Dispute Resolution: The Bar

Dever's List is headquartered in Melbourne's Owen Dixon Chambers and is the oldest of the Victorian Bar's lists, with a history extending back some 160 years and a large stable of barristers, offering expertise across a broad spectrum of practice areas. Among them are to be found some of Australia's leading appellate advocates as well as eminent practitioners in the employment, insolvency, intellectual property, native title and taxation spheres. Several, including a number of retired judges, are also experienced arbitrators and mediators. John Dever is the chief barristers' clerk and is frequently identified by name as one of the list's key assets.

David Shavin KC enjoys both a national and a regional reputation for his work in the IP space. He is best known for his work on patent cases, though also an experienced handler of trade mark issues, and he offers particularly focused expertise on pharmaceutical matters and questions of what materials can legitimately be regarded as patentable.

Philip Crutchfield KC maintains a highly versatile practice in which insolvency cases feature particularly prominently, but which also covers a broad commercial range. In addition to his general commercial and insolvency work, he also handles insurance, intellectual property and taxation-related briefs. "He is an able commercial silk." "He provided prompt and succinct advice and engagement in a client-facing situation in relation to material Australian litigation."

Sturt Glacken KC is generally acclaimed as a pre-eminent practitioner on the traditional owner side at the native title Bar. Interviewees regularly testify to his unrivalled experience in the space, technical excellence and outstanding performance at the appellate level. "He is very clever and hard-working."

Christopher Caleo KC is well reputed in the market for his extensive knowledge and advocacy skills. His broad practice covers not only general commercial, competition and professional negligence issues, but also questions of administrative law. "Chris Caleo is very good in the insurance space."

Eugene Wheelahan KC is renowned in the field of tax. His expertise when it comes to the handling of anti-avoidance or transfer pricing disputes receives particularly strong recommendation.

Richard Dalton KC offers over 25 years of experience in the representation of both private and public sector employers and of regulators in the workplace law field, winning particular praise for his technical excellence and skilful handling of appellate cases.

Philip Solomon KC makes regular Supreme Court of Victoria, Federal Court and High Court appearances, handling matters across a broad spectrum which includes matters of administrative, commercial and corporations law and also embraces insurance, negligence and taxation issues.

Kathleen Foley SC handles both complex commercial and significant public law matters, her experience in the latter sphere including numerous High Court appearances. In the commercial space, she is especially noted for her involvement, on both plaintiff and defendant sides, in cases concerning the conduct of individual executives. "She is very good and does a lot of public interest cases."

Robert Craig SC maintains a highly versatile practice, taking in, among other things, significant contractual and consumer law cases, high-profile securities class actions and tough regulatory disputes involving alleged instances of professional negligence or breaches of directors' duties, plus regular instruction on construction matters.

Matthew Follett SC acts for employers across the full range of general employment and industrial relations issues, offering particularly notable experience handling issues arising in the construction, engineering, resources and transportation sectors. "Matthew Follett at Dever's List is the best in the business and the leading industrial relations barrister in the country." "He is a very reliable and knowledgeable person."