Penny is a commercial disputes lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience managing high value and complex claims and disputes for a wide range of commercial and government clients.
Penny has a particular focus on construction, resources and energy and oil and gas disputes.
Penny has successfully advised both principals and contractors in relation to the management and resolution of major disputes including through structured negotiation, mediation, adjudication, contested superior court litigation and national and international arbitration. She has also acted for clients in commissions of inquiry and inquests.
Penny has also spent time in-house on secondment with several national and international corporations assisting them to manage and respond to claims and disputes. This experience has given her a very practical and commercial perspective on dispute management and resolution from which her clients are able to benefit.
Penny is recognised in the inaugural Lawdragon Global Litigation 500 as being part of a small group of global lawyers routinely called upon to advise leading corporations and who are said to ‘know their way around global business battlegrounds’. Clients provided Legal 500 with the feedback that Penny is ‘delightful, very generous, and calm; thorough, incredibly busy but manages to juggle many things.’
Experience
- Advising a major international energy company in relation to project-scale construction disputes, including in respect of Supreme Court litigation and international arbitration.
- Advising a major global oil and gas company in relation to arbitration and Western Australian Supreme Court proceedings.
- Acting for the Australian subsidiary of a global multi-national corporation in respect of a disputed share sale agreement including in respect of Supreme Court injunctive proceedings and arbitration preparation.
- Advising and acting for an international construction contractor in relation to a series of international arbitrations.
- Advising a major Australian resources company in relation to claims and dispute management and arbitration preparation.
- Advising a variety of clients in relation to high value adjudications.
- Advising multiple commercial clients in respect of breach of contract, misleading and deceptive conduct and restraint claims.
- Advising a series of government clients in relation to litigation and litigation risk management.
Awards and Recognition
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021 and 2023 - 2024
Dispute resolution: litigation
Lawdragon Global Litigation 500, 2021, 2023 and 2024
International Arbitration & Disputes, esp. Construction
Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards 2022
Finalist | Partner of the Year – Big Law
Best Lawyers in Australia
2025 | Alternative Dispute Resolution and Litigation
2020-2024 | Alternative Dispute Resolution
Memberships
- Law Society of WA