Gregory Nell SC

Admitted to the Bar 1991

Appointed Senior Counsel 2006

Experience

Gregory Nell SC has been practising at the New South Wales Bar since 1991, predominantly in the area of Admiralty and Maritime Law. He has been described as “a giant of the Maritime Bar” (Chambers and Partners, Asia-Pacific, Shipping: The Bar – Australia (2020)), and has been recognised as “one of the most prominent shipping practitioners in the region” (Who’s Who Legal Shipping (2020)), the “pre-eminent shipping barrister in Australia” (Who’s Who Legal : Shipping (2018)) and “Market Leader” (Doyles Guide to the Australian Legal Profession (2017-20)).

After graduating from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Laws, Gregory was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in December 1983, whereupon he commenced employment with Norton Smith & Co in its banking law and then shipping departments. From 1987 to 1989, Gregory worked with Hill Dickinson, solicitors, in London, working exclusively in the areas of shipping (both wet and dry) and marine insurance. During that time, Gregory was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England.

Upon returning to Australia in January 1990, Gregory resumed employment in the shipping department of Norton Smith & Co, before being called to the Bar in August 1991. Gregory graduated with a Master of Laws from Sydney University in 2000 and was appointed Senior Counsel in October 2006. He is a foundation member of New Chambers.

Since his admission as a barrister, Gregory has appeared in many of the leading admiralty and maritime cases in Australia. He also practises extensively in the areas of insurance law (especially marine insurance), private international law, aviation law and commercial law generally. Gregory has regularly appeared in the Federal Court of Australia as well as the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.

Gregory is a long time member of the Maritime Law Association of Australian and New Zealand (MLAANZ) and has presented papers at many of its Annual and mini conferences, as well as at the Federal Court of Australia’s Admiralty and Maritime Seminars in Sydney and Perth. Gregory has been a some time Senior Fellow of the University of Melbourne, where he has taught “International Carriage of Goods” and “Admiralty Law” in the Law Faculty’s post graduate programme in 2004 and 2009 respectively. Gregory has also been a Visiting Academic at the University of Queensland’s TC Beirne School of Law, where he co-taught postgraduate “Maritime Law” in 2019. In 2000 – 2001, Gregory was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Australian Law Reform Commission in its “Review of the Marine Insurance Act 1909” (ALRC Report No. 91). From November 2005 to November 2006, he was one of the Counsel Assisting in the Oil-for-Food Inquiry. Gregory is the former Chairman of the NSW Bar Association’s “Transportation, Maritime and Air Law Committee” (2012-14) and past member of one of the NSW Bar Association’s Professional Conduct Committees. Gregory is currently president of the Anglo Australasian Lawyers Society (Australian Chapter) (AALS) and the Chair of the Australian Maritime and Transportation Arbitration Commission (AMTAC), positions that he has held since 2015 and 2017 respectively.