Joanne Perdriau

I have spent the past decade of my life in the construction group at Colin Biggers & Paisley. I started as a Solicitor in 2006 and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2011. I have spent about 70% of my time dealing with disputes in the construction industry. The balance of my time has been spent drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts. I have acted for a large variety of players in the construction industry from developers (including aged care providers), large and medium sized builder contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, liquidators and insurance companies.

• Drafting contracts, AS4902, AS4900, AS4916, and bespoke agreements for suppliers and installers
• Reviewing contracts and assisting with negotiations to get the contract agreed and signed
• Assisting with interpretation of contracts during the contract administration phase
• Assisting with contractual notices, including notices of dispute
• Advising on potential disputes which have arisen
• Commencing or defending court proceedings in all jurisdictions within Australia, but most recently, NSW, QLD and WA
• Acting in court proceedings, arbitrations, reference hearings, and expert determinations
• Advising on practical and effective ways to settle disputes, including running several successful mediations

I started my career in law at Cutler Hughes & Harris (which subsequently became Thomsons Lawyers). I was a solicitor in the commercial dispute group and I acted on behalf of a variety of clients in commercial and insolvency disputes.

• Commencing and defending proceedings in the Supreme, District and Local Courts of NSW
• Acting on behalf of liquidators in wind up proceedings in the Supreme Court (Corporations List)
• Was involved in a complex firm wide due diligence on behalf of an aged care provider

I was a paralegal working in a large team of solicitors. I assisted the solicitors with adjudication applications, adjudication responses and court proceedings by carrying out various tasks including document management, research and discovery.

I assisted a team of solicitors in the commercial dispute division who were involved in arbitration proceedings in New York. My day to day tasks were to manage the inflow of documents which needed to be provided to the firms agents in New York.

I studied a combined degree during 2000-2004 and graduated with first class honours in my law degree and a credit in my business degree. I did my practical legal training in my last semester of 2004.

I achieved a UAI of 98.5 in my Higher School Certificate. I came first in my year in 3U Economics and first in 2U Visual Arts.