WEBINAR: ‘Fair Game’ – Competition Law Series | Merger Control 2.0 – Navigating Australia’s New Regime

Andrew Rankin is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer with a career spanning more than 25 years. Based in Brisbane, he has an exceptional 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.

David Starkoff brings over 20 years of legal experience in dealing with complex and contentious issues on major infrastructure, construction and energy projects across Australia, in negotiations, mediations, expert determinations, security of payment adjudications, domestic and international commercial arbitrations, and Federal Court and Supreme Court litigation.

David also has significant experience with competition (antitrust) issues and other regulatory issues, working with clients across a diverse range of sectors, including banking, energy, infrastructure, information services, minerals processing and mining. He provides guidance on transaction structuring, competition issues, access to infrastructure, and securing merger approvals. He has represented the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in regulatory and enforcement matters, the Australian Energy Regulator, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in significant civil penalty proceedings.

David’s data-driven and technically-focussed approach to complex, high-value matters is informed by his training in mathematics and computer science. David has over 15 years of experience at a leading independent Australian law firm, and more than six years experience as a Partner at a global firm based in Sydney.