General Litigation

We have extensive experience in this area of litigation including disputes arising in the following areas:

• Contract – whether written or oral or partially thereof;

• Misrepresentation;

• Misleading and Deceptive Conduct;

• Unconscionable Conduct;

• Lease Agreements;

• Property Sale Purchase Agreements;

• Franchise Agreements;

• Negligence actions;

• Personal injury claims;

• Professional negligence;

• Medical negligence;

• Trust deed issues and interpretations;

• Equitable claims;

• Constructive trust claims;

• Resulting trust claims.

Our approach to all matters involving disputes between our client and another party is to attempt to resolve the matter preferably without resorting to litigation.  If litigation develops, we attempt to resolve the matter as early as possible in the litigation process.  Before litigation has commenced, we usually try to resolve the matter by negotiating with the other party or with their lawyers if they are represented.

If this fails it may useful to have a private mediation with an independent lawyer as mediator.  Matters can often be settled this way more quickly and cheaply than proceeding to Court.  A private mediator being a lawyer has the advantage that they can tell each of the parties (in private) the mediator’s view of the prospects of the party’s success or otherwise in the matter.

Should Court action be commenced, the parties will be required to attend confidential, without prejudice, mediation conducted by an officer of the Court who is a lawyer.  The Court’s mediation system has become very successful at settling disputes between the parties.  This is a product of the work of the mediators and the lawyers acting for the parties.  Over 95% of all actions commenced in the Supreme Court are settled without the need to go for a trial.

If the matter does not settle and goes on to trial, we usually brief a barrister from the independent Bar to conduct the trial.  Basically, barristers are lawyers who specialise in litigation and giving opinions with respect to litigation or potentially litigious matters.  Barristers cannot be engaged directly by the public but can only be engaged by solicitors.  Small firms such as Granich Partners have the advantage of being able to select the most appropriately experienced and qualified barrister for each particular case based on our long standing relationship with the independent Bar and knowledge of its members.  This gives a firm, such as ours, the advantage of being able to select the most appropriate counsel to appear at trial without being constrained to use a particular in-house barrister within the law firm.

Almost without exception (but exclusive of Government prosecutors) all Senior Counsel or Queen’s Counsel of Western Australia are barristers from the independent Bar.  Such barristers are readily available to be instructed by all law firms.