Commercial Law & Contracts

Felix is a graduate in the corporate and commercial team at Williams + Hughes, with a particular interest in corporate advisory, corporate governance and M&A work. 

He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Tasmania in 2023. His Honours thesis explored the impact of employer discretion on Australian workers’ private lives and their out-of-hours conduct in relation to termination of employment. Felix then completed his Practical Legal Training with the College of Law and was admitted as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in September 2024. 

Prior to joining Williams + Hughes, Felix served as an Associate to the Honourable Justice Glancy at the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal. 

Having studied in Singapore, England and Australia, Felix can converse in Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu. 

Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, e-sports and travelling.

Felix is based in our West Perth office.
 

Darcy was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in November 2023. He completed his Juris Doctor at the University of Western Australia, graduating in 2022. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Law and Society. 

Darcy is in our corporate and commercial team. He has a particular interest in M&A transactions and energy and resources law.

Darcy’s experience includes advice in relation to general commercial law, transactions, commercial drafting, due diligence investigations and taxation.

Outside of Law, Darcy enjoys playing golf and travelling.

Darcy is based in our West Perth office.
 

Following admission as a legal practitioner in WA and NSW, Anthea practiced as a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner for several years.  

Prior to admission, Anthea worked in and around legal offices for over 15 years.

Anthea has recently joined our Geraldton office and will be working on commercial transactions, property settlements, succession & estate planning, and wills & probates.

When not at work, Anthea enjoys water sports and exercise.
 

Greg has over 40 years’ expertise in a range of commercial and private client matters.

In his commercial legal practice he has represented a variety of clients including Local Governments, property development, building, mining services, power infrastructure, accountancy, pharmacy, real estate, settlement, and financial advisory businesses.

Greg’s legal practice includes:

• Drafting tenders and managing tendering and/or procurement processes, including Local Government preparation and documentation of tenders for services and construction of infrastructure.
• Private client property development including oversight of subdivision and settlements in land subdivisions, drafting and review of contract documents, restrictive covenants, easements and notifications.
• Negotiating, drafting and advising on contracts for sale or purchase of businesses, assets and equipment.  
• Advising on commercial transactions including drafting and negotiating contacts, tenders, memorandums of understanding, development agreements, road construction agreements, power infrastructure contracts, mining services contracts, waste management, design and construct contracts and contracts of employment.
• Advising on and drafting contracts for sale of land, access agreements, easements, restrictive covenants and development deeds.
• Drafting and negotiating property related agreements, including leases, licences, easements and restrictive covenants.
• Advising on, drafting and negotiating contracts for sale and/or purchase of property for development purposes, including off the plan development contracts for both broad-acre subdivisions and strata apartments, drafting of standardised contracts of sale and oversight of the settlements.
• Advising on and drafting development and construction contracts for infrastructure, including waste processing and energy projects, from EOI, tender, negotiation of development agreements to Contract closure.
• Negotiating and drafting contracts for merger and acquisitions of SME companies.
• Drafting bespoke terms and conditions for supply of goods and services.
• Drafting and advising on general terms and conditions for supply of goods and services. 
• Advising on estate planning and preparation of estate documents including Wills, Probate applications for deceased estates and trusts.

Greg also has a strong association with the provision of community legal services. For 8 years between 1992 and 2001 he worked with the Law Society of Western Australia to manage the Law Society’s community legal services, including establishing the Law Access pro bono referral service and overseeing the management of other community projects such as the Litigation Assistance Fund, Law Week and the Francis Burt Law Education Centre.

Greg regularly provides probono legal assistance to individuals and organisations including Australian Red Cross, Cancer Council, the Salvation Army and the Francis Burt Law Education Centre.

Greg was formerly a Partner at Kott Gunning and Civic Legal. Greg is based in our West Perth office.

Chris qualified as a lawyer in 1979 and joined the firm in 2003. He has practiced law and is qualified as a lawyer in Western Australia, Hong Kong and England and is also qualified as a lawyer in the USA.

Chris has worked extensively on resources, corporate and electricity transactions in Australia and Asia. Chris has particular experience in large cross border mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions for both listed and unlisted companies. Prior to joining the firm Chris was Head of Legal in the international investment and development division of one of Asia's largest power companies.>

Chris has extensive experience in advising on Project Finance, Group Finance and Debt Finance matters and is Williams + Hughes’ inhouse expert on complex financings and related securities. Chris has advised several of our largest clients, covering industries as diverse as chemicals and agri-business on syndicated financing facilities and debt restructurings, including negotiating with banks to remove selected assets from group wide securities. In his former role as in house counsel Chris represented the borrower in the $1 billion refinancing of the Yallourn Power Station. Chris has in his previous career acted for Australian and foreign banks in project finance and realisation of assets.

Chris understands the business needs of clients and is able to look over the horizon at the next stage of development of a client's business. He is able to function in a cross culture environment. He has studied in China and Hong Kong and speaks conversational Cantonese and Mandarin.

Chris also works in estate planning, trusts and the charitable and not for profit sector. He is passionate in delivering advice on practical solutions for charities and not for profits. Chris has experience as a Board member of charities.

He is a member of the Association of Australian Mining and Petroleum Lawyers Association and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), where he is recognised as a Trust and Estates Practitioner.

Outside of work Chris enjoys following rugby union and rugby league; playing lawn bowls and golf and listening to jazz. He is a board member of the Dogs’ Refuge Home (WA) Inc, one of Perth’s oldest animal charities.

Chris is based in our West Perth office.

David established Williams & Hughes in 1986. He practices as a commercial lawyer in the corporate, business and resources fields and has acted on numerous commercial transactions including major acquisitions and sales.

David combines his considerable legal experience with an incisive and pragmatic approach to commercial transactions which is highly valued by his clients. Those skills have also been sought after and applied in resolving issues for high net worth families in their estate planning and business structuring.

David is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a member of the Australian Mining and Petroleum Lawyers Association, the Law Society of Western Australia and the Business Law Division of the Australian Law Council. He is also a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

Recent matters David has managed include:

• acting over a period of years and in an ongoing role in negotiating, drafting and settling comprehensive relationship documents with third parties for a multimillion dollar private group's technology venture
• advising a high net worth family on succession planning for its predominately trust structures and resetting its relationship documents both internally and with third parties
• advising and assisting on the expansion and restructuring of a significant wine making group of companies
• acting for both private and public listed companies on acquisition and disposal of resource projects, including negotiating and drafting documents for joint ventures, royalties and project related transactions.
• He has been active in various service and professional bodies, including serving for eight years' as a State Councillor of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and has held directorships in both private and public companies.

David is based in our West Perth office.