Meet our People

John is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (LL.B) and Oxford University (BCL). He is admitted in Australia, Ireland and England.

John has over 25 years’ experience in major advisory, transactional and project work across many sectors with a nationally significant practice in corporate, competition, energy and utilities.

He also has a strong understanding of the government sector with considerable experience in industry regulation and state transactional matters. John’s clients include significant corporates, multinationals, private equity, hedge funds, entrepreneurs and government and government-owned companies.

In addition, John is a guest lecturer in competition law at the University of Queensland, an academic author, the competition law editor of the Australian Law Journal, a frequent speaker at the International Bar Association and other conferences in Australia and overseas on competition law, energy, utilities and international trade.

John is a part-time member of the Clean Energy Regulator in Australia, and has also been a director of several Australian private equity-owned portfolio companies appointed by a significant international private equity firm.

John also currently sits on several not-for-profit boards in Australia (including KitAid Australia) and is a former Chair of the International Bar Association’s Public Law Committee, and Vice-Chair of the Irish Law Society’s EU & International Affairs Committee.

Recent advice in Australia includes:

• advising on the $2.4 billion sale of Digicel Pacific to Telstra;
• advising Elliott Group/Elliott Green Power on the acquisition, development and roll out of its utility scale solar business in Australia;
• serial adviser to international energy companies on renewable energy projects across Australia;
• advising Dalian Wanda Group on its acquisition of Australia’s iconic Hoyts Cinemas and Val Morgan Media from Pacific Equity Partners;
• advising nationally significant agribusinesses on ACCC investigations and related matters;
• advising international business on Australian merger control;
• serial adviser to business on cross-border activity into, and out of, Australia;
• advising on telecoms infrastructure matters (including 4G LTE and 5G); and
• advising Brisbane Broncos (Australia’s biggest professional rugby league club).

Other experience in Ireland and Europe has included:

• advising government entities on the privatisation and restructuring of State-owned assets;
• drafting the rules for the all-Ireland Single Electricity Market (like the NEM in Australia) and drafting telecoms legislation;
• serial adviser on telecoms, broadcasting and telecoms towers networks matters;
• serial adviser on Big Pharma distribution networks;
• serial adviser on abuse of dominance, merger control and price-fixing matters; and
• advising sports clubs and bodies on CAS, including taking FIFA to arbitration in the FIFA Two case.