Celia Armstrong is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer with a strong background in mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and commercial dispute resolution. Clients value her ongoing support as their businesses evolve, seeking her expertise in areas such as intellectual property protection, employee and stakeholder relations, trading terms, asset protection, privacy laws, competition, consumer regulations, and dispute resolution.
Her tenure as General Counsel for a small-to-medium enterprise has equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of the day-to-day challenges faced by businesses and their owners. This experience, coupled with her years in private practice, has seen her develop a unique perspective on client services, and the ability to offer wholistic legal advice that considers a business’ end-to-end operations.
Celia’s diverse industry experience spans hospitality, travel, technology, manufacturing, professional services, architecture, advertising, market research, human resources, children’s toys, media production, construction, medical, allied health, transport, and logistics.
Celia joined Keypoint Law in 2024 and is based in Melbourne.
Expertise
- Corporate advice and governance
- Mergers and acquisitions for buyers and sellers working with multiple stakeholders including corporate advisers, private equity and regulatory bodies
- General commercial law and commercial dispute resolution for businesses, their trading partners and customers
- Asset protection and business structures
- Drafting and negotiating commercial contracts and commercial leases
- Competition and consumer law
- Technology agreements including, development agreements, SaaS agreements, end user licence agreements and API access arrangements
- General legal advice for SME’s including in relation to privacy, trading terms, arrangements with employees and compliance matters including liaising with other business advisers and regulators
- Intellectual Property including registering and defending intellectual property rights
Experience
- Advising on the merger of existing VFX business and software co-development studio including in relation to corporate structuring and asset protection
- Advising a start up enterprise on shareholder terms in connection with a new corporate venture looking to trade in carbon credits and NFTs and preparing numerous related shareholders and loan agreements
- Acting for a large technology company as it transitioned from a wholesale business model to SaaS business model including advising on new business structure, B2B and B2C trading terms and preparing privacy and data protection policies and processes
- Representing the majority interest in a hospitality business that holds various well known restaurants in Melbourne in connection with the negotiated and mediated exit of the minority unitholder including drafting mediation papers, attending mediation, drafting terms of settlement, advising on and preparing amendments to various unit trusts
- Advising on the merger of multiple medical practices into a SPV which was the target of a private equity backed take over and acting for the SPV in relation to that subsequent transaction.
Recognition
- Bachelor of Laws, Monash University 1999
- Master of International Relations, University of Melbourne 2010
- Admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2004
- Admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Australia in 2005
Career
| 2024 – present | Keypoint Law | Consulting Principal |
| 2022-2024 | Coulter Legal | Special Counsel |
| 2021- 2023 | Being Legal | Director |
| 2015-2021 | Sole Practitioner |
| 2018-2020 | Imperium Capital Group | General Counsel and Company Secretary |
| 2005 – 2013 | Clarendon Lawyers | Senior Associate |