Expertise

Meerkin & Apel is a boutique firm which specialises in several diverse fields.

• Commercial
• Property, Banking and Finance
• Commercial Litigation
• Entertainment Law
• Family Law
• Insolvency
• Employment Law and Workplace/Industrial Relations

Commercial Law

Meerkin & Apel is a commercial firm representing individuals and corporations, dealing with every facet of commercial law. We have experience in facilitating business and commercial transactions as well as handling issues relating to intellectual property, franchising, taxation, and the structuring and reorganisation of businesses including strategic succession planning, corporations and trusts. Our team also has extensive experience in estate planning.

Property, Banking and Finance

Meerkin & Apel has many years experience in managing commercial and residential property issues. We also handle all aspects of commercial and residential property sales and purchases, town planning, the preparation and advice of security documentation for both lenders and borrowers, procuration of finance including preparation and negotiation of submissions to lending institutions.

Commercial Litigation

Meerkin & Apel’s commercial litigation team is very experienced in all aspects of litigation and in all jurisdictions of the courts, boards and tribunals. We handle issues pertaining to contractual disputes, media law, construction law, trade practices, enforcement of securities, administrative law, insurance law, partnership and corporate disputes.

Entertainment Law

Meerkin & Apel provide advice and represent clients in all aspects of the entertainment industry including radio, television, music, theatre and film.

Family Law

Meerkin & Apel's family law department is able to handle all procedures and negotiations in regard to spousal and child maintenance, property disputes, pre-nuptial agreements, contact and residence, specific issues orders, de-facto property and child related disputes and commercial planning with sensitivity and efficiency. With our commercial expertise Meerkin & Apel is well positioned to provide clients with a commercial perspective in family property disputes.

Insolvency

Meerkin & Apel's insolvency team is very experienced in all aspects of insolvency and committed to achieving the best commercial outcome for the client. We assist insolvency practitioners, financial institutions, company directors, creditors and debtors in handling the many diverse legal issues that arise during a corporate reconstruction or insolvency. We are also experienced in acting in personal insolvencies including bankruptcy and the alternatives, and have acted in a number of high profile matters in this area.

Providing sound and commercially practical insolvency advice requires more than the application of the Corporations Act and the Bankruptcy Act. It demands a breadth of experience in insolvency law which can only be delivered by lawyers with both the ability to understand their client's business needs and the experience to assist their client in negotiating the web of insolvency law. Meerkin & Apel stands ready to provide that assistance.

Employment Law and Workplace/Industrial Relations

Employment Law and Workplace / Industrial Relations services covering all aspects of the following areas (with particular specialisation in Local Government and Authorities):

• Employment Contracts
• Award issues including interpretation, classification and disputation
• Industrial disputes/claims, including representation before FWA (e.g. logs, ballots, protected and unprotected industrial action, unfair dismissal/unlawful termination claims, Enterprise Agreement dispute resolution conciliations/arbitrations, unfair dismissal claims, etc.)
• Evaluation and classification of Position Descriptions
• Senior Officer/Senior Executive Officer issues
• Common law and Award/Enterprise Agreement claims in all jurisdictions
• Anti-discrimination and Equal Opportunity issues/claims
• Representation before FWA, all Courts and Tribunals (e.g. VCAT)
• Staff Resource sharing
• Organisational restructuring
• Enterprise bargaining and Agreements
• Employment Policies and Procedures (including reviewing, drafting and implementation)
• Redundancies and redeployment issues
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Employee relations strategies, issues and solutions
• Interpretation, application of all relevant legislation including Fair Work Act and Regulations
• Industrial Relations, Award and Enterprise Agreement updates
• Project work and due diligence (including transmission of business issues)
• In-house and on-site training on relevant ER/IR issues
• Investigations into staff complaints
• Management briefings on Enterprise Agreements and IR/ER issues.