Charles Scerri QC joins Corrs as Partner

Charles has been a leading commercial silk since 1997 and is retiring from the bar to join Corrs’ dispute resolution practice.

Charles’ expertise includes regulatory investigations and disputes, competition, class actions and a wide variety of matters in the energy and natural resources sector.

Corrs CEO Gavin MacLaren said: “I have known Charles for many years and he is an outstanding addition to the firm. His wealth of experience, fine judgment and deep insight will be incredibly valuable to our clients on major dispute resolution matters.  He will also assist clients, through our board advisory practice, in the development of effective approaches to risk mitigation. I am delighted to welcome Charles to the Corrs partnership.”

Corrs’ Head of Commercial Litigation Mark Wilks added: “Charles will play a major role in a number of our significant disputes and regulatory investigation matters. He has worked with our partners on complex litigation as a silk, and we are very pleased that he has chosen to continue the next stage of his career at Corrs.”

Charles Scerri QC said: “I have been friends, and worked many times with Corrs’ partner Craig Phillips and Gavin for decades in Australia, PNG and the U.S. I am looking forward very much to working with them as a partner. Corrs has a number of very interesting matters underway and on the horizon. Corrs has many fine lawyers and the opportunity to be part of the Corrs team right now is very exciting.”

Charles will join Corrs on 1 July.

Charles has appeared principally in the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria. He has also appeared regularly interstate and in Papua New Guinea.

Widely regarded as a leading advocate, Charles has regularly been engaged by many of the large corporates in Australia, and by the Australian government, the Victorian government, the Papua New Guinea government, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and other Commonwealth agencies and departments.

Some of the major commercial law cases Charles has undertaken are outlined below:

• Ok Tedi class action litigation (for BHP Billiton and Ok Tedi Mining Limited) and later class action (acting for Ok Tedi Mining Limited);
  
  
• Kelian litigation concerning mineral reserves in Kalimantan, Borneo (acting for Rio Tinto);
  
  
• Longford Royal Commission concerning the explosion at the Longford Gas Plant (acting for BHP Billiton);
  
  
• Melbourne Metropolitan Ambulance Service Royal Commission (acting for a Mallesons Stephen Jaques partner);
  
  
• Acting for Administrators/Liquidators in the Opes Prime litigation arising out of insolvency, including several class actions;
  
  
• Access litigation in the Federal and High Courts of Australia in relation to access to the railways in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (acting for the National Competition Council);
  
  
• AWB Limited shareholder class action in Sydney, Melbourne and New York;
  
  
• Orrong Strategies v Village Roadshow in Victorian Supreme Court concerning a contractual dispute and accounting and valuation issues;
  
  
• GSK v TPI and Ritchie in Victorian Supreme Court concerning the use of confidential information;
  
  
• Acting for the Liquidator in litigation arising out of the collapse of Banksia Limited;
  
  
• Litigation in Papua New Guinea concerning the Ramu nickel and cobalt project (acting for Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Limited, a Chinese government owned corporation);
  
  
• Litigation since 2011 between Citic Limited and Mineralogy and Clive Palmer (Acting for Clive Palmer);
  
  
• Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (acting for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia);
  
  
• Royal Commission into the Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse (acting for the State of Victoria and its agencies);
  
  
• Sanda v PTTEP Australasia (Ashmore Cartier) Pty Ltd (acting for PTTEP); and
  
  
• Capic v Ford Motor Company (Acting for Ford).