Transport, Shipping & Logistics, Dispute Resolution & Litigation, Competition & Consumer Law, Corporate & Commercial Law
Nathan is a partner in the national Transport, Shipping & Logistics group.
Nathan works closely with businesses in the shipping, logistics, road transport, commodities and offshore sectors, specialising in providing commercial and regulatory compliance advice and resolving disputes.
Nathan’s clients include local and foreign ship owners, operators and charterers; international P&I and Defence Clubs; freight forwarders and logistics providers; road transport operators; bunker suppliers; towage and salvage providers; offshore sector service providers; importers, exporters and manufacturers; commodities traders; stevedores; vessel manufacturers; local marine operators and luxury yacht owners.
Nathan has developed a reputation for providing commercially responsive and business-driven advice and assistance. He has been recognised as a leading ‘Admiralty, Shipping & Maritime Law’ lawyer by Doyle’s Guide since 2015 and listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia since 2016 for Transportation Law and since 2019 for Shipping and Maritime Law. Nathan is also ranked in the Shipping category of the latest Chambers Asia-Pacific guide and recognised as a national leader in the Australian shipping space by Who’s Who Legal.
Nathan has particular expertise in relation to commercial, regulatory and disputes issues relating to domestic and international transport and logistics.
Nathan advises his clients in relation to all aspects of commercial law, liability, regulation and dispute resolution, with a particular focus on the carriage of goods by sea, charter parties and contractual arrangements, commercial terms, ship arrest and admiralty, regulatory and oil spill prosecution, government procurement and tendering in the maritime sector and litigation/arbitration in relation to liability defence and recovery of claims.
Nathan has particular expertise in relation to heavy vehicle regulation and the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws. He regularly advises businesses and their executives on compliance, conducts compliance audits, assists businesses to develop and implement CoR compliance policies, manage incident response and respond to investigations and prosecution. Nathan has worked with businesses across the sector in relation to CoR compliance, including national steel manufacturers, grain storage and handling companies, plasterboard manufacturers and distributors, logistics companies, shipping companies and importers.
Nathan also works with businesses in all sectors in relation to their transport and logistics function, including in relation to service contract tendering, negotiation and drafting, contractor performance management, regulatory compliance and the resolution of disputes arising from the carriage of, damage to and delay in delivery of goods and consequential losses and project delays.
Within the Transport Shipping & Logistics sectors and also more generally, Nathan regularly advises businesses in relation to competition and consumer law compliance. He provides advice in relation to drip-pricing and component pricing, credit card surcharges, general surcharges and misrepresentation, cartel and anti-competitive conduct, merger control, consumer law, misleading or deceptive conduct and ACCC investigations.
Through his involvement in international transport, shipping, logistics and trade, Nathan has an in-depth understanding of global trade, investment and supply chains and resulting familiarity with the commercial circumstances in which consideration of trade sanctions (both UNSC and Australian autonomous sanctions) arise and may be breached.
Nathan works with global, regional and national businesses, advising them on the application of Australian sanctions to their current or proposed trading and investment activities, the development and implementation of sanctions compliance programs and how to respond to commercial requests that may give rise to sanctions concerns, such as requests for changes to global shipping documentation and place of origin details in international trade and transportation.
Nathan has also provided advice to foreign businesses which have traded in or to Australia in relation to the application of Australian sanctions to them, for use in their prospectus disclosure when seeking to list on foreign stock exchanges.
