Partnering with clients to provide on-demand contract lawyers, giving in-house legal teams the confidence to be agile.
Jim Fox brings extensive credentials across diverse and dynamic industrial landscapes to his leadership role as head of the national Human Resources & Industrial Relations practice. His practice traverses strategic, litigious and time-critical day-to-day advice in all aspects of workplace related law. He represents leading national and multi-national companies and public entities in multiple industry sectors including banking and finance, insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, transport and logistics, and facilities and property management. Known for his pragmatic commercial approach, Jim’s expertise spans all aspects of human resources and industrial advice; industry agreements and awards; large scale restructures; industrial disputes; terminations and unfair dismissals; remuneration packaging, employment contracts and policies; restraint of trade matters; occupational health and safety; and discrimination complaints. He has noted skill in highly unionised industries, sensitive and strategic issues at executive and board level, as well as complex cross-border challenges faced by global employers. As a negotiator and litigator, Jim has forged a strong reputation in speedy dispute resolution in both Federal and State industrial commissions. Some clients include Aon, CBRE, Commonwealth Bank, Challenger, DP World, Goodman, IAG, Linfox, Macquarie Group, Westpac and the multi-nationals GE, Royal Bank of Scotland, SingTel Optus and Serco Sodexho. Jim is also an experienced advisor to NSW Government and other public sector clients in relation to litigious, commercial and strategic matters across all aspects of workplace Amongst numerous industry accolades, Jim is named as ‘one of Australia’s leading employment lawyers’ in the highly regarded Guide to the World’s Leading Labour & Employment Lawyers. The recently published 2010/11 APL500 s noted that Jim is a 'particularly responsive and works in a helpful collaborative manner’. The Chambers Global Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers quoted a client commenting that Jim's 'advice is practical and grounded in a good knowledge of our company and industry'.
Our Ports team is the leading legal specialists in this sector, with key roles advising on all recent major national port refinancing deals. We were the sole legal advisers to NSW Treasury in relation to the A$5.07 billion restructure and refinancing of the State-owned assets of Port Botany and Port Kembla, with proceeds from the transaction to be invested in the NSW Government's infrastructure fund, Restart NSW. The transaction was completed on 31 May 2013 and considered the largest and most complex of its kind in Australia.
Advised the New South Wales Government (NSW Treasury) on the refinancing of Port Botany and Port Kembla in NSW. The project was unique, involving the contemporaneous refinancing and long term lease of two major Australian ports. Our role included extensive legal analysis of the existing assets and businesses and the regulatory landscape; recommending a transaction structure; drafting special transaction legislation; asset restructuring; preparing extensive interrelated transaction documents; tender process and negotiations; and implementation under legal project management. The project was complex and very significant for NSW, with the transaction widely considered to establish a new benchmark in transaction preparation and execution.
Acted for Transport for NSW on the Franchising Sydney Ferries project. This follows on from acting for the NSW Department of Transport & Infrastructure in the Sydney Ferries Market Review project in 2010. This was a high profile and politically sensitive project to implement the recommendations of the Walker report to franchise the iconic operation of the ferries on Sydney harbour. It involved the drafting of service contracts and the conduct of a tender process, extensive due diligence, evaluation and negotiation with three private sector consortia and, ultimately, completion of the transaction with the preferred tenderer and transition from Sydney ferries to the new private sector operator.