Preeminent construction lawyers, building lawyers and planning lawyers. Experts in commercial, residential, building dispute resolution and planning law.

Our firm was established in 1993.

There are areas of the law where this firm is without peer, primarily in the construction-related sector. Stephen Smith is the Managing Partner and prior to joining the firm was a senior barrister of 25 years stnading. Another of our partners,Professor Kim Lovegrove, was the principal legal adviser on the development of the Building Act in Victoria. In the early nineties he had carriage of the National Model Building Act. The NMBA formed the legislative blue print for modern building regulation in seven of the eight Australian jurisdictions.

Professor Lovegrove represented the Federal Government as the Deputy Executive Director of the ABCB, as a guest of the Japanese government addressing a Ministerial Forum charged with the overhauling of Japanese building regulations. He also addressed the English Forum for Construction Law Reform at a venue in the House of Commons in the late nineties. His expertise has been recognised at local, National and International level.

This firm possesses a level of expertise that has contributed to the legal fabric of the construction industry and modern day building regulation. This is a key indicator of the benchmarks and standard of excellence that Lovegrove Smith & Cotton people can achieve.

We have evolved into a practice that provides expertise in all facets of construction law, including but not limited to:

• Regulatory law reform
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Dispute resolution for large to medium cases
  

We traverse multimillion dollar matters but by the same token our residential disputation practice canvasses acting for small to medium enterprises(SMEs). We are involved in infrastructure work, contract formulation, dispute avoidance and resolution strategies. We advise lenders and financiers on how to best maximise security on construction lending. We protect and enforce the rights and interests of building contractors, engineers and building practitioners with regard to a wide range of issues including OH&S matters and practitioner conduct. We represent practitioners before the Building Practitioners Board. We also represent councils and local government in the area of compliance. In addition we have expertise in:

• in the resolution of body corporate disputes
• asset protection and risk minimisation strategies
• planning law
• commercial law
• property law
• public listings

Even though we act for some institutional clients we make a point of - and value - our work for SMEs. The common thread that defines what we do and who we act for is this: people and organisations that need top quality, construction related legal expertise.

Leading construction lawyers. The largest boutique building law practice in Victoria.

Lovegrove Smith & Cotton is located in the Canberra area of ACT. There are at least 20 other listings in the 2601 postcode area.

Solicitors in ACT 2601

• Barrister
• Commercial
• Construction
• Corporate
• Court
• Dispute
• Family
• Lawyer
• Mediation
• Migration
• Planning
• Probate
• Property
• Pty
• Residential
• Wills