Brett is a visionary and influential leader in the legal and business community, and a trusted advisor to his clients. He takes a hands-on approach, and is passionate about assisting corporate and private clients achieve success and solve problems in the most efficient and pragmatic way possible.
Having been in practice for 46 years, Brett has deep experience in corporate law, property, estate succession and tax planning. Prior to joining Hamilton Locke, Brett was a partner at Jones Day and Chairman of Partners at McCullough Robertson.
Brett is a pre-eminent corporate law practitioner, and has been recognised on a national basis for his market-leading expertise and experience over several decades. He has combined his professional legal career with board appointments for a number of ASX listed companies (including Unity Pacific, Technology One, AACo, Chemgenex Pharmaceuticals, Peplin Biotech and Apollo Tourism & Leisure) and unlisted companies (including Hoyts and Peanut Company of Australia).
Brett has also previously been a long-serving member of the Takeovers Panel, the Board of Taxation and the CAMAC Legal Committee. These roles have provided him with deep understanding and experience of Australia’s corporate regulatory environment, and have enabled him to shape regulatory reform and practice in Australia.
Brett uses his “school of hard knocks” boardroom, government and business involvement, carefully cultivated across an esteemed career, to forge a personal understanding of his clients’ businesses, and to develop creative solutions to solve complex legal and commercial problems for his clients across a variety of sectors, particularly resources, tourism, agribusiness, property and life sciences.
Brett has a high level of business acumen and insight, and a deep understanding of the issues faced by business owners “at the coalface”. He has had a lifetime involvement in agriculture, with his family having conducted farming and grazing operations in the South Burnett region in Queensland for over 120 years.
In terms of major transactions, Brett has, over his career, been the lead legal advisor on many IPOs (including Technology One, Wilson HTM, ERM Power, Apollo Tourism & Leisure, Maas Group Holdings and Dominion Minerals) and substantial M&A transactions including the $6 billion Orocobre Scheme of Arrangement and the $5.6 billion Queensland Gas takeover.
Additionally, Brett provides legal and strategic, estate planning and business succession advice to a diverse range of high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, family groups, agribusiness clients and family offices. He advises clients on sophisticated and complex estate plans, asset protection measures, financial agreements, family business restructurings and intergenerational wealth transfers, as well as the litigation and mediation of proprietary estoppel, family provision and power of attorney disputes.
Brett has developed a reputation as a trusted, safe pair of hands for his clients, who value his wisdom, experience and guidance in protecting and growing their businesses, and in transitioning to future generations with confidence and certainty.
