Maurice Blackburn

Key practice areas: Class Actions & Major Projects
Qualifications: LLB, BComm, Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment (Securities Institute of Australia)
Location: Melbourne (VIC)

Steven Foale oversees Maurice Blackburn's Insolvency and Commercial Litigation practice within the Major Projects department. His experience includes:

• an insolvent trading claim by the liquidators of Centaur Mining & Exploration Ltd against the company's directors, seeking compensation of around $20 million, and
• an insolvent trading and breach of director's duty claim against former directors of Nomad Telecommunications Ltd seeking compensation of around $20 million.

Steven has considerable expertise in large insolvency litigation and has acted for many insolvency practitioners in relation to:

• examinations under sections 596A and 596B of the Corporations Act;
• preference actions;
• insolvent trading actions, and
• breach of duty claims against directors and auditors.

Before starting with Maurice Blackburn in April 2006, Steven practiced for eight years in Adelaide and Sydney, initially with a major Adelaide law firm and then with a boutique insolvency law firm.  Steven was then employed as a litigation manager by a large litigation funder for three years, selecting and managing large cases including insolvency cases.

Steven is a member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia. Steven is also the author of Parts 3.8, 3.10, 3.11 and 3.18 of The Laws of Australia (relating to "The Effects of Bankruptcy", "Investigations", "Recovery Action in Relation to Pre-Bankruptcy Dispositions" and "Debt Agreements" under the Bankruptcy Act).