Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2017 
David Thomas SC appears across Australia in a broad range of commercial and civil matters. He is widely recognised as a leading silk and has a particular interest in class actions, commercial, regulatory, revenue and constitutional law. David appears at both trial and on appeal, including in the High Court.
Class actions: Recent clients include AMP Life, BT and NULIS in superannuation class actions; Jaguar UK, GM, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi in vehicle defect claims; Westpac, NAB and Suncorp in consumer insurance matters; IC Markets and Plus500 in consumer claims; Star in a continuous disclosure action; PwC in audit claims; and BHP, Rebel Sport and Merivale in Fair Work Act claims. David has been appointed amicus by the Federal Court and NSW Supreme Court in novel matters.
Commercial and corporate law: Recent clients include IAL in the $7 billion Greensill disputes, HSBC on appeal in the Dick Smith litigation, Channel Seven in claims against Cricket Australia, the Rinehart children in litigation against Gina Rinehart, NAB in proceedings concerning the Bank Bill Swap Rate and Brickworks in a landmark oppression action.
Regulatory and civil penalty: David regularly acts for companies and individuals in proceedings brought by ASIC. Recent clients include Macquarie Bank, AustralianSuper, Equity Trustees, Netwealth, Westpac, Rio Tinto, PayPal, MLC Nominees, NAB and MLC Insurance. David also acts for individual defendants, including the former CEO of Nuix and directors of Rex Airlines. David has acted for ASIC and the ACCC respectively in High Court appeals concerning the operation of the MIS and cartel regimes. David represented NAB in the Banking Royal Commission.
Revenue law: David appears for both taxpayers and the Commissioner. Recent matters have involved Whitehaven Coal, Crown, Hannover, Tabcorp, Tatts and Uber. David has also appeared for the Commissioner in High Court appeals concerning franking credits and charitable trusts, and for high net-worth individuals in income and tax residency matters.
Constitutional law: Notable matters include High Court challenges to the mining tax, carbon tax and the reform of parliamentary pension entitlements. He recently appeared in the first High Court challenge under s 90 of the Constitution since Ha.
David has been recognised as a leading silk in a range of professional publications, including Chambers & Partners (Commercial Disputes), Doyle’s Guide (Commercial Disputes, Class Actions, White Collar Crime and Regulatory Investigations, and Taxation), Best Lawyers in Australia (Litigation, Class Actions and Commercial Law), Legal 500 and Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal). He has twice been recognised as Best Lawyers’ Class Action Lawyer of the Year.
David is Chair of the NSW Bar’s Practice Development Committee, Convenor of the Bar’s Commercial Law Section, Chair of the Bar’s Cyber Resilience Working Group, and a member of a Professional Conduct Committee.
David was awarded University Medals in both Law and History at the University of Sydney. David subsequently received a BCL (with Distinction) from the University of Oxford, while holding the Menzies Memorial Scholarship in Law. Prior to coming to the Bar, David was Associate to Justice Gummow at the High Court of Australia and a solicitor at Mallesons.
