Thomas Liu

Thomas regularly advises and appears in public law and commercial matters. He has significant experience in disputes involving government agencies, regulators, revenue authorities and statutory corporations. His commercial practice includes class actions, corporations law, consumer law and equity.

Thomas also accepts briefs in criminal law matters and is on the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions external junior counsel panel.

Before joining the Bar, Thomas was a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills and Clayton Utz where he worked on tax disputes, corporate regulation, representative proceedings, corporate insolvency and administrative law. Thomas was also a legal officer in the human rights section of Legal Aid NSW.

Thomas was the Associate to Justice Buchanan in the Federal Court of Australia from 2014 to 2015.

Thomas speaks fluent Chinese (Mandarin).

Michael Wells

Michael practises in commercial law and public law, and has a particular interest in tax law.

Michael is a member of the New South Wales Bar and an interstate member of the Victorian and Queensland Bars. He has appeared led and unled in trials and appeals in a range of courts and tribunals, regularly appears in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Federal Court of Australia and is entitled to practise in all Australian jurisdictions.

Before coming to the Bar, Michael practised as a litigation solicitor at Allens and Herbert Smith Freehills specialising in class actions, complex contractual and corporate disputes, and tax and financial services regulatory investigations and disputes. Before practising as a solicitor, Michael was Tipstaff and Researcher to the President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, the Hon Justice Allsop AO.

Michael has postgraduate qualifications in law and tax from the University of Sydney.

Michael is a member of the Law Council of Australia Business Law Section Taxation Committee, Australian Bar Association Taxation Committee, Tax Institute Dispute Resolution Technical Committee, Federal Court of Australia Taxation NPA User Group, Tax Bar Association, International Fiscal Association, and the New South Wales Bar Association Costs and Fees Committee.

Michael is also a reporter for the Commonwealth Law Reports, New South Wales Law Reports and Australian Tax Reports.

Shanaka Jayasuriya

Shanaka has a diverse practice and accepts briefs in all areas of the law. He has a particular interest in commercial law and criminal law and has appeared both led and unled in various New South Wales and federal courts and tribunals.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Shanaka was a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in London and Henry Davis York in Sydney and a tipstaff in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (with Distinction) and Bachelor of Laws (with First Class Honours) from the University of Oxford.

Nuala Simpson

Nuala accepts briefs in all areas of commercial law, but has special expertise in representative (class-action) proceedings and complex, high–value engineering and construction disputes.

She regularly appears in the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of New South Wales and in private arbitrations and in mediations.

Nuala is ranked in Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific Guide 2020, Construction & Infrastructure – Band 1, as “a very highly regarded junior” who regularly appears on complex construction and engineering cases with clients describing her as “excellent” and “a very bright and very thorough lawyer” (Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific, 2020).

She is recognised as one of Australia’s best lawyers in the areas of “Construction and Infrastructure” (Best Lawyers Australia, 2019 – 2013) “Litigation” (Best Lawyers Australia, 2019 – 2016) and rated as “pre–eminent” in the area of “Construction Law” in Australia (Doyles Guide, 2018 – 2016) and New South Wales (Doyles Guide, 2020).

Nuala was named “Junior Counsel of the Year, Australia” in 2013 by Lawyers Weekly, Australia.

Most recently, Nuala was listed as a Leading Junior in Legal 500 – Asia Pacific
‘ Nuala is sharp, agile and immensely hard-working. Her construction law expertise, including in complex issues of delay, disruption and quantum, is market-leading. A fantastic team player and a genuine pleasure to work with. A very diligent and clever junior counsel. Works very hard and is very responsive. ’

Eli Ball

Eli accepts briefs in all areas of civil and commercial law.

Eli regularly advises and appears (both led and unled) in matters before the Supreme Court of NSW and the Federal Court of Australia, as well as lower courts and tribunals. His practice includes general and commercial equity, corporations, class actions, building and construction, insolvency, insurance, professional liability, property, and probate.

Prior to coming to the bar, Eli was a solicitor in the disputes team at Ashurst in Sydney. He was also previously Tipstaff to the Honourable Justice David Ipp AO at the New South Wales Court of Appeal.

Eli has a Doctorate in Law from the University of Oxford, where he focussed on the laws of restitution, unjust enrichment, equity, trusts, and tracing. His doctoral thesis, Enrichment at the Claimant’s Expense: Attribution Rules in Unjust Enrichment was published as a book in 2016. While at Oxford, Eli also completed the Bachelor of Civil Law and Master of Philosophy in Law, and was a college lecturer in contract, equity and trusts, and tort.

Away from the law, Eli is an accomplished marathon butterfly swimmer. He is the record-holder for butterflying the Rottnest Channel (19.7km) in Western Australia.

Quintin Rares

Quintin was admitted as a lawyer in 2012. He commenced practice at the NSW Bar in 2014.

He is also a postgraduate unit of study coordinator and adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Sydney. He has authored a textbook in negotiation.

At the Bar, Quintin has a general practice. He regularly appears in commercial, tax, equity, insurance, maritime, construction, tort and crime matters. He is experienced in representative proceedings.

He has appeared in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Local Court, District Court and Supreme Court (including the Court of Appeal). Quintin has appeared in Commonwealth Tribunals, the Federal Circuit Court, the Federal Court of Australia (including in the Full Court) and the High Court. He has also appeared in arbitration.

A full list of his publications is available here.

Quintin has recently been recognised as preeminent in the latest Doyles Guide Leading Transport Barristers – Australia, 2021

Corrina Novak

Corrina was called to the Bar in April 2013. She accepts briefs in all areas of law and is admitted to practice in NSW and Federal courts.

As a solicitor in private practice, Corrina provided legal advice and litigation services in environment and planning matters with a particular emphasis on major projects. Her specialties  include administrative law and statutory interpretation.

Helena Mann

Helena was admitted to the Bar in 2014 after practising as a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills and acting as a Tipstaff and Associate to Justice Slattery in the NSW Supreme Court.

She practices mainly in complex commercial and general equity matters (with particular interest in trust and property disputes). More recently she also utilises her extensive commercial experience to assist on complex commercial prosecutions and is part of the 7^th Floor’s White Collar Crime Team.

Helena is often able to draw on her legal education and experience in both civil and common law jurisdictions to find unique solutions for complex legal issues requiring a broader perspective.

She was born and raised in Poland where she graduated with a Masters of Law from the University of Warsaw and started her legal career. In 2009 she moved to Australia for love and completed a Bachelor of Law (1st Class Hons) at the University of Sydney. She is fluent in Polish and also knows German and Russian.

David Hughes

David appears in complex commercial and corporate disputes. He has acted in significant cases for major corporations in the following fields:
• resources and infrastructure
• telecommunications
• investor class actions
• competition
• construction
David is an author of ‘The Interpretation of Contracts in Australia’ and is often consulted on difficult or significant questions of contractual interpretation.
David also appears in the Federal Courts in judicial review applications.
David also has expertise in private international law, and he is a former legal officer for the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

David was recently included as ‘A leading senior junior counsel specialising in contract and construction disputes. He is extremely knowledgeable and easy to work with. ’
Legal 500 – Asia Pacific

Simon Fitzpatrick

Simon has practised as a barrister in Sydney since 2010. Before that he worked in New York for eight years, taught at the University of Sydney Law School, and was an associate at the High Court of Australia.

Simon’s practice includes commercial and corporate law, equity, insurance, professional indemnity, public law, trade practices, defamation, and intellectual property. He has appeared in representative proceedings (for applicants and respondents), commissions of inquiry (as counsel assisting ICAC, and for persons and institutions affected), and trials and appeals in federal and state courts. Simon also has experience conducting and acting for witnesses in examinations under the Corporations Act, Bankruptcy Act and ASIC Act.

‘Best Lawyers in Australia’ recognises Simon in the area of ‘Litigation’ (9th ed, 2017 to 13th ed, 2021).

Since 2016, Simon has served as a volunteer Director of the Marrickville Legal Centre. He has also been a member of a Professional Conduct Committee of the NSW Bar Association since 2019.