Konrad de Kerloy is a senior member of the national Litigation team, specialising in commercial litigation and corporate insolvency (both contentious and non-contentious) for the past 25 years. Konrad's practice ranges from banking and contractual disputes, contentious insolvency and corporate restructuring, professional negligence and reviews and disputes involving governmental departments and agencies.

Konrad's regular clients include banks, chartered accountants and government departments. He has also worked for corporate clients on a transactional basis. For these clients he has conducted a number of major actions involving banking instruments, professional negligence (auditors, valuers, bankers, engineers) and commercial fraud. A number of major matters have involved international law and cross-border aspects.

Konrad has worked on assignments in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Chile and Indonesia. In the course of those assignments he worked with law firms based in New York, Washington, Frankfurt, Paris and Santiago.

In 1998 and 1999 he worked in London on secondment with a London-based international law firm as a member their International Litigation and Cross Border Insolvency group. The group's work involved asset tracing and fraud related issues. Konrad dealt with a variety of banking and cross border insolvency related matters.

Major projects and clients

Some of Konrad's major matters (of public record) have included advising:

• the administrators of Sons of Gwalia on all aspects of the administration including the actions against the directors and auditor which resulted in settlements totalling $178 million.
• Mount Gibson Iron Limited in relation to claims against defaulting customers
• the Leighton Kumagai Joint Venture concerning its claims for injunctions and damages against the CMFEU for unlawful industrial action in respect to the construction of the underground railway  
• the administrator of Minproc Engineers on the successful reconstruction of Minproc in Australia, Chile and Uruguay 
• the Commission on Government in respect to its public inquiry into the prevention of corrupt, illegal or improper conduct by public officials 
• the Indonesian Bank Reconstruction Agency on facility agreements and securities
• the owners and operators of Perth Airport concerning a $67 million stamp duty assessment with the Commissioner of State Revenue which was ultimately withdrawn
• the Port of Albany concerning a major claim for trespass and nuisance against the Commonwealth of Australia which was successfully settled
• Maersk Contractors concerning a major claim in negligence and contract involving the collapse of a drilling rig off the coast of South Australia which was successfully settled
• Commonwealth Bank Finance Corporation concerning a multimillion dollar fraud committed by one of its customers, and
• the administrator/liquidator on all aspects of the administration and liquidation of Permanent Building Society including successfully pursuing claims against its directors

Konrad graduated in 1983 and holds bachelor degrees in Jurisprudence and Law from the University of Western Australia.

He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1983 and the High Court of Australia in 1984. He has also been admitted as a solicitor and as a solicitor-advocate in England and Wales.

Konrad joined Freehills in 1983 as an articled clerk and became a partner in 1989.

Konrad has had the following articles published:

• Replacing a resigning office holder in insolvency administrations’ Tolley's Insolvency Law & Practice Vol.15 No. 2 1999
• Assessing the quantum of a liquidator's or administrator's liability for negligence’ Tolley's Insolvency Law & Practice Vol.15 No. 4 1999
• The personal liability of liquidators and administrative receivers for the costs of an unsuccessful action’ The Receivers, Administrators and Liquidators Quarterly Vol.4, Issue 1, 2000
• The High Court’s Human Sacrifice to the Alter of High Policy: An Alternative Solution to the Slaughter’ (with Katja Levy) The University of Western Australia Law Review Vol 32, No 2, 2005
• Shareholder Claimants May Rank Alongside Ordinary Creditors: Sons of Gwalia Ltd “Shareholder Test Case’ (with Sam Dundas) (2007) 26 Australian Resources and Energy Law Journal, Number 1, April 2007