Roland Burt

Expertise

Roland has particular expertise in:

• corporations, including shareholder remedies, directors’ duties;
• construction, including contractual dispute resolution, security of payment claims, litigation in courts and VCAT, and contract reviews;
• disputes in relation to real estate and property transactions, including purchase and sale of land, off-the-plan contracts, leases (commercial and retail), subdivisions, owners corporations, mortgages;
• insurance claims;
• contracts, including technology contracts, supply of goods and services, international trade;
• consumer law (including misleading and deceptive conduct, consumer guarantees); and
• regulatory offences, including planning, OH&S, heavy vehicles and environmental.

Experience

Corporations

• Acting for shareholders in a public company, obtained leave of the Federal Court under s237 Corporations Actto bring statutory derivative proceedings against directors for breach of duty in relation to a merger transaction: De Tocqueville, in the matter of Pacific Current Group Limited v Pacific Current Group Limited [2020] FCA 172. Proceedings brought on behalf of the company are ongoing.  Quantum of claim is $100m+.

Professional negligence

• Acted for a nursing home proprietor in proceedings in the Tasmanian Supreme Court, the Federal Court, on appeal to the Full Federal Court and in an application to the High Court for special leave to appeal, against its former lawyers for breach of duty in relation to advice given at the time the nursing home was closed by the Commonwealth.

Insurance

• Supreme Court of Victoria proceedings for a civil contractor against Lloyds’ underwriters of a contract works policy claiming $10 million in prevention costs incurred when retaining walls for an 18-metre deep excavation in the Brisbane CBD threatened to collapse.

Construction

• Advising architect on contractual issues on NSW infrastructure projects.
• Acting for an equipment contractor in County Court proceedings concerning the collapse of a warehouse roof on to the set of the TV show.
• Acting for an owners’ corporation in VCAT proceedings against a builder regarding the cracking brick façade of a 170-apartment complex.
• Acting for a Finnish manufacturer of industrial doors in a dispute a contractual ADR process concerning an installation at an Australian defence facility.
• Acting for an engineering company in multi-party proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria concerning an allegedly defective waste management facility.

Property

• Acting for a Docklands developer in 22 separate Supreme Court proceedings seeking specific enforcement of off-the-plan sale contracts.
• Acting for purchasers of off-the-plan apartments.
• Acting for public company in shopping centre leasing disputes with tenants.

Regulatory offences

• Defending prosecution by National Heavy Vehicle Regulator of a transport company alleged to have contravened load limits on 69 occasions.
• Acting for a Victorian Registered Training Organisation in an application to the Supreme Court of Victoria for judicial review of a decision to cancel the RTO’s approval to conduct high risk work licence assessments.

(includes experience prior to joining Keypoint Law)

Recognition

Roland qualified at Melbourne University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws in 1988. He was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1989, entered on the roll of practitioners in the High Court of Australia in 1989, and was admitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1994.

Accreditation

• Accredited as a specialist in commercial litigation by the Law Institute of Victoria

Memberships

• Law Institute of Victoria

Industry Bodies

• Civil Contractors Federation (Victoria)

Career