Paul Venus

Paul has more than 25 years’ experience in complex litigation and providing commercial law advice.

He specialises the following areas of law: administrative law, commercial law, competition and consumer law, franchising, information technology law, intellectual property, and privacy law.

Paul is listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia 2020 to 2023 editions for Litigation. He is also recognised in the 2017 edition of Doyles Guide as a recommended lawyer in Intellectual Property in Queensland. Paul is a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in Commercial Litigation.

He is a non-executive director of CleanCo Queensland Limited, Queensland’s publicly owned clean energy company. Paul is also the Chair of the Audit and Risk committee of CleanCo Queensland Limited.

Paul has previously been a non-executive director of Metro South Hospital and Health Service and a director of the Princess Alexandria Hospital Foundation. He has served on the Finance and Risk and Audit Committees of Metro South Hospital and Health Service.

Areas of Expertise

Administrative Law, Competition & Consumer Law, Dispute Resolution & Litigation, Government, Intellectual Property, Regulatory, Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Experience

Paul’s significant experience consists of the following:

• Administrative law and government
  • experience in public policy, public sector governance, and regulatory issues including as a non-executive director and audit committee member of CleanCo Queensland Limited, the Queensland Government owned clean energy electricity generation company and a non-executive director and finance & audit committee member of the Metro South Hospital and Health Board
  • administrative law litigation including acting for government authorities in the Federal Court of Australia and Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
• Competition and consumer law
  • advising companies in relation to competition and consumer law compliance
  • advising franchisors regarding code compliance issues, system documentation, renewals issues and general commercial advice.
• Dispute resolution and litigation
  • acting for clients in contractual disputes
  • acting for clients in defamation proceedings, including were the defamatory imputations have been published on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites
  • representing corporations and liquidators in litigation involving uncommercial transaction claims, preference claims, debt recoveries, as well as in bankruptcy-related investigations and litigation
  • cases involving claims for misleading conduct generally
  • claims for professional negligence by clients against their former advisers
  • acting for companies in trade practices and product liability cases, and suing companies on behalf of corporate clients in manufacturing disputes
  • acting for shareholders is disputes with other shareholders including shareholder oppression actions.
• Intellectual property
  • representing multinational and Australian corporations and individual inventors in patent infringement litigation and trade mark litigation, advising clients on all aspects of brand protection, acting in claims regarding breach of confidential information.
• Regulatory investigations
  • defending individuals and corporations in ACCC investigations relating to competition issues, advertising, and consumer protection issues including responding to s155 notices
  • representing directors subject to ASIC investigations and hearings, including hearings to disqualify directors.
• Technology, media and telecommunications
  • acting for information technology companies, internet companies and telecommunication companies in commercial and regulatory matters, preparing and negotiating technology agreements, advising on GITC issues for IT companies.