Stephen D’Arcy

Stephen is NDL’s Senior Litigation Lawyer having acted in a broad range of significant and high-profile commercial disputes for corporations, high net worth individuals and public clients.

Stephen’s experience includes acting in:

• Urgent interlocutory applications, including interim injunctions, Mareva injunctions, and Anton Piller orders.
• Shareholder disputes, including acting on behalf of:
  • a large Melbourne golf club defending Supreme Court proceedings commenced by a former member seeking to invalidate a $125,000,000 sale of land. The matter involved two urgent injunctions, a trial, an appeal and a special leave application; and
  • a residential builder, defending complex Supreme Court proceedings commenced by a former director disputing an asset sale of the business. The matter involved intricate claims and counterclaims, urgent applications and substantial discovery disputes.
• Property development disputes, including acting on behalf of:
  • a property developer defending Supreme Court proceedings commenced by a former investor, alleging it was a joint venture partner and therefore entitled to a profit share on the sale of a commercial building in Melbourne’s CBD (following a successful planning application by Stephen’s client to convert the building into a 27-storey hotel);
  • a property developer bringing Supreme Court proceedings alleging that two landowners were not entitled to serve notices of termination in relation to substantial land sale contracts for subsequent residential development; and
  • the Commonwealth of Australia in a multiparty dispute concerning the contamination of industrial land and groundwater it had previously owned and leased to third parties.
• Sales of business disputes, including acting on behalf of:
  • the vendor of a large pharmacy business defending Supreme Court proceedings commenced by the purchasers, alleging breaches of a restraint of trade provision in the sale of business agreement; and
  • the purchaser of a large veterinary practice defending County Court proceedings commenced by the former vendor, alleging an entitlement to various earn-out payments under the sale of business agreement.
• Class actions, including acting in major Federal Court multiparty proceedings commenced by shareholders, following the merger of two large Australian mining companies. The claims involved allegations of a failure to disclose refinancing obligations regarding debt facilities worth up to USD$640,000,000.
• Regulatory matters, including acting for and against ASIC, the ACCC, WorkSafe Victoria and the EPA in both civil and criminal proceedings.
• Administrative law disputes, including acting for and against Commonwealth, State and local government departments and statutory authorities in disputes arising from administrative decisions.

Stephen graduated from Victoria University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons). Prior to joining NDL, he was a senior lawyer within WorkSafe Victoria’s enforcement team and a senior associate at Maddocks.

Stephen is also a member of the Law Institute of Victoria.