Steve leads the Hall & Wilcox Commonwealth Defence legal practice, bringing extensive experience across government and the private sector. He has a unique insight into and experience with legal, operational, and regulatory frameworks for his Commonwealth and commercial clients.
Steve served as a Commissioned Officer in the Australian Defence Force. He was subsequently a Senior Adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, providing central agency policy coordination and implementation during a period of significant policy reform.
His work led to appointments in the Office of the Prime Minister and as adviser to a Defence portfolio minister, working across all levels of ministerial responsibility including Budget, cabinet, and capability acquisition matters.
Before joining Hall & Wilcox, he was General Counsel of DMTC Ltd, working with Defence and defence industry in technological R&D and commercialisation.
Steve spent several years working throughout South-East Asia in the mid-2000s, as Country Director for an international security firm in Jakarta, and as Special Adviser to the World Bank in East Timor.
Experience
- Advising Defence on engagement, enforcement and performance obligations and options in contract during national security supply chain negotiations.
- Acting for a US defence corporation in establishing and commencing business operations in Australia.
- Acting for a US corporation on its proposed acquisition of a large multinational defence business.
- Acting for a large global defence business on the sale of its Australian subsidiary.
- Acting as probity advisor for a large Commonwealth agency.
- Provision of legal and strategic counsel in sovereign industrial capability development and late-stage technological R&D in the Defence and national security portfolios, including the establishment and oversight of multi-party program and commercial project agreements between the Commonwealth and domestic Defence industry partners.
- Provision of technical, legal and policy advice on intellectual property protection, containment and commercialisation of advanced Defence technologies on behalf of the Commonwealth, the Australian research sector, and sovereign industrial partners.
- Coordination, oversight and analysis of new policy proposals from within the Defence portfolio and advice on decisions under ministerial authority and delegations.
- Stewardship and advice on legislative reform and program implementation, including Budgetary analysis and drafting of advices to the National Security Committee of Cabinet.
- Coordination and prosecution of Commonwealth matters relating to illegal importation and exportation under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) and the Customs Act 1901 (Cth).
- Prosecutions of matters under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), in collaboration with the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, and Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
- In-country representation; legal, regulatory, and commercial advisory; and transactional support, for multinational organisations undertaking operations in Indonesia.
- Participation in bi- and multi-lateral decision conferences, regional information exchanges and high-level delegations throughout the South West Pacific and South East Asia under the Defence Cooperation Program and other Commonwealth agency engagements within the region.
Awards and recognition
- Chief Joint Operations Australian Defence Force - Commendation for Outstanding Leadership as Head of Counter-Terrorism Analysis
Memberships
- Law Society of New South Wales
- Chairman of the Board of Bravery Trust, a national veterans’ charity
- Global Access Partners Standing Committee on National Resilience