I am not at all sure that I like Google following me around like this.

Not that it is a huge secret that my work takes me all around Australasia.  And there is nothing special abount these trips.

But, even so… suppose my work took me somewhere that my clients wouild prefer the world Continue reading →

… from SoCLA.

I was on the Board for quite a few years. By the time I have consumed the contents of this very substantial decanter and glasses, I will have quite forgotten how many.

Thanks to the current Board.

After several years, I have today[1] stood down as a director of the Society of Construction Law Australia. We have decided to streamline the board, and as part of that process, the directors due to retire by rotation have advanced our departure by a couple of months.

It is a mistake to stay on the board of this sort of organisation for too long, but I will miss that regular contact with friends in the construction law world in the other Australian States.

I notice that my old friend Sir Peter Coulson is also leaving the Technology and Construction Court in London. But he is not going far: he replaces Sir Rupert Jackson as the construction specialist in the English Court of Appeal. He wound up his last judgment in Grove Developments Ltd v S&T (UK) Ltd[2] thus Continue reading →

The new edition of Legal 500 Asia Pacific was released this week, and I am pleased to say that both my chambers and I have been ranked Tier 1, and as

Technically very strong, with very good depth of knowledge

For me, it is a welcome return. When I practised as a solicitor with my firm in London, I was regularly featured in the top bracket. It felt somewhat Continue reading →

I am pleased to say that Keating Chambers  won “Construction Set of the Year” at the Chambers Bar Awards this week.

Marie Sparkes of Keating Chambers said:

We also found out on the night that we had been shortlisted for Set of the Year which is rare for a specialist set and a great achievement. The other nominees included Essex Court, Fountain Court, Matrix and Brick Court (who won on this occasion).

Keating Chambers is also recommended in Continue reading →

Dr Donald Charrett, Prof Doug Jones, Jaime Gray and yours truly

While I was in Sydney last week, I was asked to contribute to a Melbourne Law School session for LLM students.

Topics were international perspectives on FIDIC contracts, a comparative study of Canadian and Australian approaches to adjudication, dispute adjudication boards (as DABs become DAABs in the latest round of FIDIC editions) and international arbitration.

They are a smart Continue reading →

The International Bar Association event in Sydney turns out to be very good. I contributed to the session on Common and Civil Law approaches to various issues earlier today – a good session, I thought, and the feedback was very supportive.

The purpose of the session was to consider the reception in various jurisdictions of a number of sample clauses, pay-when-paid, Queen of Hearts clauses, force majeure clauses etc, and different use of good faith principles. There was contributions from USA, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, and Finland. I was batting for England. With some differences of emphasis, it was remarkable how, in their different ways, how common law and civil get to much the same outcome, albeit by rather different Continue reading →

I am heading off today the Sydney for the IBA Conference, which takes place this coming week.

Anyone else going to be there?

The session I am contributing to is on Wednesday. Here is the blurb Continue reading →