Your partner across the commercial dispute lifecycle
Disputes are an inevitable part of doing business. When they arise, Moray & Agnew works alongside clients to resolve them efficiently, commercially and with minimal disruption.
Our Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution team is one of Australia’s largest, advising on high‑value, complex and sensitive disputes across all jurisdictions.
We take the time to understand your business, identify the real issues early and pursue strategies that protect value, reputation and long‑term outcomes.
Why choose us
Clients choose us for our commercial focus, depth of experience and commitment to achieving practical outcomes, whether through early resolution or decisive litigation when it matters most.
Commercial disputes expertise
Our team brings deep expertise in complex litigation, a proven track record of delivering commercially sound outcomes, and a collaborative approach that aligns with the needs of our clients.
Where commercial disputes arise, our dispute resolution team assists clients to resolve them with litigation, arbitration, mediation, expert determination and alternative dispute resolution.
We advise and act in contractual, corporate and shareholder disputes, including joint ventures, partnerships, director duties, fraud, tracing and recovery claims.
We advise and represent clients in disputes across the commercial spectrum, including:
- Commercial and contract disputes including enforcement of contractual rights and defective building works claims
- Property disputes, including real property, personal property and intellectual property disputes and enforcement of rights
- Corporate and shareholder disputes
- Debt recovery
- Workplace and industrial disputes
- Breach of statutes and regulations (including environmental & planning law).
Construction disputes expertise
As one of the largest and most accomplished cohorts of construction litigators in Australia, we have successfully defended matters ranging from small disputes to numerous multimillion dollar proceedings.
Our dedicated construction litigation team has experience in the conduct of a wide range of claims and disputes concerning construction industry professionals, including contractors/builders, project managers, engineers, surveyors, architects, municipalities, subcontractors, developers, owners and suppliers.
We are often engaged by parties in the project delivery phase with a view of resolving disputes before they become litigious or precede to expert determination or arbitration. As part of this process, we provide overall strategic project advice including a preliminary assessment of parties’ rights and entitlements during the project delivery phase with a view of resolving disputes commercially with minimal costs.
Royal Commissions & Inquiries Expertise
We advise organisations, professionals and government entities responding to royal commissions, statutory inquiries and investigations, including strategic, reputational and litigation‑related issues.
Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry inherently involve publicly examining issues of much significance. Our experience means we understand the operational complexities, legal issues and internal dilemmas that flow from the scrutiny generated – and can provide clients with the service and results they demand in these circumstances.
We work closely with private and institutional clients to assist them through the ordeal of public scrutiny of their actions. We have the resources to rapidly deal with the often onerous demands for disclosure of documents and preparation of witness statements of high-ranking individuals. We work closely with our clients’ media advisors to ensure our legal strategy complements the client’s media and general strategy.
Class actions expertise
We defend complex and high‑profile class actions, including financial services, regulatory, product and investor claims, with a strong focus on early strategy and reputational protection.
Our instructions come from businesses, all levels of government, Australian and international insurers, and other risk-carriers.
We’ve successfully defended high profile, sensitive, and highly politicised class actions. However, our focus is always on resolving matters swiftly and helping clients protect their reputation and business.
Class actions require an ability to ‘scale up’ a legal team to mobilise the resources needed to understand and protect a business, government official or professional. Our national approach assists us in rapidly populating a dedicated legal team to ensure a strong defence is achieved and at a proportionate cost.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
A litigated outcome can sometimes be a worst case scenario. Even a successful result in court will almost inevitably involve significant outlay, interruption to your business and legal expenses. Litigated outcomes come at a cost: win, lose or draw. Appeals exacerbate those losses.
In a very large number of disputes an alternative method of resolution can and should be explored. Our dispute resolution team are experts in this field.
And our depth of experience means we conduct negotiations, informally and formally, with confidence to achieve a binding and mutually acceptable outcome to a dispute enabling our clients to resume their own businesses.
Significant Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution matters
Our team had an emphatic win for our client in a landmark, unanimous decision by the Full Court of the High Court of Australia relating to judicial review and the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW). We acted in the proceedings before the Supreme Court of NSW, an expanded five Judge bench of the NSW Court of Appeal, then before the Full Court of the High Court in the precedent-setting matter of Probuild Constructions (Aust) Pty Ltd v Shade Systems Pty Ltd [2018] HCA 4.
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