Current practice

Geoff McClellan is widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading commercial litigators.

His experience is with complex commercial disputes across a range of legal areas including securities law, taxation law, insolvency, corporations law, trade practices law, contract law, professional negligence, media law and industrial law.

Industry experience

Geoff acts for major corporations including major trading banks and investment banks, in various industries including financial services, development and infrastructure, media, transport and resources industries. He has been involved in many of the most complex, high profile cases in Australia for a variety of leading corporate clients including Citigroup, James Hardie, Fairfax, Channel Ten, County Natwest (now part of Citigroup), Commonwealth Bank, BHP Billiton, Westpac, National Australia Bank, Caltex, Channel Seven, Australis, Grant Samuel, Lend Lease, APN and Patrick Corporation.

He is currently acting in the largest proceedings conducted in Australia, acting for 20 Australian and international banks in a case concerning the collapse of the Bell Group, a subsidiary of the Bond Corporation. He acted for Citigroup in relation to proceedings brought against it by Australian Securities regulator ASIC.

He had a major role in the legal proceedings associated with reform of the waterfront in Australia. These proceedings were of national significance.

Geoff also has an extensive tax litigation practice. He heads up the Freehills National Tax Litigation group.

He also assists some of Australia's largest corporations in dealing with the public relation aspects of disputes, claims or other allegations. He regularly works in conjunction with public relations consultants to provide strategic advice in dealing with such issues.

He is a frequent adviser on significant strategic issues.

Some major cases

• Bell proceedings: Leads a team of lawyers acting for a group of 20 major Australian and international banks in Australia’s largest trial, relating to the collapse of the Bell Group of companies. The issues concern insolvency, directors duties, equitable fraud and accessorial liability.
• Citigroup: Acting for Citigroup in relation to Corporations Law proceedings brought by ASIC.
• Ampolex proceedings: Acted for County Natwest (now part of Citigroup) in a major trial involving allegations concerning breaches of the insider trading provisions of the Corporations Law.
• Patricks—waterfront reform: Acted for Patricks in one of the most significant disputes in Australia in recent years. He was the senior litigation partner in the Federal Court conspiracy proceedings brought by the Union (MUA) against Patricks and the Federal Government. He also ran the various civil disobedience injunction and contempt proceedings in relation to the picket lines in New South Wales.
• GPI Leisure—Spedley litigation: Acted for one of the directors of GPI Leisure in proceedings arising out of the failure of the Spedley Group.
• Thredbo Inquest: Acted for Lend Lease in the coronial inquest in relation to the Thredbo landslide. The inquiry was one of the largest and longest running inquiries conducted in Australia. It examined the history and circumstances surrounding the tragic landslide disaster in Australia's premier skiing village Thredbo. The matter including extensive issues in the area of engineering, geology, geohydrology, hydrology and geotechnical engineering. Geoff also appeared as counsel in the matter. 
• Tourang proceedings: Acted for Fairfax in a landmark Federal Court trial lasting several months, concerning the sale of the major print publisher Fairfax to the consortium led by Conrad Black and the Daily Telegraph.
• Inquiries generally: Represented a range of clients in many inquiries including parliamentary inquiries, royal commissions, coronial inquests, ASIC inquiries. He has also assisted clients in conducting internal corporate inquiries into allegations of impropriety or misconduct.
• Major tax disputes: Working on a number of the more significant recent cases for major corporations in relation to disputes with the ATO. These include companies in the energy and resource area, manufacturing, financial services and media areas. Most of these remain confidential. Some public examples are: 
  
  • Lend Lease tax case: Acting for Lend Lease in relation to a major tax dispute with the ATO.
  • Channel Ten tax case: Acted for Channel Ten in a major tax dispute with the ATO.
  • Metal Manufacturers: Acted for Metal Manufacturers in relation to a significant Part IVA case.
    
• Channel Ten: Acted for Channel Ten in relation to a lengthy shareholder dispute. The matter gave rise to several proceedings and numerous Corporations Law and Broadcasting Act disputes over many months. More recently, he has acted for Ten in relation to its investment in Eye Corp.
• Channel Seven—Sportsvision/AFL rights: Acted for Seven in relation to proceedings with Sportsvision concerning the anti-siphoning provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act relating to sporting broadcasts.
• Southern Star: Acted for Southern Star, a major Australian producer and distributor of Australian film and television in connection with commercial proceedings.
• Caltex Franchisee proceedings: Acted for Caltex in connection with class action proceedings relating to Caltex’s co-branding arrangements with Woolworths.

Professional background

He holds a Bachelor's degree from Sydney University in Law and Economics. He joined Freehills in 1980 then spent two years at Linklaters and Paines in London. He became a partner of Freehills in 1988.

He has been recognised for many years by various legal publications as a leading commercial litigation lawyer in Australia. In Chambers Global Guide 2006, he is recognised as ‘a real key player—level headed and respected’. He is a major contributor to the Freehills Litigation group that has been consistently recognised as the leading litigation group in the country in the Australian Law Awards for each year from 2001 to date.

He is an experienced litigator in many jurisdictions throughout Australia and the world. Internationally, he has litigated in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and the Middle East. In Australia, he has litigated in state and federal courts in New South Wales, ACT, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. He is a nominated member of the Commercial User Group of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He is an active participant in that group and is involved in exploring innovative and efficient methods of resolving disputes.