John Emmerig

John Emmerig is one of Australia's leading litigation and regulatory lawyers. He has 38 years' experience and a national reputation for handling high-stakes domestic and cross-border litigation for prominent multinationals and major Australian companies. John's key focus areas are (1) class action defence, (2) high-stakes commercial and government disputes, and (3) regulator investigations and actions.

Clients describe John as an "industry great", "profoundly experienced" and note "his technical excellence combined with his pragmatic, thoughtful and strategic lens puts him in a league of his own". He is "an exceptional lawyer with a great intellect and impeccable judgment" who provides "a quality of legal service that is second to none."

John is a trusted adviser to companies, their Boards and C-suites and is routinely involved in some of the largest and most complex cases conducted in Australia superior courts. His experience includes advising on:

• 45+ filed/threatened class actions;
• Scores of high stakes commercial and government disputes;
• 30+ investigations and enforcement actions by key Australian regulators (e.g. ASIC, ACCC, AUSTRAC, APRA); and
• 20+ Royal Commissions/Statutory Commissions/Parliamentary inquiries.

John's international litigation experience ranges from commercial disputes involving clients from the US, UK, EU and Asia to cross-border regulatory matters in the US and the UK. He also has decades of experience working with the government sector, having acted over that period for 35+ Federal and State government agencies.

John is the National co-Chair of the Class Actions Committee of the Law Council of Australia and lead author of the "Class Actions" section of the Federal Court Practice Manual. He is a member of the Federal Court of Australia's Liaison Committee on Class Actions, ASIC's Enforcement and Regulatory Litigation Consultation Group, and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Equity. John co-Chairs the LCA's Transnational Litigation Committee. He is a Governor of AMCHAM and is a member of AMCHAM's Defence and National Security Committee and its Financial Services Committee. John has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at UNDA, and for multiple terms as National Chair of the Federal Litigation and Dispute Resolution Section of the LCA (2015 to 2020). He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and has published 100+ articles on substantive and procedural law topics.