Experience
Matters we have acted in
Murati Lawyers is a practice with more than 20 years behind it, led by Lirim Murati, who has acted for clients for almost 20 years — in family law and deceased estates, in general and commercial practice, and in the courts.
The work has included, amongst other things, the matters described below.
01
Family Law
Separation matters where the property pool is complex, and the parenting and protection proceedings that often run alongside them. Amongst other things, the work has included:
Federal Circuit and Family Court · Division 1
Acting for a third party joined to a property proceeding between a husband and wife, defending his own interest in property caught up in someone else’s marriage breakdown — a four-party proceeding run in Division 1 of the Court.
Family Court · Binding financial agreements
A trial on whether an executed financial agreement should be declared binding on the parties under s 90G(1B), argued on the distinction between agreements made under ss 90B, 90C and 90D — together with an application to restrain the other side’s legal practitioner from continuing to act.
Federal Circuit and Family Court · Trusts and companies
Property settlements where the pool included a trading company and the family trust behind it, involving the resignation of an appointor, a deed of variation of the trust deed, transfers of rural land and the distribution of proceeds.
​Priority Property Pool
A same-sex de facto property dispute run as a Priority Property Pool case.
Federal Circuit and Family Court · Parenting
Parenting proceedings, interim parenting orders, single expert witness, and disclosure, final parenting orders by consent.
Interstate registries
Family law proceedings in Brisbane, Parramatta and Darwin, including complex Division 1 cases in Darwin and Brisbane.
Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
Applications for and responses to intervention orders, and related family violence matters run alongside proceedings in the family law jurisdiction.
Administrative Review Tribunal
Review of a child support decision in the tribunal now known as the Administrative Review Tribunal.
02
Deceased estates, wills and trusts
Estate and trust litigation on both sides of the record, and the applications that follow a death or a loss of capacity. Amongst other things:
Supreme Court · Part IV
Family provision claims under Part IV of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 on both sides of the record.
Supreme Court · Trusts, Equity and Probate
A proceeding by one sibling against another in her capacity as executrix of their mother’s will, and an application under ss 28 and 34 of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 and Order 54 brought against executors by a family member.
Supreme Court of Queensland
An estate and trust dispute run in the Supreme Court of Queensland against the same opponent as a related Victorian proceeding — the same dispute litigated across two states.
County Court · Order 54
An application in which the executrix of one estate was in conflict with the executors of another, run in both the County Court and the Supreme Court.
Trust administration
A proceeding between the two trustees of a family trust concerning the administration of the trust and the position of its beneficiaries, and the termination of a testamentary trust.
Supreme Court · Guardianship
Proceedings concerning the affairs, enduring powers of attorney and guardianship of an elderly person, and an application concerning the appointment of an executrix.
Probate and administration
Grants of probate and letters of administration, contested and uncontested, and advice to executors on the administration of an estate.
03
Appellate and superior court work
Matters taken through trial and on appeal, including to the Court of Appeal and to applications for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. By way of example:
Supreme Court · Court of Appeal · High Court
Acting for plaintiffs in a claim in assault, battery and false imprisonment against a serving police officer and the State of Victoria, taken through a 64-day trial in the Supreme Court, to the Court of Appeal, and to an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The appeal raised whether a close relative who suffers psychiatric injury should be able to recover in trespass, and whether the principle in Wilkinson v Downton extends to acts done with reckless indifference.
Supreme Court · Court of Appeal · High Court
Acting for a conveyancer defending two related Supreme Court proceedings which alleged that land had been transferred by sham or forged instruments and that she had acted without instructions. The proceedings were heard over a 21-day trial and dismissed, and the applications for leave to appeal and for special leave to appeal to the High Court were each resisted.
Federal Court of Australia
Acting for respondents in Federal Court proceedings concerning rectification of a share register, alleged oppression in the conduct of a company's affairs, and the company's conduct as trustee of a long-standing family trust.
04
Commercial disputes and insolvency
Disputes between the people who run a business, and the claims that arise out of commercial dealings. Amongst other things:
Supreme Court · Commercial Court
An urgent injunction application in the General Commercial List restraining any dealing with or further encumbrance of land, resolved on undertakings pending the hearing of the substantive summons.
Supreme Court · Commercial Court
A Commercial Court proceeding to set aside put and call option agreements over valuable land and a water licence, and a Commercial Court writ for a hospitality business and its property company against a commercial fit-out contractor.
County Court · Joint ventures
A claim and counterclaim between joint venturers in a land development company, run through pleadings, affidavits of documents, notices to produce and preparation of the court book for trial.
County Court · Commercial Division
Loan recovery proceedings run as plaintiff, including amended pleadings, particulars quantifying the advances and subpoenas to banks and government agencies, and a claim by a manufacturer against an exporter and its director personally in the Business List.
Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
Defending a supplier’s claim and running a counterclaim to trial, where judgment was given for our client, followed by submissions on costs and enforcement by summons for oral examination.
Insolvency and recovery
Winding-up applications, statutory demands, judgment in default and enforcement by warrant to seize property, and Federal Court proceedings brought by a trustee in bankruptcy.
05
Property, building and planning
Interests in land, the buildings on it, and the regulators with a say over both. Amongst other things:
County Court · Owners corporations
A County Court proceeding for an owners corporation over building defects, run through pleadings, discovery and mediation, and claims against a national builder in relation to a defective rooftop.
VCAT · Planning and Environment List
Defending a council enforcement proceeding brought against a landowner, a director and two excavation companies over works on land, including an application for production of documents by a non-party.
VCAT · Enforcement
Acting for a tipping operator in a complex council enforcement proceeding involving thirteen parties, run over five years and ultimately resolved by settlement.
Building Appeals Board of Victoria
Acting for an adjoining owner in a dispute under the Building Act 1993 concerning building work on neighbouring land.
Supreme Court · Property List
A defence and counterclaim in a Property List proceeding between two development companies, run alongside the planning enforcement proceeding above.
Title and security
Caveats and priority disputes, plans of subdivision, mortgages, guarantees and equitable charges, and off-the-plan advice.
06
Government, revenue and regulators
Revenue authorities, police and the compulsory powers of the State. Amongst other things, the work has included:
Australian Taxation Office
Acting for a company through a nine-year Australian Taxation Office audit involving default assessments, allegations that arrangements were a sham, disallowed deductions and input tax credits, penalties and interest — including the response to the Commissioner's position paper and the director penalty notices that followed.
Federal Court · Deputy Commissioner of Taxation
Acting for a company in a Federal Court proceeding brought against it by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, which was dismissed.
Australian Federal Police · Proceeds of crime
Acting for parties whose property was caught by restraining orders obtained by the Australian Federal Police, including responding to examination notices and negotiating the release of property.
State Revenue Office · VCAT
Objections and VCAT reviews of land tax assessments, State Revenue Office duty investigations, and applications for exemption.
07
Employment, franchising and intellectual property
The agreements a business is built on, the people who work in it, and what it owns. Amongst other things:
Franchising · International
Master franchise agreements taking an Australian food business into South Korea and into Kuwait, and the later termination of one of those arrangements.
Federal Court · Copyright
Copyright dispute over garment and fabric designs, against a large international firm on the other side.
Fair Work Commission · Fair Work Division
An employment matter run to final submissions in the Fair Work Commission, and an employment claim in the Fair Work Division of the Federal Circuit Court run through pleadings, discovery and a release agreement.
Trade marks and reputation
Trade mark filings, specification amendments and opposition correspondence at IP Australia, and copyright and defamation concerns letters.