LEGAL DIRECTOR

Kathleen is the founder and a Legal Director of Dwyer Harris. She specialises in antitrust/competition, corporate law, financial services, market integrity, white collar crime and consumer protection. She is a skilled negotiator, problem solver and mediator. She provides practical, commercial and responsive counsel to her clients.

Kathleen has a unique blend of private practice and regulatory experience. In private practice, Kathleen has represented some of Australia’s largest corporations in their dealings with regulators, investigations, enforcement actions, criminal prosecutions and complex civil litigation, including class actions. She represented Telstra in ASIC’s inquiry into continuous disclosure and represented National Australia Bank on various issues arising out of its FX currency options losses.

Kathleen was a Senior Executive Leader at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), where she was in charge of investigation and criminal and civil enforcement matters arising from corporate collapses, market misconduct matters such as insider trading and contraventions of the continuous disclosure provisions.

Kathleen also worked in the United States where she was the Deputy Bureau Chief of the New York Antitrust Bureau for the New York Attorney General. During her tenure at the Antitrust Bureau, Kathleen headed several price fixing cartel matters, including acting as lead counsel for 46 US States in the international vitamins cartel litigation. In handing down its decision in the vitamins’ case, the New York Supreme Court noted Kathleen’s “extensive education and experience in [these] complex antitrust price-fixing cases”. Kathleen worked on the Microsoft antitrust case and was counsel for the US States in several generic drug cases. Kathleen has been involved in numerous large and complex merger clearance reviews.

Kathleen graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours and the University Medal from the University of Technology, Sydney. She also has a Master of Laws in Trade Regulation from New York University School of Law, specialising in antitrust, government regulation and intellectual property. Kathleen is admitted to practice law in New South Wales and Victoria. She is also a member of the New York Bar and is admitted to practice in several jurisdictions in the United States.

LEGAL DIRECTOR

Patrick is a Legal Director of Dwyer Harris specialising in financial services regulation, corporate transactions such as acquisitions, fundraising and joint ventures, commercial agreements, and financing transactions including lending and asset finance. His clients include financial services providers and major industrial companies.

Patrick is valued by his clients for his clear, commercial advice and high levels of service. He has extensive legal experience both as an in-house legal counsel and in private legal practice.

Patrick is a former General Counsel and also practised law in the US with an international firm for a number of years, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and asset finance.

He has managed large transactions and legal projects such as the establishment of joint ventures, major asset sales, financial product development, regulator and board investigations, and compliance implementation projects for major financial institutions.

Patrick has also worked as a ministerial adviser and a compliance manager.

Patrick graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours from the University of Technology, Sydney. He also holds a First Class Honours degree in Arts from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law, Sydney.

Patrick is admitted to practice law in New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, High Court of Australia, England and Wales, and New York. He is also a public notary.

LAWYER

Phuong is a Lawyer at Dwyer Harris. He works across various practice areas including financial services regulation, corporate and commercial matters, and financing transactions.

Prior to joining Dwyer Harris, Phuong worked as a trainee solicitor and paralegal at an international firm, specialising in banking and finance and project financing.

Phuong graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Phuong is admitted to practice law in New South Wales.

Phuong is a native speaker of Vietnamese.