Ian Thomas

Admitted

Solicitor, England and Wales 1993
Solicitor and barrister, South Australia and High Court of Australia 2010

Signed Bar Roll

2014

Academic Qualifications

University of Cambridge (First Class Honours in Law) 1987 - 1990

Areas of Practice

• Civil Litigation
  • Judicial review and administrative law
  • Professional Liability Law
  • Professional negligence
• Commercial Litigation
  • ADR, including arbitration, expert determination and mediation
  • Banking
  • Choice of Law
  • Commercial Law - General
  • Commissions and other inquiries
  • Contractual Disputes
  • Corporations law
  • Insolvency
  • Mining
  • Partnerships

Professional Experience

Ian has a broad commercial practice, appearing as counsel in the Federal, Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts.  He has extensive experience of ADR, having acted in mediations, arbitrations and expert determinations, and has been listed in Best Lawyers since 2013 and in Doyle's Guide since 2017.

Ian's practice covers:

• Complex contractual claims, including in the energy, resources and banking sectors
  
  
• Joint venture disputes, including claims for breaches of contractual and fiduciary duties
  
  
• Claims involving misleading and deceptive conduct
  
  
• Financial services litigation
  
  
• Insolvency-related litigation
  
  
• Professional negligence and conduct issues

Recent experience includes:

• Trial of dispute concerning rights to sell the minerals produced by a joint venture (Alliance Craton Explorer Pty Ltd v Quasar Resources Ltd, SA Supreme Court, led by Alan Archibald QC and Brendon Roberts SC, settled before judgment)

• Full Court appeal concerning duties of voluntary administrator and liquidator (Macks v Viscariello, SA Supreme Court, led by Mark Hoffmann QC)

• Substantial arbitration before the Hon Kevin Lindgren QC concerning contractual dispute between joint venturers (led by Tom Cox SC).

• Trial of claim relating to alleged breaches of duties by directors of junior mining company (Termite Resources NL (in liq) v Meadows, Federal Court, led by Joshua Thomson SC)

• Lengthy trial of claim for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct in the local government sector (Southern Waste ResourceCo v AHRWMA, SA Supreme Court, led by Tom Cox SC)

• Application under Cross-Border Insolvency Act 2008 for recognition of foreign proceedings (Wood v Astra Resources Ltd [2016] FCA 1192)

• Acting for UK liquidators of Astra Resources Ltd, as interveners in ASIC v Astra Resources Ltd [2016] FCA 560

• Significant dispute concerning quality and fitness of industrial equipment (Supreme Court, led by Tom Cox SC, settled at mediation)

• Trials in District and Magistrates Courts

• Counsel on various interlocutory matters in Federal, Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts, including for injunctive relief and freezing orders

• Appearing in mediations

• Advisory and opinion work

Education and admissions

University of Cambridge (First Class Honours in Law) 1987 – 1990

Solicitor,England and Wales 1993

Solicitor and barrister, South Australia and High Court of Australia 2010

Employment history

1993 - 1997	Solicitor, Veale Wasbrough, Bristol, UK
1997 - 2008	Allen & Overy LLP, London, UK.  Senior Associate and then Counsel and Head of the Partnership Office.
2008 - 2011	Finlaysons, Adelaide.  Overseas lawyers and then Special Counsel following admission in South Australia.
2011 - 2014	Partner, Finlaysons, Adelaide
2014 - 2016	Barrister, Edmund Barton Chambers, Adelaide
From 2016	Barrister, Bar Chambers, Adelaide

Professional memberships

Law Society of South Australia

Law Society of South Australia ADR Committee

South Australian Bar Association

Examples of recent publications and seminars

An introduction to financial services litigation, Law Society of South Australia (June 2014)

Conflicts of interest: an in-house perspective, Legalwise Seminars (November 2014)

Proportionate liability: Where are we now? Legalwise Seminars (March 2015)

Proportionate liability (with Brendon Roberts SC), for South Australian Bar Association annual conference (October 2015)

Damages for breach of commercial contracts, for South Australian Bar Association (December 2015)