Current practice

Having developed a wealth of litigation and corporate experience, Luke’s practice focuses on financial services and securities market regulation.

Clients describe Luke as giving ‘strong practical advice’ and having an ‘understanding of the wider implications of matters’.

Industry experience

Luke’s financial services clients include Citigroup, Macquarie Bank, CBA, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank.

Luke also advises both the public and private sector across a range of other industries.

Major projects have included acting in the following areas for:

Financial services and securities markets

• Citigroup in the landmark Federal Court proceeding brought by ASIC alleging a failure to adequately manage conflicts of interest and insider trading. ASIC’s claims were dismissed in June 2007
• major broking houses, investment banks and other financial institutions in relation to securities market investigations by ASIC and APRA, and
• financial institutions advising on financial sanctions, counter terrorism, and anti-money laundering regulations in Australia.

Mergers and acquisitions

• various clients in contested applications before the Takeovers Panel, and
• various clients in numerous merger and demerger schemes of arrangement.

Commissions of inquiry

• ActewAGL in the coronial inquiry into the 2003 Canberra bushfires
• Lend Lease in the coronial inquest into the landslide at Thredbo Village, New South Wales, and subsequent civil litigation, and
• Bovis Lend Lease (formerly Civil & Civic) in the Royal Commission into the Australian Building and Construction Industry, the Royal Commission into the Building Industry in New South Wales and the Royal Commission into the Leasing of Centenary House.

Class actions

• Ross Mining in relation to landowner class actions in the Solomon Islands.

Other

• the Northern Territory Government in relation to the constitutional challenge to the Jabiluka uranium mine
• Australis Media in its pay television disputes with Albert Hadid, and
• Ten Network in its disputes with Capital Television.

Professional background

Luke joined Freehills in 1990 after graduating in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney. He has a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney, focusing on corporate finance, competition law and media law.

He represents clients in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Federal Court of Australia as well as before commissions of inquiry.

Luke also participates in the firm’s pro bono program, having acted for clients at Kingsford Legal Centre, a community legal service affiliated with the University of New South Wales.