Our People

Michael Daniel

Founder and Principal
LLB, B Com (Merit)

Michael Daniel is the Founder and Principal of Resolve Litigation Lawyers and has more than 30 years’ experience specialising in Commercial and Regulatory Litigation, Dispute Resolution and Competition & Consumer Law.

Michael was a founding partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal and its Chairman for 9 years. His early career was developed with Allens in Sydney and Herbert Smith in London and he went on to partnership with Dunhill Madden Butler. Michael has proven ability in resolving large and complex disputes for Market Leaders in a range of industries, including Banking & Finance, Energy & Resources, Health, Manufacturing, IT and Communications. He has consistently achieved successful outcomes. in mediations, arbitrations, the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia.

Michael is a trusted advisor, recognised for his pragmatic approach and his ability to guide clients through complex challenges to favourable outcomes.

Expertise

  • Acting for Landmark on disputes relating to the sale of livestock;
  • Acting for the supplier of stockfeed which caused the death of a number of dairy cattle;
  • Acting for a primary producer in relation to a claim relating to defective fertiliser and negligent advice; and
  • Acting for a primary producer on plant breeder’s rights claims.
See Agribusiness
  • Acting for the employees of a number of domestic and international banks in connection with various ASIC and ACCC investigations, including appearing at s 19 and s 155 examinations;
  • Acting for a number of banks on a range of disputes including enforcement of guarantees and mortgages, offshore currency loans and priority disputes;
  • Acting for a large Australian bank defending allegations that the bank breached its duty of care to its customers in misrepresenting the risks involved with borrowing funds offshore;
  • Acting for a large international bank which successfully defended proceedings alleging that it was involved in taking secret commissions when engaged in foreign currency transactions;
  • Involved in proceedings for vacant possession of land and in some instances proceedings against the mortgagee client for breaches of its duty to the mortgagor in exercising its power of sale; and
  • Acting for a bank in proceedings dealing with penalty interest.
See Banking and Finance
  • Acting for clients who have been the subject of inquiries by the ACCC and Federal Court proceedings commenced by the ACCC alleging price fixing and market sharing agreements in a range of industries, including building products and energy;
  • Providing competition advice to a Japanese manufacturer in relation to a proposed international merger;
  • Acting for a bank employee in relation to investigations by the ACCC into market manipulation of foreign currency rates;
  • Acting for a number of companies being investigated by the ACCC for breaches of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth);
  • Acting for a number of companies to provide compliance reports pursuant to their undertakings to the ACCC under s 87B of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), including:
    • Telstra and NBN Co, in connection to the structural separation of those entities;
    • Electronic Arts Inc, EA Swiss Sarl and Electronic Arts Pty Ltd, in relation to the Australian Consumer Law;
    • Linfox Armaguard, in connection with the merger of Armaguard and Prosegur;
    • Sigma Healthcare Limited, in connection with its acquisition of Chemist Warehouse;
    • NBN Co, in relation to its non-discrimination obligations;
    • Lime Network, in relation to its obligations under the Australian Consumer Law;
    • Iron Mountain Inc., in relation to the divestiture of assets connected with an authorisation of an acquisition;
    • Booktopia, in relation to its obligations under the Australian Consumer Law;
    • Oticon Australia, in relation to resale price maintenance;
    • Gotalk Limited, in relation to its obligations under the Australian Consumer Law;
    • Gebr. Knauf KG, in relation to divestiture of certain assets; and
    • a multinational designer, developer and seller of consumer electronics, computer software, online services and personal computers, in relation to its obligations under the Australian Consumer Law.
  • Acting for Woolworths to provide an independent expert report in relation to competition law compliance, for use in Federal Court of Australia proceedings;
  • Acting for Mark Foys Pty Limited, in Federal Court proceedings, against TVSN Limited (a Pay TV company) to restrain it from operating an internet shopping site known as “MarkFoys.com”. The Full Federal Court handed down a decision in favour of our client; and
  • Advising Youth Travel about disputes with accommodation providers including potential competition law claims against an accommodation provider.
See Competition and Consumer Law
  • Acting for an Australian stockfeed company against their supplier in proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales;
  • Acting for a mortgage broker in a franchising dispute;
  • Acting for a surfboard manufacturer in connection with breach of its design patent in Federal Court proceedings;
  • Acting for over 100 companies and individuals involved in commercial disputes, the vast majority of which were resolved by negotiation;
  • Acting for a defendant in Supreme Court of New South Wales proceedings involving allegations of misuse of confidential information and fiduciary duty. Our client was successful and the other side’s appeal was discontinued after extensive settlement negotiations;
  • Appointed by the President of the Law Society to determine a contractual dispute;
  • Successfully resolving a number of disputes relating to allegations of breaches of vendor warranties in share sale agreements;
  • Acting in a number of lease disputes including one dispute which went all the way to a successful appeal to the High Court of Australia for Gumland Property Holdings Pty Ltd in relation to whether a commercial lease was validly terminated on the ground of the lessee’s failure to pay rent, and, if so, what the monetary consequences were; and
  • Successfully mediating a favourable settlement involving a multi-million dollar harbourside property which was sold following alleged fraudulent misrepresentation; and
  • Advising the sellers in a dispute arising from the sale of a travel business.
See Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution
  • Acting in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration between an English construction company and the Egyptian Government in connection with the construction of the Bank of Cairo. The arbitration, whilst heard in Paris, was concerned with English law;
  • Acting for a concrete manufacturer in a dispute with 145 of its lorry owner drivers. The claim involved allegations the lorry owner drivers had engaged in restrictive trade practices. The lorry owner drivers had a claim against the manufacturer for breach of contract, for misleading and deceptive conduct, and a claim based on promissory estoppel;
  • Acting for an engineering company in relation to allegations that it had misused its market power; and
  • Acting for Redbank power station in Supreme Court proceedings against an engineering and construction company.
  • Involved in a number of employment disputes in relation to termination of employment of senior executives; and
  • Acting in a number of proceedings relating to breaches of restraints of trade and misuse of confidential information.
See Employment
  • Acting for an Australian company with mining interests in the Solomon Islands;
  • Acting for a South African supplier to the mining industry in Australia in relation to the termination of their Australian agent and in proceedings for breach of agency agreement;
  • Acting for a power station developer in a claim against an engineering and construction company;
  • Acting for a power station in relation to a price arbitration due to the introduction of the Carbon Tax;
  • Conducting large scale commercial contractual disputes concerning the Redbank Power Station;
  • Acting for developer of a wind farm in Queensland in relation to a claim of misuse of confidential information;
  • Acting for the developer of a power station in relation to allegations of breach of fiduciary duty by a joint venture partner in relation to a wind power project in New South Wales;
  • Acting for Babcock & Brown related entities in relation to a range of commercial disputes relating to development of power station developments in Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia;
  • Acting for the developer of a new power station – providing advice in relation to the review of a decision by the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator either by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal or by the Federal Court;
  • Successfully obtaining a declaration that an electricity retailer had breached a power purchase and hedge agreement, which allowed a new power project (the “Redbank” project) to proceed; and
  • Successfully conducting an arbitration in relation to the long term price of baseload power.
See Energy and Resources
  • Acting for directors of companies in voluntary administration, receivership and liquidation, including providing advice on directors’ duties and related investigations by ASIC;
  • Acting for KordaMentha in a preliminary discovery application in the Supreme Court of New South Wales;
  • Acting for Ernst & Young on an appeal to the Supreme Court against a decision on a proof of debt;
  • Acting for directors on claims of insolvent trading;
  • Acting in unfair preference actions; and
  • Acting in proceedings relating to priority of securities.
See Insolvency
  • Acting for Woolworths to provide an independent expert report to the ACCC in relation to compliance with competition laws, for use in Federal Court of Australia proceedings;
  • Acting for parties obtaining clearance from the ACCC for mergers and acquisitions;
  • Acting for a large grocery wholesaler in proceedings which involved allegations that a merger would cause a substantial lessening of competition;
  • Acting for a paint manufacturer company on whether it had breached any competition law provisions;
  • Acting for a global soft drink manufacturer and distributor in relation to anti-competitive agreements.
  • Acting for a hardware retailer in Federal Court proceedings for alleged misuse of market power by a large vertically integrated retailer of hardware products; and
  • Acting for a supplier to Metcash in relation to a contractual dispute.
See Manufacturing and Retail
  • Longstanding Chair of Medicines Australia’s Code of Conduct Committee which determines whether or not pharmaceutical companies have breached the Code of Conduct;
  • Acting for a pharmaceutical company in relation to alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct and Federal Court proceedings for false and misleading conduct;
  • Acting for a pharmaceutical company to assist it with lodging a complaint for breach of the Code of Conduct;
  • Acting for a pharmaceutical company in relation to a breach of contract claim;
  • Acting for Avant Insurance and a General Practitioner in relation to alleged unprofessional conduct;
  • Conducting a review of Aging, Disability and Homecare, Department of Human Services dispute resolution processes and considering the establishment of a mediation process;
  • Acting for a doctor in relation to defamation claims relating to off label use;
  • Acting for HCF to provide an independent audit report to the ACCC in relation to trade practices compliance; and
  • Acting for a pharmaceutical company on product recall procedures.
See Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare
  • Acting for a number of clients in relation to professional negligence actions in connection with taxation advice, engineering advice, surveying advice, financial planning advice and legal advice.
See Professional negligence
  • Acting for the employees of a number of domestic and international banks in connection with various ASIC and ACCC investigations, including appearing at s 19 and s 155 examinations;
  • Providing advice in relation to insider trading claims; and
  • Providing advice in relation to an ICAC investigation.
See Regulatory investigations
  • Acting for Telstra and NBN Co to provide a number of compliance reports pursuant to s 87b undertakings to the ACCC;
  • Acting for a potential entrant to the Pay TV market on exclusive dealing and exclusionary provisions;
  • Acting for a computer importer and manufacturer alleged to have engaged in resale price maintenance; and
  • Acting for a telecommunications company on whether it had engaged in third line forcing.
See Telecommunications and IT
  • Acting in a number of lease disputes including one dispute which went all the way to a successful appeal to the High Court of Australia for Gumland Property Holdings Pty Ltd in relation to whether a commercial lease was validly terminated on the ground of the lessee’s failure to pay rent, and, if so, what the monetary consequences were; and
  • Successfully mediating a favourable settlement involving a multi-million dollar harbourside property which was sold following alleged fraudulent misrepresentation

Our Expert Team

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