Ben Katekar SC

Admitted to the Bar 2003

Appointed Senior Counsel 2020

Experience

Ben Katekar is a Senior Counsel at the Sydney commercial Bar.  His practice encompasses insolvency, banking, takeovers, construction, intellectual property, competition, professional liability and property litigation.

Ben worked as a senior litigation associate at Allens for 10 years before coming to the Bar in 2003.  Since then Ben has acted on numerous large and complex matters, including in the year-long trial in Ingot Capital Management v Macquarie Bank & Ors (No. 6) (2007) 63 ACSR 1, and more recently in Anchorage v Sparkes & Ors [2019] NSWSC 384, which is a complex and multi-faceted dispute arising out of the collapse of Arrium, which is listed for a six-week trial in 2021.

Ben has vast experience in strategic case management, formulation and implementation, and the effective leadership of litigation teams of all sizes.

Ben’s many strengths include his Court skills developed in numerous trials (such as Campbell v van der Velde [2019] FCA 1871) and countless investigations for liquidators and as counsel assisting ICAC (including the inquiry into Eddie Obeid and the Circular Quay leases, and into the NSW Rural Fire Service).

Since 2012 Ben has been a member of the faculty of the Australian Bar Association’s week-long Advanced Trial Advocacy Course conducted each January, as well as having represented the ABA as a trainer at equivalent advocacy courses conducted in Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa.  Ben has taught advocacy and witness preparation to new barristers at the NSW Bar Practice for many years, and publishes advocacy-related interviews and articles on his website advocacyhub.com.au.

Ben was a member of the NSW Bar Council from 2016 to 2019, and was a member of its Education Committee and one of its Professional Conduct Committees.  He was a member of the Board of New Chambers from 2015 to 2019.

Ben has been recognised as a ‘recommended’ Junior Counsel by Doyle’s Guide in their Leading Insolvency & Restructuring Junior Counsel – New South Wales, 2019 rankings.

In 2020, Ben was appointed Senior Counsel in and for the state of NSW.