ON DEMAND: 2022 in Summary and the ACCC Priorities for 2023

Tom has over 20 years’ experience and is a partner based in Piper Alderman’s Adelaide office.

Tom has a diverse practice, ranging from employment disputes, advising in respect of directors’ duties and corporate governance, administrative law review and intellectual property disputes. He has also advised and acted in estate litigation and disputes involving capacity and guardianship.

He has specialist expertise representing clients in recent Royal Commissions, ICAC / Ombudsman enquiries, regulatory hearings and enquiries, corporate fraud investigations, disputes involving breach of fiduciary duties, defamation and reputation management and in Corporations Law and ACCC matters.

Tom has acted in relation to a number of significant matters – in particular, he defended an employment class action on behalf of SEPL Pty Ltd, a company within the Peregrine Corporation, in which the Applicant law firm alleged losses of up to AU$70 million.

Andrew Rankin is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer with a career spanning more than 25 years. Based in Brisbane, he has a solid reputation for his expertise in competition and consumer law, and his practice also includes mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance law. Andrew advises both private companies and publicly listed companies and has particularly strong experience in acting for clients in the financial services, health and life sciences, mining and agribusiness sectors.

Over many years Andrew has provided competition and consumer law advice and training to many private sector and government clients, advising them on their obligations under the legislation and how they should interact with their competitors, suppliers and customers. He advises on restrictive trade practices drawing from his extensive knowledge of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) and Australian Consumer Law. He has built a productive working relationship with the ACCC, successfully representing many clients in dealings and applications to the ACCC in relation to anti-competitive behaviour. Andrew is a respected member of the Law Council of Australia’s Competition and Consumer Law committee, and his expertise in this area has been consistently recognised in the Best Lawyers Australia each year since 2012. He was also named ‘Brisbane Lawyer of the Year’ for Competition Law in the 2022 edition.

Andrew also has extensive experience in working with national and international clients on mergers and acquisitions, due diligences, capital raisings and business ventures. His expertise includes take-overs, schemes of arrangement, cross-border acquisitions, corporate restructurings and company divestments. He advises boards on directors’ duties and corporate governance issues. His commercial practice includes advising on commercial agreements, joint venture and shareholder agreements, supply contracts and the unfair contract terms regime. Best Lawyers Australia and the Doyle’s Guide have recognised Andrew in these areas of law, reflecting this additional depth of expertise.

Highly respected by his clients, they appreciate Andrew’s knowledge and expertise, coupled with his commercial acumen, clear communication skills, attention to detail and professionalism.

Isabelle is a senior lawyer in the Dispute Resolution and Litigation team.

She practices in general commercial litigation and her experience includes defending complex class action proceedings. Isabelle also has experience in relation to regulatory hearings and inquiries, particularly responses to Royal Commissions, and in providing competition law advice.