Damian heads up the national Litigation group at Freehills, a role he assumed on 1 July 2008.
Damian is a specialist commercial litigator with over 17 years experience advising clients on a broad range of corporate, commercial and regulatory matters.
Damian’s practice focuses on commercial dispute resolution providing advice to clients involved in complex commercial matters requiring strategic analysis.
He has acted for leading Australian listed companies and governments in a broad advisory capacity and in major commercial disputes and investigations. He has acted for clients across a range of areas including corporations and securities law, contract, tort and regulatory, and across a range of industries.
Damian has been recognised in recent editions of various industry publications as a leading dispute resolution practitioner in Australia, including recent editions of Best Lawyers 2008, Asia Pacific Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer?, Global Counsel 3000 and Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers.
Damian has special expertise in the conduct of class actions. He is co-author of the first text in Australia on class actions, entitled Class Actions in Australia, published by Thomson. This text is the first to focus exclusively on class action law in Australia and provides guidance to litigants and practitioners. He regularly advises clients on class actions.
His expertise in these areas has been developed through involvement in significant litigation on behalf of clients in state Supreme Courts, the Federal Court of Australia, the High Court of Australia and numerous specialist tribunals. Damian is also experienced in all key alternative dispute resolution procedures.
Damian jointly led a team of lawyers in successfully defending a significant shareholder class action against Telstra which involved allegations of contraventions of Australian securities laws. This class action generated substantial media attention and was the first class action launched against Telstra.
Damian represented the State of Victoria in the Royal Commission, known as the Longford Royal Commission, following the interruption to gas supply at Longford in 1998.
Damian also jointly led a team of lawyers acting for the state of Victoria and a number of its instrumentalities in successfully defending the class actions commenced in the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria, following the interruption to gas supply at Longford. These class actions have been described by the court as the largest class actions in Australian legal history.
Damian is acting for Santos in relation to the legal issues arising from its response to the mud flow incident in Indonesia. This has involved consideration and co-ordination of legal issues across multiple jurisdictions including Indonesia, the United States and Australia.
Damian acted for Santos and the Cooper Basin Producers in a significant gas price review and arbitration.
Damian led on behalf of Mayne its legal response to the Pan Pharmaceuticals crisis, widely recognised as Australia’s largest pharmaceuticals product recall.
Other recent experience includes: