Christopher Withers SC

Christopher was called to the bar in 2006.

Prior to that, he spent six years working as a commercial litigator at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and two years at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. He has a BCL from Oxford University. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2020.

Christopher practices in a range of commercial law proceedings, including financial services litigation, trust litigation, insolvency and company law matters, shareholder oppression proceedings, contract disputes, civil penalty and regulatory proceedings. Christopher regularly conducts appeals as well as lengthy and complex trials in the Supreme and Federal Courts.

Examples of Christopher’s practice include:

• representing Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock in various actions against Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting in the in the Supreme Court of NSW, the Federal Court of Australia, the WA Supreme Court and in arbitration.
• representing Iluka Resources in a shareholder class action in the Federal Court of Australia.
• representing Boral Limited in a shareholder class action in the Federal Court of Australia.
• representing the a2 Milk Company Ltd in a shareholder class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
• representing the Kingdom of Spain in proceedings seeking enforcement of an ICSID arbitration award in the Federal Court of Australia.
• representing BCC and Tokio Marine in multiple disputes in the Supreme Court of NSW and Federal Court of Australia regarding trade credit insurance.
• representing the plaintiff in the first ever successful action for knowing receipt of trust property against the Commonwealth of Australia.
• representing investment group Sev.en Gamma in proceedings in the Supreme Court of Queensland concerning a joint venture operating the Callide C power project.
• representing the petitioning creditor in an application to wind up Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd.
• representing the plaintiffs in representative proceedings brought against the ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
• representing the former chief financial officer of Forge Group Ltd in the Swiss Re litigation in the Supreme Court of NSW.
• representing the former CEO of MFSIM in ASIC civil penalty proceedings in the Supreme Court of Queensland.
• representing the plaintiffs in a representative proceeding against Cadia Holdings alleging environmental harm caused by the defendant’s mining operations at the Cadia Valley.
• representing Wendy Botsman as the successful appellant in the Victorian Court of Appeal in the Banksia litigation and recognised by Dixon J in his Honour’s judgment in the remitter proceedings for “courageous perseverance”” in bringing legitimate concerns about the Banksia settlement to the Court of Appeal.