Shawn practises in public and commercial law.

Before coming to the Bar, Shawn was the Counsel Assisting the Solicitor-General for Victoria. He has also worked as Associate to the Hon Justice Keane AC of the High Court of Australia and to the Hon Justice McLeish of the Victorian Court of Appeal. He commenced his career in the commercial litigation team at MinterEllison.

Shawn holds a Juris Doctor from Melbourne Law School, where he received several awards and prizes and was an editor of the Melbourne University Law Review, and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School.

Shawn read with Frances Gordon KC. His senior mentor is Alistair Pound SC.

Some recent cases in which he has appeared are listed below. A full list can be found here.

Public law

Unions NSW v New South Wales [2023] HCA 4: Constitutional law — Implied freedom of political communication — “Matter” and standing — led by Stephen Donaghue KC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth, and Sarah Zeleznikow, for the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth

SDCV v Director-General of Security [2022] HCA 32: Constitutional law — Ch III — Procedural fairness — led by Craig Lenehan SC and Tom Wood, for the appellant

North East Forest Alliance Inc v Commonwealth [2024] FCA 5: Environmental law — Regional Forest Agreements Act 2002 (Cth) — led by Anna Mitchelmore SC, then Richard Lancaster SC, and Frances Gordon, for the Commonwealth

Abramov v Minister for Foreign Affairs (No 2) [2023] FCA 1199: Judicial review — Sanctions — War in Ukraine — led by Ron Merkel KC, with Jack Maxwell, for the applicant

Benbrika v Attorney-General (Cth) (Supreme Court of Victoria, 2023): Application for extended supervision order — led by Peter Hanks KC and Sarah Zeleznikow, with Melinda Jackson, for the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth

Commercial and regulatory law

Karpik v Carnival plc [2023] HCA 39: Competition and consumer law — Extraterritorial application of s 23 of the Australian Consumer Law (Cth) — Class actions — Validity of class action waiver clauses — led by Stephen Donaghue KC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth, Ruth Higgins SC and Sarah Zeleznikow, for the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth and the ACCC

El Zain v Vitrafy Life Sciences Ltd [2023] HCASL 7: Contract law — Interpretation of extension clause — led by Allan Myers AC KC, for the applicant for special leave to appeal

Thomas v The a2 Milk Company Ltd [No 2] (2022) 68 VR 283: Class actions — Conflict of laws — Jurisdiction and power of the Supreme Court — led by Alistair Pound SC, as the Contradictor

*Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation

Areas of Practice

Cases

• SDCV v Director-General of Security [2022] HCA 32
• Unions NSW v New South Wales (High Court of Australia, ongoing)
• North East Forest Alliance Inc v Commonwealth (Federal Court of Australia, reserved)
• Abramov v Minister for Foreign Affairs (Federal Court of Australia, reserved)
• WOTCH Inc v VicForests (Supreme Court of Victoria, ongoing)
• Gardiner v Attorney-General (Vic) (Supreme Court of Victoria, resolved)
• First Nations Legal and Research Services Ltd v Gardiner (Federal Court of Australia, resolved)
• Nandacumaran and Victorian Building Authority [2022] AATA 3150
• Thomas v The a2 Milk Company Ltd (Supreme Court of Victoria, reserved)
• El Zain v Vitrafy Life Sciences Ltd (High Court of Australia, ongoing)
• Azisovski v Swordtail Pty Ltd [2021] VSC 605
• WOTCH Inc v VicForests (No 9) [2022] VSC 503