Areas of practice
Corporate and Commercial, Insurance
Banking and Insolvency
Intellectual Property
Competition and Trade Practices
Property, Family and Succession
Professional Negligence, Torts and Construction Law
Retail tenancy
Equity and Securities
Numerous arbitrations and mediations in these and other practice areas including employment.
Date commenced practice at the Bar
1989
Date taken silk
2004
Contact
+612 8815 9133
gregory.burton@5wentworth.com
Education
Mr Burton studied at the University of Sydney where he gained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts with Honours (with the University Medal in History) and Bachelor of Laws with Honours, and at the University of Oxford where he gained the degree of Bachelor of Civil Laws.
Professional Career
Mr Burton has a wide range of professional experience, having commenced his career as a corporate and finance solicitor at Freehills in 1980. Burton was the Associate to Hon Justice Sir William Deane at the High Court (1984-85), served as Private Secretary and Senior Legal Adviser to the Federal Shadow Attorney-General (1986) and lectured in law at the Australian National University (1987-88).
Since commencing practice at the Bar in 1989, Mr Burton has appeared in a broad range of cases with a particular focus on finance and corporate, insolvency, security and equity. He is an experienced arbitrator and mediator in a broad range of areas and for many years has been on the lists or panels established by the Supreme Court, IAMA, LEADR, ACDC and other organisations.
Selected Cases
Mr Burton's experience as counsel include the following:
Capital Duplicators Pty Ltd v Australian Capital Territory [1993] HCA 67; (1993) 178 CLR 561 (constitutional - territories power and duties of excise)
Hagan v Waterhouse (1992) 34 NSWLR 308 (equity, trustees' duties, alleged fraud, limitation acts)
Spedley Securities Limited (in liq) v the Bank of New Zealand (1991) (alleged misleading conduct, directors' duties, apparent authority)
Heydon v NRMA Ltd (2000) 51 NSWLR 1 (CA) (alleged professional negligence and alleged misleading conduct)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Gain (1997) 42 NSWLR 252 (CA) (scope of farm debt mediation statutory confidentiality provisions)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Healey (1999 decisions in Supreme Court, CA and Federal Court) (bank/customer duties, securities)
Labraga v Pomfret [2005] NSWSC 973 (removal of executors/trustees)
Exception Holdings Pty Ltd v Albarran (No 2) [2005] NSWSC 981 (company charges, Corporations Act section 267; subrogation to security rights).
Heperu Pty Ltd v Morgan Brooks Pty Ltd & Ors [2007] NSWSC 1438; Perpetual Trustees Australia Ltd v Heperu Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 84 and application for special leave pending (conversion, restitution, estoppel, negligence arising out of cheque fraud).
Macquarie International Health Clinic Pty Ltd v Sydney South West Area Health Service [2008] NSWSC 738; Macquarie International Health Clinic Pty Ltd v Sydney South West Area Health Service (No 2) [2009] NSWSC 629, appeal pending (public-private partnership obligations, the law of good faith, numerous aspects of equity, contract and property law).
Gett v Tabet [2009] NSWCA 76, application for special leave pending (loss of opportunity damages in medical negligence).
GE Commercial Corporation (Aust) Pty Ltd v Mell Associates Pty Ltd & Ors [2009] NSWSC 787 (reservation of title, appropriation, contract terms and interpretation, buyer-in-possession, Sale of Goods Act 1923 (NSW) sections 26, 28 and equivalent provisions in other jurisdictions).
Randall Pty Ltd v Chepan [2009] NSWSC 783, extension of compliance time refused 17 August 2009 (published reasons pending)(defects in statutory demand, non-compliance with new form, all executors didn't sign).
Boyce v McIntyre [2009] NSWCA 185, (jurisdiction of costs assessors in relation to GST liabilities and interaction of costs agreements with those assessment initiated by non-parties to the costs agreements such as mortgagors and lessees who pay the mortgagee's or lessor's legal costs and expenses.
Mr Burton has also appeared in many cases and commercial settlements involving unconscionability principles and loss of opportunity, some in the banking area (securities, foreign currency).
Publications
Mr Burton is the founding and current editor of the Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice, a co-editor of Weaver and Craigie’s The Law Relating to Banker and Customer in Australia, title editor and contributor to ‘Finance, Banking and Securities’ in The Laws of Australia and author of material on set-off in The Laws of Australia and banking and finance dispute resolution in The Australasian Dispute Resolution Service. Mr Burton has written extensively on topics including negotiable instruments, equity and trusts, and arbitration.
Memberships
Mr Burton is a long-standing member of the NSW Bar Association, the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, the Banking and Financial Services Law Association, the Commercial Law Association and the Australian Institute of Administrative Law.
Mr Burton is also an Honorary Member of the Centre for International Legal Studies in Vienna and a member of the Centre for Independent Studies, Institute of Public Affairs and the Sydney Institute. He is also a Director of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and Procurator (church counsel) of the Presbyterian Church of Australia both federally and in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
Link to full CV <Gregory Burton SC>.