E. P. Johnson & Davies

If you are involved in a small to medium business legal advice can be essential for your business's well-being.  Our business lawyers are skilled and experienced in acting for corporate clients as well as for professionals, the self-employed and family businesses. We have national and international clients including local subsidiaries of international organisations and local companies exporting or licensing production internationally.

We work as a team with our clients' accountants/financial advisers. A team approach is also essential with "Start Up Companies". We can assist with the initial formation, technical research, strategic planning, funding, State and Federal Government involvement, joint ventures, international licensing and global production.

Our corporate clients sometimes seek different levels of service. We tailor our service to suit the complexity of the matter, the issues raised and the budget involved.

Our corporate team can assist with prompt and professional advice in the following areas:

• AGM & board meetings
• business succession & exit strategies
• compliance & regulatory management including ASIC, ASX, ACCC, taxation
• corporations act 2001
• data breach response plans
• directors' duties
• documentation - contracts, credit applications, distribution arrangements, heads of agreement, letters of intent, licencing arrangements, terms of trade
• joint ventures
• litigation & dispute resolution
• mergers & acquisitions
• shareholders' agreements

Our office locations

Our commercial lawyers are conveniently located at both our Melbourne CBD and our Mount Waverley law offices, a South Eastern suburb of Melbourne.

Visit our law firm for more.

Advising employers on contracts, rights, options, costs and possible outcomes

The law relating to employment and industrial relations is complex and drawn from a wide variety of sources - Federal and state legislation, awards, collective agreements and common law make up the mosaic that is employment law. It is important that legal advice is obtained on specific employment contracts or workplace situations.

We can assist employers in the drafting of letters of engagement, through to the preparation of more formal employment contracts for executives. In addition, we can advise and draft, where required, policies and procedures documents in relation to matters such as occupational health and safety, harassment, discrimination and discipline.

Specific Areas of Employment & Workplace Relations HOCW Lawyers can assist you with:

• confidentiality and restraints of trade
• discrimination and sexual harassment claims
• employee, independent contractor & consultancy contracts
• employment and anti-discrimination advice
• prevention and management of industrial relations disputes
• restructuring and redundancies
• the Fair Work Act 2009
• unfair, unjust or harsh dismissal claims

Our commercial lawyers are located at both our Melbourne office and our Mount Waverley office, a South Eastern suburb of Melbourne.

Protecting your IP - we have developed a particular expertise in the area of intellectual property

Our experience includes long term relationships with clients who have developed major international businesses from very small beginnings. Our role has included all commercial documentation, strategic advice, legal advice and a lead part in negotiations in addition to directing teams of advisers.

The preparation of a patent specification requires a Patent Attorney. We frequently work with Patent Attorneys on our client's behalf. In addition, we are equipped to handle corporate disputes relating to potential patents or patent infringement.

We offer expertise in the following areas:

• copyright & copyright protection
• designs
• infringements
• licensing
• trade marks, Australian & international

Our intellectual property lawyers are located at our Mount Waverley office, a South Eastern suburb of Melbourne.

Our specialist family and divorce lawyers aim to provide our clients with the most sensible advice in dealing with their individual family matters.

Our family lawyers have the support of specialists, both within and outside our law firm, for expertise in accountancy, financial planning, real estate, litigation and dispute resolution.

We offer family law advice in the following areas:

• financial agreements
• complex financial matters
• property division and property settlement
• applying for divorce
• spousal maintenance
• domestic relationships (de facto)
• parenting and children's arrangements
• relocation
• intervention orders
• child support
• residence & contact (custody & access)
• general advice

Generally there are two kinds of approaches:

1. Immediate, acrimonious and often expensive litigation. People are left drained both emotionally and financially and future relationships with their partner can be more difficult; and
2. Resolution by reasoned negotiation, mediation and using the most common sense and fair approach. In this way we aim to minimise emotional and financial stress and leave clients with the best possible outcome.

Our family lawyers encourage and support clients to try the second approach first. Our aim is to achieve the best result for our client in the most cost effective way.

However, there are some matters where it becomes necessary to litigate the matter in Court. This may be due to a matter of urgency to protect children or property and in those matters we work with experienced family law barristers to achieve the best result for our clients. Our family law specialists offer constant advice as to how the case is progressing so that a decision can be made early as to whether to proceed with court action or not.

Petra Thomson

Petra Thomson as Principal Family Lawyer, led the Hicks Oakley Chessell Williams family law team for three years up until December 2021.  She has been practising in the area of family law in Melbourne since 1996 and is a highly skilled and well regarded practitioner. 

Petra has made a tremendous contribution not only to the Family Law team, but to the greater HOCW team and we thank her for her wonderful input.  We wish Petra all the best with the next chapter and look forward to keeping in touch.

Our office locations

Our family lawyers are conveniently located at both our Melbourne CBD and our Mount Waverley law offices, a South Eastern suburb of Melbourne.

Conveyancing is the process of transferring ownership of a property from a seller to a buyer.  To ensure that the sale process runs as smoothly as possible it’s wise to engage a solicitor as your conveyancer.  We can prepare and review all documentation required for the sale, including the vendor’s statement and the contract of sale.

Other reasons to engage a specialist property lawyer as your conveyancer may include more complex issues that arise such as:  subdividing land; updating a title and registering, changing or removing an easement.  Buying and selling real estate and buying and selling property - there are many things for you to consider and our conveyancers and property lawyers have the experience to help you with what could be one of the largest transactions you will ever enter into.

We will keep you informed of the costs, fees and charges associated with buying and selling property.  We can answer your question about whether you should ask a conveyancer or a lawyer to assist you with your particular property purchase or property sale.

Our property lawyers and conveyancers provide services in the following areas:

• auction contracts
• buying & selling property "off the plan"
• buying & selling retirement village units/apartments
• contracts of sale
• conveyancing
• general property related issues
• leases - commercial & retail
• licences
• loan agreements & mortgages
• mortgage & guarantee advice
• owners corporation law
• retirement village contracts
• section 32 vendor's statement
• transfer of land between spouses & family members

Searches from on-line service providers:

• bankruptcy & insolvency searches
• company & business name searches
• company monitoring
• land titles office searches
• trade mark searches
• rate and planning searches

Hicks Oakley Chessell Williams is a member of Property Exchange Australia (PEXA),
Australia's online property exchange network.

Our office locations

Our property and conveyancing lawyers are conveniently located at both our Melbourne CBD and our Mount Waverley law offices, a South Eastern suburb of Melbourne.