St John Frawley

St John has over 26 years’ experience in New South Wales and Victoria as a construction, engineering, and infrastructure lawyer. St John acts for a diverse range of institutional and private commercial clients in relation to:

• Project delivery and documentation – Advising in respect of tenders, project delivery methods, and the preparation of project documentation for a diverse range of institutional and private commercial clients.
• Risk management/insurance – Advising on project administration and risk management, indemnity issues, and policy interpretation in respect of construction and engineering project insurances.
• Dispute resolution – Acting for clients in the management and resolution of complex legal and technical disputes. He has extensive experience in the strategic use of alternative dispute resolution forms and techniques.

The ALB Guide: Building & Construction Lawyers 2009 identified St John as one of 20 ‘leading lawyers’ in Australia and New Zealand, noting that “his depth of legal expertise, breadth of industry knowledge, common sense and commercially minded approach won great respect among clients”.

St John is an official contributor to leading industry text, Construction Law in Australia (Third Edition), 2011 by Bailey and Bell. He regularly presents at industry forums where he addresses current issues affecting industry participants and conducts regular in-house training and education workshops for clients. St John is also a guest lecturer in the faculties of Law and Architecture, Building & Planning for the University of Melbourne.

Recent experiences include:

• Acting for the head contractor in relation to all upstream and downstream contracting for the design and construction, and operations and maintenance phases of the Altona Recycled Water Treatment Plant Project and the West Werribee Salt Reduction Plant Project.

• Acting for the head contractor in relation to Regional Fast Rail infrastructure project (Vic) providing strategic legal and commercial advice to support and assist contract administration, claim preparation, dispute management and resolution.

• Advising project participants and insureds on matters concerning the operation and effect of contractual insurance and indemnity provisions as well as insurance policy wordings and claims for indemnity arising under insurance policies such as construction all risk, professional indemnity, works and public liability insurance policies, including advising on the application of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984.