Carolyn Cheng

James holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice and a Masters of Law. James has practiced exclusively in family law since admission. He is experienced in all aspects of family law including complex property matters, contested parenting matters, Financial Agreements, Child Support matters, same-sex/LGBITQ matters, surrogacy and alternative conception procedures and Intervention Order matters. James prides himself on providing practical and cost-effective advice to ensure t...

Mark Farquhar is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation. Mark, who practices law in Melbourne, Australia, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mark is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Aaron Yates is a lawyer in the Law Group at Davies Collison Cave’s Melbourne office and practises in intellectual property litigation. Aaron has completed a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and Bachelor of Science (focussing on genetics and molecular biology), and has a particular interest in patent litigation and advice. Aaron has been involved in a number of patent, design and trade mark proceedings in the Federal Court and also has experience providing advice to a local and internatio...

One of Australia’s leading estate planning lawyers, Bernie has over 40 years’ experience advising individuals, family groups and businesses on all aspects of estate and business succession. Often acting as advisor to prominent families, Bernie’s knowledge of family trusts, superannuation and estate and elder law enables him to provide clear, practical solutions for clients with complex family and asset structures. He is often asked to provide a second opinion on existing suc...

Chris’ major area of practice is intellectual property litigation. He has more than 30 years experience in patent, trade mark, design, copyright, trade practices and confidential information litigation on behalf of both applicants and respondents. He has also acted in patent and trade mark oppositions before IP Australia. Chris joined the firm in 1989, becoming a partner in 2001. Chris has successfully acted in a number of significant matters before State Courts and the Federal and High...

Howard has more than 30 years’ commercial dispute experience. He has an active practice in complex commercial litigation and in significant white collar criminal investigations and prosecutions involving a wide range of commercial criminal matters, regulatory investigations and large scale inquiries, including Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry. Howard has been involved in nine Royal Commissions and Commission of Inquiry and has lead his team in acting for four parties involve...

Paul has profound experience in the area of sports and employment law. He has been involved in the drafting, reviewing and advising on constitutions, policies and by-laws for incorporated associations and LLCs. This includes the drafting of a new constitution for Commonwealth Games Australia to facilitate their transfer from an incorporated association to a limited liability corporation after 37 years, as well as drafting the policies and by-laws to accompany that constitution. Paul has exten...

Adam Laidlaw is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mergers and Acquisitions Law. Adam, who practices law in Melbourne, Australia, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Adam is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Lu is a pragmatic disputes and business lawyer who has built a practice helping people solve contractual and property disputes, shareholders disputes, building disputes and other commercial disputes. She also assists clients with debt recovery and insolvency. She is known for putting her clients’ goals and needs at the forefront of all work - and advising from a commercial perspective if they should be proposing a settlement or choosing to proceed with litigation. In any event she will ...

Ian has extensive experience in a wide range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law disputes and transactions covering all intellectual property regimes including patents, copyright, trade marks and related competition law issues, with a particular emphasis on strategic intellectual property litigation. Recently Ian’s practice has involved major national and multi-jurisdictional patent litigation in the pharmaceutical, life sciences, and resources/metallurgical sec...