Michael has over 20 years’ experience in the areas of superannuation, including public offer and corporate superannuation, and life insurance. Michael acts for major life companies, trustees, banks, employer-sponsors and fund managers, administrators and custodians. He is a recognised leader in the marketplace and is regularly at the forefront of debate and development of new law.

Michael’s expertise includes advising on:

• the creation of new financial products
• streamlining disclosure material for financial products, and
• key legal issues affecting the profitability of financial products, including rationalisations and restructurings.

At Freehills, and elsewhere during his career, Michael’s experience has included advising:

• on a large number of fund restructurings, including as committee member of a major industrial group whose fund transfer was the biggest transfer at the time
• on innovative financial products such as a cheque facility for retained benefits and the first pooled superannuation trust to pay an income stream, and
• on numerous regulatory interventions, including being appointed at the request of APRA as an investigator on a large APRA remediation exercise.

Michael has acted in the past for both ASFA and IFSA on key legal developments, including successor fund transfers and new APRA investment guidelines.

Michael is on the editorial board of CCH’s Superannuation Law & Practice looseleaf service, the editorial committee of CCH’s Australian Super News and the editorial committee of LexisNexis’ Financial Services Newsletter and Australian Superannuation Law Bulletin. He is a regular contributor to Superfunds, Super Review and Lawyers Weekly magazines and is frequently quoted in the financial press, particularly The Australian Financial Review.

He is a regular presenter at external conferences run by the Law Council of Australia, IFSA, ASFA, LexisNexis, Commercial Law Association, IIR, Law and Finance and various other conference organisers on a wide range of superannuation and life insurance topics.
 
Michael is a member of the Superannuation Committee of the Law Council of Australia, and the New South Wales Executive of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Limited.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales.