Confront the Achilles’ heel of building defect litigation with strategies designed to turn uncertainty into assured success. Whether you’re facing the threat of complex evidence or the traps of evolving adjudication processes, benefit from practical insights to safeguard your construction law clients. Learn how to avoid common flaws in payment claims, gain clarity on the recent Tesseract ruling, and sidestep the potential pitfalls along the way in your construction matters.

Presenters

Lachlan Palmos, Principal, Palmos Legal
Lachlan graduated with honours from the University of Notre Dame Fremantle, and was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 2013. Prior to establishing Palmos Legal in 2018, Lachlan spent three years at a highly regarded boutique commercial practice in West Perth and later at the Perth office of top-tier national law firm. Lachlan appears regularly as counsel in most Western Australian courts and tribunals, and has particular expertise in property law, insolvency and commercial disputes. Lachlan’s clients include many of Western Australia’s largest private schools (both independent and SECWA schools), major insurance companies, residential and commercial construction companies, law firms and accounting practices. Lachlan has an ongoing pro-bono practice, and has been the Chairman of the Western Australian Suburban Turf Cricket Association Tribunal since 2019. Lachlan is also a member of several Legal Aid Commission panels, and has held lecturing and tutoring positions in law units at UWA and Central Queensland University.


Juliana Jorissen, Partner, King & Wood Mallesons
Juliana Jorissen is an experienced litigator specialising in the area of construction and commercial dispute resolution. She is known for her international multi-party insight, collaborative approach and commercial thinking, assisting clients in the development of issues identification and claims management strategies and advising on complex contractual and non-contractual disputes. She has acted on various disputes relating to oil and gas projects, major commercial and residential developments, rail and port operations, airports and electricity disputes. She has appeared before tribunals and various courts in Western Australia, Singapore and England. While experienced in every aspect of dispute resolution, she specialises in achieving commercially sensible outcomes via alternative dispute resolution methods including adjudication, mediation and arbitration. She has been retained by market-leading organisations to take on some of the most commercially strategic, high-value and complex disputes in the construction sector.


Gemma Nugent, Director, SoundLegal
Gemma Nugent, SoundLegal’s Principal Lawyer, is a construction, engineering and consulting contract specialist with 14 years’ experience in the construction and engineering industry. She launched SoundLegal in 2019 after more than 8 years as Corporate Counsel to a global engineering and design consultant. Gemma has worked extensively with subcontractors, contractors, principals and consultants on major infrastructure, construction, mining, oil and gas and consulting projects in both the private and public sector. She has drafted, reviewed, negotiated and delivered training on a wide variety of project and commercial agreements and has experience with all of the Australian Standard contracts. Gemma is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management WA, where she facilitates workshops on contract management and risk and commercial relationships. She is a member of the Law Society of Western Australia, the National Association of Women in Construction (where she sits on the Education Subcommittee), Women Lawyers WA and the Society of Construction Law Australia.


Nunzio Lucarelli KC, Francis Burt Chambers
Nunzio has practised as a barrister in large, complex commercial litigation for 38 years. He has been a King’s Counsel for 24 years. He appears in a broad range of commercial law matters, including in the areas of: contract law; corporations law; misleading or deceptive conduct; mining law; international commercial arbitration; property law; equity and trusts; international law; torts; insolvency and administrative law. Nunzio is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. In addition to being a member of the Victorian Bar, Nunzio is also a member of the Western Australian Bar and the English Bar. Nunzio is experienced in all facets of trial and appellate advocacy in the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the Supreme Courts of other States, the Federal Court of Australia, the High Court of Australia and in international commercial arbitrations.


Scott Ellis, Barrister, Chartered Arbitrator, Mediator, Francis Burt Chambers
Scott Ellis practices as an arbitrator, adjudicator, mediator and barrister from Francis Burt Chambers. Prior to joining the Bar, he was a partner of Freehills for a number of years. He has dealt with more than 400 disputes as an arbitrator, mediator, expert determiner and as a third party neutral. He is a Fellow of ACICA and Resolution Institute. He is a Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is accredited to NMAS standards as a mediator. He is registered as an adjudicator under the Construction Contracts (Former Provisions) Act 2004 (still) and as a Grade 2 Adjudicator and a Review Adjudicator under the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act, 2021. He is also a NSW adjudicator. He is a Senior Sessional Member of the State Administrative Tribunal and a member of the National Sports Tribunal. He is the Acting Corruption and Crime Commissioner. He has also appeared as counsel in Supreme Court proceedings for judicial review of adjudicator’s decisions. In 2022 he was listed by Doyle’s Guide as a Leading WA Mediator, and a Leading Barrister in Construction and Infrastructure and in Arbitration.