in over 1,200 court proceedings.
• Acting for an ASX listed power company against Victorian emergency services and fire fighting organisations in the largest class actions in Australian history arising out of the Black Saturday Kilmore East and Murrindindi bushfires. These claims were resolved before judgment with the agencies collectively contributing $103.6m and $29.1m towards the resolution of those actions.

Recognition

• Recommended Lawyer, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Best Lawyers in Australia.
• Winner, Client Choice Award for Litigation (Australia), Lexology ILO International Client Choice Awards.
• Recommended Lawyer, Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Doyle’s Guide.
• Finalist, Partner of the Year, Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards.