Based in our Brisbane office, Rebecca is an experienced maritime and transport lawyer specializing in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious maritime and transport law, including commercial maritime law and shipping liability insurance.
Prior to working at Hall & Wilcox, Rebecca worked for several years as a lawyer and correspondent at a leading Queensland maritime firm acting for members of the International Group of Protection and Indemnity Associations.
During her time as a legal correspondent, Rebecca worked on many of Australia’s highest profile marine incidents, including the Pacific Adventurer, Shen Neng 1 and the APL England and regularly advised shipowners, operators, charterers, masters and crew members on liabilities encountered in the commercial operation of entered vessels, throughout Queensland but predominately in Brisbane, Gladstone and Townsville.
Rebecca also has extensive experience in defending personal injury claims involving not for profit operators, tour vessels in the Great Barrier Reef and Southeast Queensland, ferries, charter boats, fishing vessels, port authorities and transport logistics providers in Queensland and New South Wales. Rebecca has an in-depth knowledge of the various statutory schemes underpinning this area, including the CLA, PIPA and WorkCover.
Rebecca litigates in the Federal Court of Australia and State Courts as well as in Arbitration proceedings.
Rebecca’s contentious and non-contentious practice includes:
Personal injury
- Ferries, charter boats, fishing vessels, port authorities, transport logistics providers
Property damage
- Vessel collisions, allisions (wharfs, jetties, beacons, cables)
Cargo claims
- Cargo interests, charter chain claims
Causalities
- Groundings, sinkings, salvage and wreck removal
- Initial response, including media/public relations
Disputes
- Vessel defects, repairer and professional negligence
Regulatory offences, prosecutions and pollution / environmental damage
- Vessel incidents, pollution (oil, garbage, sewage), reef damage
- Workplace Health and Safety prosecutions
Marine Insurance
- Policy coverage issues, indemnity disputes
Commercial
- Sale & purchase of vessels, charter agreements, ship construction, carriage contracts (terms and conditions), crew employment agreements
Litigation
- Commercial litigation in the Federal Court of Australia and State Courts, including foreign judgment and international arbitration enforcement
- Arbitration proceedings
Experience
- Casualty - Advising shipowners, charterers and their protection & indemnity insurer in relation to a significant container stow collapse in Queensland, including providing an initial response to the incident (including applications by interested parties for access to vessel and preliminary discovery, security for claims and arrest, port state control detention, investigations by regulators (AMSA) and investigations by ATSB) and the defence of class action proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia and arbitration proceedings, assisting master in defence of charges under the Navigation Act.
- Casualty - Advising shipowners and their protection & indemnity insurer in relation to an allision incident involving a hopper dredge and the defence of court proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia in relation to damage to wharf and quay crane.
- Prosecution - Advising shipping agents and their professional indemnity insurer in relation to several complaints, consisting of 132 charges under the Customs Act 1901 (Cth) and successful defence of the charges at first, second and third instance.
- Prosecution - Advising master and chief officer and their protection & indemnity insurer, in relation to charges under the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 (Cth) (for entering a prohibition zone without permission) and mitigation of charge against chief officer and withdrawal of charge against master.
- Personal Injury - Advising shipowners, master and their protection & indemnity insurer in relation to the sinking of a fishing vessel, including loss of life and subsequent coronial inquest and civil claims including personal injury claims (nervous shock) and dependency claims.
- Cargo Claim - Advising shipowners and their protection & indemnity insurer in relation to a claim by owners for alleged water contamination of cargo (around 800MTs of soybean while enroute to Brisbane.
- Environmental (pre-admission) - assisting legal team, including advising shipowners and their protection & indemnity insurer in relation to a vessel grounding in the Great Barrier Reef and the defence of proceedings by the Commonwealth Government in the Federal Court of Australia in relation to reef damage and clean up.
Memberships
- Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (MLAANZ)
- Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA)
- Melbourne Marine Insurance Forum Inc (MMIF)
- Queensland law Society (QLS)