Service Overview
AH2 Legal’s litigators take a strategic, commercial, and practical approach. Our focus is on building relationships with our clients to achieve the best possible outcome for their matters.
Our commercial dispute and litigation lawyers provide strategic legal advice and solutions for companies and individuals across the marketplace. Our focus remains on delivering cost-effective solutions to help you resolve your legal matter.
As experienced litigation lawyers, AH2 Legal handles all kinds of commercial disputes and litigation, including:
- Corporate & business disputes;
- Commercial disputes;
- Debt recovery;
- Breaches of contract;
- Franchising disputes;
- Property and leasing disputes;
- Trade practices & Australian Consumer Law;
- Misleading and deceptive conduct.
Free Assessment
AH2 Legal is a full-service law firm with experienced litigation lawyers ready to tackle any challenge with skill and professionalism in all areas of law, in particular:
Corporate and Business Dispute
Corporate or business disputes that involve litigation can be highly costly and protracted. This is why AH2 Legal always advocate that disputes be resolved out of Court by using alternative dispute resolution processes to keep costs down and to ensure that the day-to-day operations of businesses and corporations continue to progress smoothly, whenever it is possible.
This is achieved by way of early negotiation and informal settlement conferences that provide an opportunity to settle the matter quickly and more cost-effectively than litigation. These methods of mediation can be effective where the parties are willing to negotiate in good faith and make genuine attempts to resolve the dispute.
If early dispute resolution fails, then the corporation or business may need to commence litigation or defend a matter in Court proceedings.
Before legal proceedings are commenced, a careful assessment will be made of the unique circumstances of the matter, the available or obtainable evidence and the likelihood of success. An experienced lawyer can help identifying a legal cause of action or right to seek a remedy from the other party at the very early stage of the dispute.
Commercial Disputes
AH2 Legal frequently handle commercial disputes concerning a wide variety of disputes in a commercial context.
These types of disputes usually comprise of one or more of the following:
- Misleading or deceptive conduct;
- Disputes between shareholders;
- Partnership disputes;
- Breaches of contract;
- Money owed; or
- Disputes about property ownership.
Often times, these commercial disputes are resolved or settled out of Court without the need for any commercial litigation. AH2 Legal have experienced commercial litigation lawyers who practice exclusively in this complex area of commercial disputes. We have resolved hundreds of disagreements between disputing parties through our extensive understanding of the types of issues that can arise, and the best means of commercial dispute resolution.
Debt Recovery
Our dedicated team provides the full range of debt recovery services, including:
- drafting statutory demands and claims;
- conducting negotiations, where appropriate;
- advising on your prospects and procedural options;
- initiating recovery proceedings and providing representation in various jurisdiction including the Federal Court, the Supreme Court, the District Court and the Magistrates Court;
- conducting recovery proceedings including bankruptcy and winding up proceedings as well as enforcement procedures;
- enforcing Court judgments and securities.
Our highly trained debt recovery lawyers have extensive experience in debt recovery litigation and other recovery techniques in various jurisdictions in Australia. We provide a seamless operation to ensure that our service is delivered quickly, consistently and cost effectively.
Property and Leasing Disputes
We have a wide range of experience in disputes relating to the interpretation of and non-performance of contracts of sale and commercial and retail leases, non-payment of rent and outgoings and claims for repairs and maintenance.
Our years of experience includes advising, acting and appearing before Tribunals and Courts on behalf of landlords and tenants. Often times, cases that we take on involve issuing urgent applications for injunctive relief to restrain the re-entry of retail premises (including obtaining relief against forfeiture) and providing advice in relation to rent reviews and the validity of re-entry notices.
We are also able to assist in handling:
- complex commercial disputes in which we have negotiated on behalf of both the landlord and tenant;
- retail shop lease disputes where we have acted for the landlord and tenant;
- residential tenancy disputes, whether against an individual tenant or multiple tenants; and
- the recovery of unpaid rent, outgoings and damages from tenants and guarantors.
Process
We start with an initial consultation to assess your situation, understand your dispute, provide you with our preliminary advice on your options and give you a ballpark figure in terms of possible costs in each step of your disputes.
Once you decide to proceed to obtain a formal advice, we collate all relevant documents (including brief statements from possible witnesses) to support your claim and provide an advice on the causes of action and prospect of success.
Based on our assessment of the claim, often, the next step is to send a letter of demand to the opposing party setting out, in clear terms, your claim and what compensation you are seeking.
We will explore all possible dispute resolution options including conducting out of court settlement conferences and exchange “without prejudice” offers, if appropriate.
If a fair settlement can’t be reached, we will pursue legal action in court. Our lawyers are experienced in commencing and conducting civil litigations in various courts including the Federal Court, the Supreme Court, the District Court and the Magistrates Court.
Why Choose
AH2 Legal
We are different from other law firms whereby we do not provide one-size-fits-all solutions. We approach every case with fresh eyes, putting in the time and effort required to truly understand your problems before providing tailored solutions to suit your individual needs. As litigation is inherently risky and costly, we are transparent and upfront about all of the costs involved so that you are clear from the start on how much it may cost you to resolve your dispute and be able to make an informed decision.
FAQ Section
Whether you can successfully recover your money depends on many factors, such as the terms of the agreement, the quality of your evidence, any defences that may be available to the other person.
Once a claim is established, you should send a letter of demand to the other person demanding payment. If that fails, you may commence action in the Court that has jurisdiction to hear the dispute (e.g. claims for more than $750,000 should be commenced in the Supreme Court).
Even if you are successful in Court, payment is not automatic nor guaranteed. The person who lost the case may continue to avoid paying you, so you may have to commence enforcement proceedings which may allow you to sell the assets of the person or, in some situation, bankrupt the person.
Generally, you should consider the chance of recovery before commencing the action. This is part of our initial assessment of the case when providing advice to our client who wants to sue another person.
There are many things to consider in a situation like this. At first, you will need to check the terms of all relevant agreements between you and the business partner, including the constitution of the company and the shareholders agreement. You will then need to consider your legal rights compared to your business partner’s rights, based on the contractual terms of the agreements and in law.
Once your rights are established, you should negotiate with the business partner with the aim to resolve the disputes. Disputes between business partners tend to be messy and costly. Often, it will also affect the general operation of the business.
If negotiations failed, you may only left with the option of going to Court.
This depends on many factors including the complexity and the quantum of the claim, the Court in which the action is commenced, the number of witnesses and the volume of the evidence. Another important factor is whether the case could be settled before it reaches trial.
Generally, all legal actions are inherently costly and lengthy. It is not uncommon to have cases that can last many years in Court and cost enormous amount of legal fees.
This is why it is so important to understand all the pros and cons, including the likely costs, before suing a person.
The good news is that majority (over 90%) of cases that started in Court would settle at some point before trial.
Generally, in a civil litigation, the losing party will have to pay “some” costs to the winning party. However, this is not guaranteed because whether or not you will be awarded costs after a trial depends on many factors such as how the case has been conducted by the winning party and whether settlement offer was unreasonably rejected.
Also, in usual circumstance, the winning party can only recover part of its legal costs (known as party-to-party costs) which means that the winning party will likely still have some out of pocket payment to make.
Need Help?
If you find yourself having any legal issues and would like more information about how you should proceed, contact us now at 08 6161 0243 or submit an enquiry form below:
