Donald also has an extensive practice in regulatory law, advising – applying both legal and economic skills – on the impact of regulation on commercial transactions and industry structures, and making submissions to regulatory bodies.

He is Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Sydney Law School, teaching in the areas of contract law and international economic law. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Contract Law. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Major projects and clients

Recent matters in the last two years on which Donald is working or has worked in international economic law include:

• Peabody in relation to international coal sales contracts and the maritime and shipping issues that arise with respect to the international trading of coal. This includes extensive experience with the Standard Coal Trading Agreement (SCoTA) and the application of general principles of international commercial contracts.
• Peabody in relation to arbitration of contract and maritime matters, including arbitral proceedings against Cargill under ICC Rules in relation to a coal sales contract and the effect of force majeure and in the NSW Commercial Arbitration List of the Supreme Court of NSW and in Commercial List proceedings against Sumiseki Coal.
• Santos and other resources and services corporations in relation to investment risks in overseas jurisdictions in emerging and frontier economies, including in Africa and Asia. This advice includes the analysis of country and sovereign risks, the contractual mechanisms for dealing with those risks and the rights under the Washington Convention setting up the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) under the auspices of the World Bank.
• Santos in relation to FID of the Gladstone LNG project in early 2011, including the structuring, contractual and regulatory issues in relation to the LNG project.
• Santos in relation to contractual arrangements for the supply of gas from the Cooper Basin fields and other fields, including issues of force majeure and apportionment of supply.
• Santos Limited in relation to the regulation of energy markets, the application of the National Gas Law, including pipeline access regimes and the National Access Regime and the regulatory and contractual issues arising in the Gladstone LNG project.
• BHP Billiton in relation to shipping and letters of credit, including the meaning of Laycan and related maritime issues.
• Acting for an international flour supply and milling company in international arbitration proceedings through the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in relation to its project in Vietnam and with respect to shipping and related contractual matters.

Donald joined Freehills in 1982. He was appointed a partner in 1987. He is Adjunct Professor of Law at Sydney Law School, The University of Sydney. Donald teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the areas of contract and commercial law and regulatory law and economics.

He teaches a postgraduate course on transnational commercial law – International Law of Contract. This course explores the use of international instruments to unify commercial law, using the transnational principles of contract law found in the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts as a foundational statement of the law of international commerce (the new lex mercatoria). In 2011 he co-taught the undergraduate course, Advanced Obligations and Remedies with respect to post-contract change of circumstances and the excuses available to commercial parties in international trade and commerce.

He is the author of numerous contributions to legal journals, chapters in books and other publications including the Journal of Contract Law, Australian Business Law Review, Australian Law Journal, Competition and Consumer Law Journal, Trade Practices Law Journal, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly, the AMPLA Yearbook, the Australian Journal of International Law and the Australian Resources and Energy Law Journal. He is a contributor of the entries on Trade and Commerce, Equity, Estoppel and Trusts to the Butterworths Australian Legal Dictionary.

A graduate of the University of Sydney with First Class Honours degrees in Economics and Law, Donald won the Randolph G. Rouse Prize as top graduate in his Economics Honours year. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Columbia University, New York, where he was the Robert Burton Fellow and the Centre for Law and Economics Studies Fellow.

In 2005 Donald was Visiting Professor at Sydney Law School. He has been Principal Fellow and Associate Professor at Melbourne Business School, The University of Melbourne.

In 1995-96 he was Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University Law School, Chicago.

Donald is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Contract Law.

In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, one of Australia’s ‘learned Academies’ in recognition of the distinction of his career in the law.