Rocco Russo

Notable representative matters

• Securing record defamation judgment for former Queensland government minister after a high profile trial.
• Representing one of Queensland’s largest insurers and largest club on the legal matters arising from the Queensland floods disaster, including advice and representation regarding insurance claims, policy interpretation, disaster response and regulatory issues.
• Representing a foreign government and minister in proceedings concerning political immunity issues in the Supreme and High Courts.
• Acting for and representing clients in a number of commissions of inquiry including the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry, the Queensland Rail Train Crewing Practices Commission of Inquiry and the Commission of Inquiry into New Generation Rollingstock Trains.
• Representing founding shareholder in high-profile Supreme Court litigation and lengthy trial involving claims in excess of $40 million against major financial institutions.
• Representing the owners of Makepeace Island in long-running building and construction litigation in the Supreme Court of Queensland over payment claims and defects.
• Representing an international construction and machinery manufacturing concern in Supreme Court litigation involving novel PPSA issues (NSW and Queensland) to successfully recover a multi-million drilling rig.
• Acting in numerous shareholder/stakeholder disputes cases for significant businesses securing favourable resolution terms without litigation.

Commercial litigation

• Acting in many commercial litigation matters, including contract disputes, disputes between business partners, negligence cases, distributor disputes, and product liability, professional liability, misleading conduct, and misrepresentation cases.
• Acting for founding shareholders of a national merchandising business in a multi-million-dollar governance dispute, securing favourable exit terms without the need for litigation.
• Advising a large Australian financial institution on multi-million-dollar employee fraud, resulting in the full recovery of assets remaining in the possession of the employee without litigation.
• Representing the founding shareholders of a major Queensland electricity retailer in litigation over ownership interests.
• Representing an executor to successfully resolve a claim against the estate’s interests in a $26 million Queensland farming operation.
• Representing a private company in a $10 million excise duty investigation by the Australian Customs Service and Australian Federal Police, resulting in no prosecution.

Regulatory matters

• Acting to advise and represent corporate clients, directors, officeholders and private individuals in many regulatory matters and investigations involving federal and state investigating bodies and regulators across a wide range of industries.
• Acting for corporate organisations to provide representation and make submissions in response to ASIC regulatory notices, successfully resolving many matters without prosecutorial proceedings.
• Acting for one of Australia’s largest organisations in response to notices issued by ACCC’s Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry instigated in 2017 to produce documents that involved a review of millions of documents.
• Acting for a number of RTOs (Registered Training Organisations) to successfully resolve regulatory proceedings brought by ASQA.
• Acting for organisations to provide representation and submissions in relation to regulatory proceedings instigated by the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service), including responding to systemic breach notices, successfully resolving those investigations without any prosecutorial action.
• Acting for organisations and officeholders in regulatory proceedings involving the QBCC, including winning a lengthy trial in QCAT to overturn QBCC regulatory decisions.
• Acting for a corporate client to successfully resolve without penalty a customs and excise investigation undertaken by Australian Customs Service (ACS) and Australian Federal Police (AFP).
• Acting in numerous Commissions of Inquiry, including Royal Commission matters (see notes above).

Building and construction disputes

• Acting in many building and construction disputes on major projects (e.g. Kestrel Mine Extension Project, Hay Point Coal Terminal, Gateway Bridge Duplication Project, Mt Crosby Water Treatment Plant, Goodwill Bridge, and Western Corridor Recycled Water Project).
• Acting for contractors and principals in security of payment claims and responses, including litigation defending and challenging adjudicator determinations.
• Representing a regional construction group in proceedings against QBCC on regulatory issues.

Insolvency and debt recovery

• Acting for and advising commercial clients on insolvency issues and claims including enforcement issues, external administration processes, restructuring, and director liability issues.
• Representing liquidators in the conduct of preference claims.
• Handling the Queensland debt recovery portfolio, involving high volume debt recovery and insolvency proceedings for a wholly owned subsidiary of one of Australia’s largest companies.
• Advising one of Queensland’s largest insurers on insolvency issues arising from the collapse of one of its largest contractors.
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Property and leasing disputes and litigation

• Acting for and advising clients on disputes and litigation involving property transactions, lease defaults, contract disputes and termination, and contract interpretation matters.
• Advising the landlord of a CBD high-rise on litigation issues and claims arising from a major property damage incident affecting numerous tenancies.
• Representing numerous shopping centre owners in lease default actions, possession proceedings, and related litigation.
• Representing one of the world’s largest restaurant chains in lease interpretation proceedings in relation to one of its prominent Queensland locations.
• Representing a Queensland-based property developer in a multi-million-dollar negligence case arising from a failed property development in Rockhampton.

Defamation

• Securing a record defamation judgment for a former Queensland government minister after a high-profile trial.
• Acting in defamation litigation, claims for breach of confidentiality or privacy, and other cases associated with risk to reputation or confidential information.

Intellectual property litigation

• Representing one of Australia’s largest organisations to defend Federal Court patent infringement proceedings arising from its release of a mobile app and website.
• Representing the Australian subsidiary of an international carpet manufacturer to successfully defend Federal Court proceedings involving allegations of copyright and design infringement and misleading and deceptive conduct.