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Jon Baker is an associate in our Litigation Practice Group, and his specialty is corporate insolvency and complex litigation/disputes. Jon has acted for Australian, overseas, and multinational corporations, including the majority of the ASX20.
- Significant experience in court litigation, including in the federal courts, the Northern Territory Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Supreme Court of Western Australia and Western Australian inferior courts.
- Significant experience in commercial litigation and disputes, involving a broad spectrum of legal issues – including (among others) debt claims, breach of contract claims, breach of directors’ duties claims, equitable claims (injunctions, breach of fiduciary duty, etc.), professional negligence claims, administrative law actions, and construction disputes (for both principal and contractor).
- Experience providing legal and strategic advice relating to personal property securities and mortgages (including security reviews for financiers, restructuring advice, and enforcement advice).
- Significant experience and particular specialty in providing advice regarding the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth).
- Acting for Australia’s largest liquor business in its proposal to establish a prominent large format specialist liquor chain in Darwin, Northern Territory, and in multi-party administrative and Court proceedings relating to the proposal.
- Acting for a British Virgin Islands shareholder of a listed Australian mining entity in a Supreme Court of Western Australia dispute. Jon’s client sought urgent injunctive relief against the company’s directors for an apprehended contravention of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
- Acting for the major shareholder and the director of an ASX listed entity in urgent Federal Court of Australia proceedings seeking declarations about the validity of the appointment of the Chairperson of the board.
- Acting for the directors and related corporation of a WA based landholding company under external administration. Jon provided nuanced advice regarding claims made by the WA Government against the company in administration under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA). Jon was successfully involved in restructuring the company through Deed of Company Arrangement, returning control of the external administered company to his clients.
- Acting for the deed administrators of an ASX-listed media streaming business (Quickflix), and successful involvement in a court application to transfer the shares in the business to a purchaser through Deed of Company Arrangement.
- Acting for a major bank in successfully defending and counterclaiming in proceedings brought by a borrower corporation’s part of a corporate group. The matter set precedent on Commonwealth and WA legislation, and involved an application for Special Leave to the High Court of Australia (leave refused in favour of Jon’s client).
- Acting for the liquidators of the WA-based haulage company, and providing detailed legal and commercial advice on Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) issues arising from leases of haulage equipment and equipment finance facilities.
- Acting for the receivers and managers of a small-/mid-cap ASX-listed mining entity. Jon provided ongoing receivership advice, including strategic advice on the sale of the company’s tenements, including participating in a novel Court application to discharge the security of an adversely aligned secured creditor.
- Acting for a large international oil and gas company in multimillion-dollar litigation under Security of Payment Legislation and in the Supreme Court. The dispute related to the construction of a complex multibillion-dollar project, which is one of the largest projects of its type globally.
- Acting for a major bank and the receivers and managers of a large WA engineering services company that involved strategic advice on recovering an AU$50 million lending exposure.
- Acting as the lead insolvency junior for a major ASX-listed bank in relation to its multimillion-dollar exposure to a large shipping entity. This involved complex strategic advice on recovery options, including cross-border ships mortgage issues, Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) advice, and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency.
- Acting for a major ASX-listed bank in defending court proceedings instituted by a borrower for misleading and deceptive conduct in the Supreme Court.
- Acting for the former receivers and managers of an ASX-listed miner, defending proceedings brought against the former receivers in which the receivers were alleged to be personally liable.
- Acting for the deed administrators of an ASX-listed mining entity, and successfully defending an application brought by a major creditor of the company to set aside a deed of company arrangement.
Education
- The University of Western Australia, LL.B., Distinction, 2014
- The University of Western Australia, B.A., Anthropology, 2014
Admissions
- Supreme Court of Western Australia, 2015
- High Court of Australia and Federal Court of Australia, 2015