Jennie-Lee’s clients have ranged from ASX-listed companies, major trading banks, leading insolvency practices and trade unions to SMEs and individuals. While Jennie-Lee is adept at project management of large-scale litigation involving complex legal issues and e-discovery, she also values working on smaller matters that are more personal to her clients. Jennie-Lee is passionate about her relationship with her clients and endeavors to always achieve desirable outcomes for them. She is known for providing strategic and commercial advice to her clients.

Jennie-Lee values giving back to the community. While she has been appointed as a Partner of the firm, she continues to maintain her role as a Director on the Board of Aussie Kidz Charity Ltd, for which AJ & Co Lawyers now provide pro-bono services.

Why AJ & Co?

‘It’s rare to come across somebody with the exact same energy, values and views with respect to practising law, operating and growing a law firm, servicing clients, and investing in team members.  I worked out very quickly that I wanted to be in partnership with Andrew Johnson and join the wonderful team at AJ & Co Lawyers’

Expertise

Recent transactions of note include:

• Acting for a large shipping company in a joint venture dispute in the Supreme Court of NSW which involved a derivative relief application and cross-vesting jurisdictional issues. The claim and cross-claim totalling $20 million spanned over 20 years and included breaches of duties, money had and received based on mistake, contractual and agency indemnities, voluntary payments, estoppel by representation and convention, and limitations of actions
• Acting for property developers in the Supreme Court of Victoria defending an urgent application seeking interlocutory injunctive relief and an underlying claim for $70 million involving alleged breaches of the equitable obligation of confidence
• Acting for an entire network of franchisees across Australia in a dispute with the master franchisee after the master franchisor entered in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, relying on the new multi-party dispute resolution and class exemption for collective bargaining provisions in the Franchising Code
• Acting for a national petroleum company in court proceedings and disputes including a pre-trial discovery action, an unfair preference claim by a liquidator, a building works dispute, an asset sale dispute, nuisance disputes with a neighbour of a refinery plant, a dispute involving a negligently designed sewerage plant, a commercial lease dispute with a restaurant lessee, and a confidential information dispute with a former employee
• Acting for Mach Energy in three concurrent proceedings totalling $40 million in the Federal Court and Supreme Courts instituted by its former CEO, CFO and COO relating to a complex performance-based share aware scheme which involved allegations of fraud

Experience

• Advising two Partners of a national law firm about settlement issues relating to their exit from the Partnership
• Acting for Transdev Brisbane Ferries in a dispute with the Brisbane City Council relating to a bank guarantee
• Acting for a senior planning officer of a prominent regional council in defamation proceedings against a property developer relating to a publication circulated to high level members of government and Parliament
• Acting for multiple wives involved in family law proceedings which involved concurrent commercial disputes relating to significant property holdings and companies in which they had management and ownership interests
• Acting for a board member and treasurer of a prominent tourism organization in a workplace investigation involved bullying allegations by the CEO
• Acting for a mining company in relation to a notifiable data breach and a Creditor’s Statutory Demand
• Acting for a student of a prominent GPS school in Brisbane and successfully overturning an expulsion
• Advising a bank on prospects and steps relating to threatened injunctive proceedings by a nominee board director which involved examining the bank’s constitution, policies and processes and APRA’s Prudential Standards
• Acting for multiple directors and shareholders in exit disputes and minority shareholder oppression claims
• Obtaining a successful resolution for a food wholesaler in an ACCC investigation alleging misleading & deceptive conduct in respect to the ANZ Food Standards Code
• Acting for large national coffee chain, a bank, an international car manufacturer and an Australasian Association in disputes commencing with a cease and desist demand involving infringements of IP legislation, Australian Consumer Law, passing off and the torts of injurious falsehood and interference with contractual relations
• Acting for listed hedge funds in HK and Singapore and an Indonesian conglomerate in relation to a half a billion dollar demand by Nathan Tinkler relating to a mine acquisition
• Acting for the former directors of a company in a public examination brought by the liquidator
• Acting for multiple property developers in respect of applications seeking compensation for land resumptions
• Acting for franchisors (a national building company and a national hotel chain) and various franchisees of Pizza Hut and Orange Theory Fitness in court proceedings and disputes involving breaches of franchise agreements, personal guarantees, the Franchising Code and Australian Consumer Law
• Acting for a mining company and accounting firm in multiple applications resisting (together with Cherwell Creek Coal and multiple other non-parties) non-party disclosure sought by BHP
• Acting for a company and an individual in relation to RTI requests and amending government records
• Acting for Glencore PLC and Mount Isa Mines Ltd in the infamous lead exposure litigation
• Successfully defending an individual in the matter ($17 million fraud on the Queensland government) in relation to alleged breaches of the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act 2002
• Acting for a gold and coal mining company in a dispute relating to the termination of a haulage services contract