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2023 Legal 500 rankings – Australia Bar

New Chambers and its members have again been ranked favourably in the Legal 500 Australia Bar rankings for 2023.

21 New Chambers members have been ranked across 3 practice areas, including Commercial Disputes (as a Tier 1 Set); Competition; and Crime and Regulatory (also as a Tier 1 set).

COMMERCIAL DISPUTES:

Band 1:  New Chambers

New Chambers is well-regarded as ‘one of the outstanding sets on the Sydney market‘, with a strong complement of barristers bringing experience across the range of commercial disputes, covering areas such as insolvency, regulatory and commissions, and class actions. David Jackson AM KC, Arthur Moses SC, and Michael Hodge KC are well respected silks at the set, while Ben Katekar SC, who took silk in 2020, did notable work defending treasury officers at Arrium in Anchorage Capital Master Offshore Ltd v Sparkes (No 3) and Bank of Communications Co Ltd v Sparkes (No 2), on which he led Emma Beechey. Greg O’Mahoney is acting as leading junior for the owners of the Ruby Princess on the major class action case Susan Karpiak v Carnival PLC & Anor, led by David McLure SC, and Chris Peadon is active in the tax space. The clerking team, meanwhile, was bolstered with the July 2022 appointment of Angela Noakes as clerk and practice manager.

Testimonials

‘New Chambers is one of the pre-eminent sets of commercial chambers in Sydney, if not Australia, with barristers (both senior and junior barristers) covering most if not all of the facets of commercial law and litigation. New Chambers is also fortunate to be able to attract very high quality junior barristers each year, to complement its existing members.’

‘An outstanding set with some of Australia’s best senior and junior barristers across a range of areas of the law. There is breadth and depth.’

Leading Silks Band 1:

David Bloom KC

Kate Eastman AM SC

David Jackson AM KC

Arthur Moses SC ‘Arthur is always courteous, responsive to his client and a pleasure to work with.

Neil Young KC

Leading Silks Band 2:

Michael Hodge KC – ‘Michael is a new generation of KC that is collaborative, commercial and pragmatic in his approach.

Ben Katekar SC – ‘Ben is a highly skilled advocate, who has reacted calmly and effectively to some quite extraordinary courtroom developments.

David McLure SC

Leading Juniors

Band 1:

Chris Peadon – ‘Excellent attention to detail and forceful in argument.

Band 2:

Emma Beechey – ‘One of the best junior insolvency barristers in Sydney.

Caspar Conde

Courtney Ensor – ‘Courtney is an extremely hard-working, well organised and diligent advocate, with a breadth of commercial disputes experience.

Greg O’Mahoney – ‘Easy to work with. Aggressive, but clinical and thoughtful. A great communicator.

Sonia Tame – ‘Sonia is an outstandingly strong technical lawyer, with good judgement and great advocacy. She’s decisive and incisive. And an absolute pleasure to work with.

Band 3:

Shipra Chordia – ‘Phenomenal and creative intelligence, brilliant scholarship, and amazing ability to articulate a point clearly and powerfully.

Michael Cosgrove 

Keni Josifoski – ‘Keni is responsive to client needs and works hard to ensure that any written outputs reflect both the facts and the law. He is developing well as a junior.

Karen Petch – ‘Responsive, commercial and intellectual.

Thomas Prince – ‘Analytical ability of the very highest order. Writes with absolute clarity and simplicity in even the most complex cases. An excellent advocate on his feet in court – clear, precise and economical.

Philip Santucci – ‘Philip was well above average when he first came to the Bar and has continued to develop and flourish.

 

COMPETITION:

Leading Silks

Band 1:

Neil Young KC 

Band 2:

Michael Hodge KC – ‘Extraordinarily bright and able to digest very large amounts of complex material in a short period of time, and refine to key issues and clever strategy. Very receptive and approachable, great to work with. Excellent on his feet, attentive to the bench – and a lethal cross-examiner.

Leading Juniors

Band 2:

Shipra Chordia – ‘Shipra is a pleasure to work with and is very diligent, responsive and accessible. She is a team player, gets into the detail and provides commercial advice.

 

CRIME AND REGULATORY (INCLUDING WHITE COLLAR CRIME)

Tier 1: New Chambers

Regarded as ‘the go-to chambers for complex white-collar crime and regulatory matters‘, New Chambers counts among its members Arthur Moses SC, an experienced silk who boasts particular expertise in corruption inquiries and proceeds of crime work, and Greg O’Mahoney, a junior with a strong reputation for both led and unled work in this space. Moses’s notable recent cases include acting for former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith in the ongoing Roberts Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd & Ors, in which Roberts-Smith alleges defamation against several newspapers who published accusations that he committed war crimes, while the newspapers plead a defence of truth. Moses SC also acted for the City of Canada Bay Council in ICAC’s ‘Operation Tolosa’ inquiry into allegations of corruption against the city’s mayor councillor. O’Mahoney, meanwhile, appeared unled before the public inquiry into the Star Casino, and leads a team for the AFP in Commissioner of Australian Federal Police v George Alex & Ors, a major Proceeds of Crime Act case.

Testimonials

‘Recognised leaders in regulatory and white-collar crime matters, providing excellent training and mentoring to junior counsel within the set and a depth of expertise.’

‘New Chambers are the go-to chambers for complex white-collar crime and regulatory matters, providing first-class legal advice, representation and expertise. The set distinguishes itself in the way its senior practitioners mentor more junior members to develop chambers’ expertise.’

Leading Silks

Band 2:

Arthur Moses SC – ‘Arthur is a decisive, robust and strategic counsel who advocates strongly for his clients and who knows their business and their objectives.

Leading Juniors:

Greg O’Mahoney – ‘Probably the most experienced and knowledgeable junior barrister in proceeds of crime law in New South Wales, if not Australia.

Congratulations to all the New Chambers members on their well deserved recognition.

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