Brendan has over 15 years' experience in commercial litigation, including over 10 years as a barrister at the Cape Town bar. He is a specialist plaintiff class action lawyer, with a particular focus on consumer law, financial products and securities.
Brendan commenced private practice in 2009. He has extensive experience in handling major disputes, having acted in numerous significant and highly complex matters in Australia and South Africa, and in other foreign jurisdictions. He specialises in class action (representative) proceedings, and large and complex funded litigation.
Before commencing practice in Australia, Brendan was a barrister at the Cape Town bar in South Africa, where he acted as counsel in some of the most significant litigation (in arbitration, and at trial and appellate level) in South Africa.
Experience
Significant matters in which Brendan has acted and advised include:
- Representative proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales against Transport for New South Wales on behalf of over 3,000 sole traders and SME's in relation to the impacts of prolonged infrastructure development on their business.
- Representative proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Blue Sky Group, its directors and its auditor on behalf of its shareholders in relation to contraventions of the Corporations Act, the ASIC Act & the Australian Consumer Law in connection with non-compliant financial reports and misleading ASX announcements.
- Representative proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against CuDeco and its directors on behalf of its shareholders in relation to contraventions of the Corporations Act in connection with misleading ASX statements.
- Proceedings in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands against Standard & Poors (S&P) concerning substantial losses suffered by two Cayman Islands investment funds in relation to defective securities ratings.
Client Testimonial
- Member of the Law Society of New South Wales.
- Admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, and admitted to practice as an advocate (barrister) in the Western Cape High Court, South Africa.
- Past member of the Cape Bar, having served as secretary of the Cape Bar Council and on various committees, including the Arbitration, Mediation & ADR Committee.
- Past member of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA), having served on the General Commercial Panel of Arbitrators.
- Past member of the South African Restructuring & Insolvency Practitioners Association (SARIPA), and the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Professionals (Insol International).
- Awarded the Dean's Award for outstanding contribution to the wider society while registered as a law student at the University of Cape Town.
- Placed on the Dean's Merit List at the University of Cape Town.
- Granted membership to the Golden Key International Honour Society.
- Published in the South African Law Journal, South Africa's premier law journal.