Current practice

Ken is a specialist commercial litigator. Clients typically seek Ken’s assistance with complex problems requiring strategic and multidisciplinary analysis. While acting for leading corporations and governments in major commercial disputes, Ken has provided assistance in the corporations and securities, contract and tort, and trade practices areas of law. He is known for his experience and knowledge of insurance and defamation, particularly as those areas arise in the context of commercial disputes.

Ken has a special interest in class actions, having conducted class actions which have been judicially described as being the largest in Australian legal history. Ken is the co-author, with Damian Grave, of the first text in Australia on class actions to be published by Thomsons in 2005. Class Actions in Australia draws together jurisprudence on class actions since the class action procedure was first introduced in Australia in 1992. The text provides guidance to litigants and practitioners.

Ken has conducted disputes in state Supreme Courts, the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia as well as in numerous specialist tribunals.

Ken has been recognised as being among the leading litigators in the country in industry journals.

Industry experience

Ken advises clients in a range of industries, including energy, insurance, retail and media. He acts for some of Australia’s best-known organisations, including a number of ASX100 companies.

 

Some matters Ken has recently conducted include:

• jointly leading a team conducting the defence of the State of Victoria and a number of its instrumentalities in class actions commenced in the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria, following the interruption to gas supply in Victoria in 1998. These actions have been judicially described as the largest class actions in Australian legal history
• advising a major public company during a well publicised boardroom dispute concerning the election of directors
• acting for Coles Myer against the directors of a publicly listed target company concerning misleading conduct during a takeover
• advising Mayne following the Pan Pharmaceuticals crisis, widely recognised as Australia’s largest pharmaceuticals product recall, and 
• acting for Telstra in relation to the conduct of a litigation funder.
  

Professional background

Ken started practising in 1989. He has completed a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. He is a qualified mediator.