Dispute Resolution and Litigation
The Litigation Department is headed by Hugh Northam, who has joined Septimus Jones & Lee after extensive practice in commercial litigation, corporate and advisory, and trade practices and competition law including ten years as a partner of a top tier national firm.
Hugh Northam has a distinguished reputation as a senior commercial litigator for his expertise in dispute resolution and commercial litigation in the Supreme Court and Federal Court of Australia. He has been listed in the Premier category in "Legal Profiles" in the fields of commercial litigation, administrative law and defamation.
His practice includes a wide experience in defamation and reputation management in situations in which reputation or standing are threatened by adverse publicity, which frequently results from a corporate crisis, the strategy of competitors or reckless, careless and factually inaccurate publication by organs of the media including the internet. He conducted the first internet defamation case in Australia against Dow Jones, and has acted for and advised public corporations, their CEO’s, television and radio broadcasting corporations including the ABC and commercial stations, senior politicians, Senior Counsel at the Victorian Bar and prominent members of the arts, film and entertainment communities.
Hugh is a member of the Board of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at the University of Melbourne. He is particularly interested in the issue of alternative remedies for corporations to protect and manage their reputations and limit damage from defamatory publications now that their right to sue for defamation has been removed by the uniform defamation laws of all States, and has presented a seminar on this issue.
He has established over a period of more than thirty years an extensive and widely acknowledged expertise in acting for and advising private and public corporations, their shareholders and their boards, on corporations law compliance and defence, in complex commercial disputes, trade practices compliance, and their rights and obligations in respect of the evolving regime of competition law under the Federal and State legislation. Through his familiarity with the working and personnel of regulatory bodies such as ASIC and the ACCC, he is frequently able to negotiate outcomes for corporations or individuals who might find themselves being audited or investigated. Hugh has published in professional journals and was the joint author of the report of a Federal government Royal Commission in which he instructed Counsel assisting the Royal Commission.
The Litigation Department at Septimus Jones & Lee seeks to ensure that best practice in these areas of service will be followed to ensure outcomes for our clients which most effectively protect their business and commercial interests, at an affordable cost, in the following services:
- Contractual, commercial and other dispute resolution, negotiation and litigation
- Corporations law compliance including directors’ duties and shareholder entitlements
- Conducting liaison and negotiation with regulators including ASIC and ACCC
- ASIC and ACCC preventative compliance
- Protection of commercial reputation against false, misleading, negative or defamatory activity by competitors
Hugh Northam works in these areas of our practice with Patrick Lawler, a highly experienced Associate at Septimus Jones & Lee.
