Brock Elder-Gunthorpe
Brock is a seasoned class action litigator with experience in Australian disputes and regulatory investigations.
Brock concentrates on class action dispute resolution, representing leading Australian clients in the banking, industrials, mining, and energy sectors in State and Federal Courts. He is one of the few Australian defence lawyers to have run a class action through trial and appellate courts and was a member of the team that led Worley Limited’s landmark trial and remitter defence of shareholder class action proceedings.
Brock also provides strategic counsel on commercial litigation, taxation and public law matters.
Brock contributed to the Third Edition revisions to the Class Actions in Australia textbook and was involved in Herbert Smith Freehills' submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services' 2020 inquiry on Litigation Funding and Regulation of the Class Action Industry.
Beyond class actions, he has co-authored a paper on R&D dispute resolution and Herbert Smith Freehills' first internal practitioner resource on freedom of information.
Background
Brock holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) and Bachelor of International Relations from Bond University.
Brock was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland, and is qualified as an Australian legal practitioner in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- Worley Limited in its trial, appellate and remitter defence of shareholder class action proceedings arising out of FY14 earnings guidance
- Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited in its defence of pending shareholder class action proceedings arising of the Nuix Limited IPO
- Ampol Limited on a historical tax audit arising from international trading and procurement operations
- Fletcher Building Limited in its defence of pending shareholder class action proceedings arising out of FY17 earnings guidance
- Sims Limited in its defence of a shareholder class action proceeding arising out of FY16 earnings guidance.
- Ashley Services Group Limited in its defence of a shareholder class action, and in related cross-claims against its IPO advisors
- a listed entity its dispute with Innovation and Science Australia regarding receipt of research and development incentives for software and IT developments
- a major mining company on a tax audit arising from international marketing operations
- a major bank in its response to the Financial Services Royal Commission
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