Michael Chin is a Special Counsel in our Canberra Office.

He has a wide litigation practice in relation to:

• claims by plaintiffs for personal injuries, motor vehicle accidents, and professional negligence;
• disputes in contracts, property and commercial transactions, building and construction, business sale agreements, residential and commercial conveyancing issues, and leasing issues;
• employment disputes;
• government tendering and contracting disputes, and applications for review of and appeals against ministerial and administrative decisions;
• persons wrongfully charged with criminal and traffic offences; and
• probate and wills disputes.

He has been in private practice in Canberra and Darwin for more than 17 years. He has had experience as the principal of his own firm in Darwin, as the Darwin resident partner of a large Adelaide firm, as a Consultant in the Canberra office of a national law firm and now as Special Counsel in a rapidly growing firm which includes native speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean as well as English.

He was a government lawyer for 19 years in Canberra, in the head offices of the Australian Government Solicitor, ACT Government Solicitor, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Taxation Office, ACT Administration, and the National Capital Authority.

As a government lawyer he advised government ministers and departments on:

• construction contracts for major, medium and minor works;
• consultancy services and general services contracts;
• contracts for outsourcing of government services;
• corporatisation of government business enterprises;
• Commonwealth-State-Territory agreements;
• exercise of ministerial and administrative discretions;
• government tendering and contracting;
• information technology contracts;
• international treaties;
• joint ventures between government and the private sector for off budget financing of projects;
• lease administration and planning law in the ACT;
• legislation for implementation of government policy in relation to business, company and taxation laws, and regulation of building societies and credit unions;
• public sector employment law;
• risk management and risk allocation in government contracts; and
• statutory interpretation on complex issues.

That experience has equipped him to be effective in acting for private sector clients in dealings with governments.