Our Expertise: Commercial Disputes and Litigation
Every matter we take on is a dispute. That is the whole practice.
Most commercial lawyers are trained to document and transact. When an agreement fails, the work changes completely. Deadlines become real, evidence gets tested, and the decisions taken in the first fortnight usually determine how the matter ends two years later. That is a different discipline, and it is the only one we practise.
Boyle Litigation acts for business owners, company directors, investors, insolvency practitioners and private clients in disputes across Queensland and nationally. Our Managing Partner is one of 33 Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialists in Commercial Litigation, from more than 14,000 practising solicitors in the state.
Alternative hero, more direct
We do not draft the contract. We fight about what it means.
Boyle Litigation practises commercial litigation and nothing else. No conveyancing, no corporate advisory, no wills. Every file in this office is a dispute, and every lawyer here is a litigator. When the outcome genuinely matters, that focus is the difference between a matter that is managed and a matter that is won.
Start here
Most people arrive on this page because something has already happened. If one of these describes your position, go straight to it.
| Your situation | Where to start |
|---|---|
| You have been served with a claim, a statutory demand, a notice or a bankruptcy notice | Time limits are already running. Call us before you respond |
| You are owed money and the other side has stopped paying | Debt recovery, or security of payment if the work was construction |
| Your business relationship with a co-owner or co-director has broken down | Shareholder and director disputes |
| An adviser, builder or professional has caused you a loss | Professional negligence, or building and construction disputes |
| Something has been published about you or your business | Defamation, and misleading or deceptive conduct |
| A company or individual who owes you money has become insolvent | Corporate and personal insolvency |
| You are an insolvency practitioner needing litigation support | Insolvency and recovery litigation |
| A will, estate or trust is in dispute | Estate litigation and trust disputes |
Corporate and commercial disputes
These disputes are about control and money, usually both, and they escalate quickly because the business keeps trading while the argument runs. Value erodes while the parties posture. The work is to identify leverage early, secure the evidence, and put a realistic outcome on the table before the business itself becomes the casualty.
- Shareholder disputes, including oppression, unfair prejudice, deadlock and forced buyouts
- Director disputes, removal, board control, and breach of directors’ duties
- Business and contract disputes, breach, termination, and enforcement
- Misleading and deceptive conduct, and unconscionable conduct claims
- Franchising disputes, for franchisors and franchisees
- Employment disputes at the litigation end: restraints of trade, confidential information, and executive terminations
- Intellectual property disputes
- Consumer protection and trade practices disputes
Insolvency, bankruptcy and recovery
Recovery work rewards speed and punishes hesitation. Assets move, limitation periods run, and the difference between a full recovery and a paper judgment is often a matter of weeks. We act for creditors pursuing money, for directors and individuals facing personal exposure, and for insolvency practitioners who need litigation run properly and reported cleanly.
- Corporate insolvency, voluntary administration and liquidation
- Personal insolvency and bankruptcy, including bankruptcy notices and creditor’s petitions
- Debt recovery and judgment enforcement
- Voidable transactions, unfair preferences and uncommercial transactions
- Insolvent trading and director liability claims
- Statutory demands, both issuing them and setting them aside
- Guarantees, PPSA and security enforcement
- Examinations and investigations for liquidators and trustees
For insolvency practitioners.
Prospects advice on a timeline that fits your reporting obligations, commercial analysis of funding and recovery pathways, and court-ready drafting without theatre. We respond to urgent referrals the same day.
Building and construction disputes
Construction is the one area where the deadlines are shorter than the disputes. Statutory windows run in business days and cannot be extended, and a valid claim is routinely lost to a missed date rather than a bad case. We act on both the cash flow fight and the contract fight, and we advise on which one to have first.
- Adjudication under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld)
- Subcontractors’ charges and security of payment claims
- Commercial building disputes, including defects, delay and variations
- Residential building disputes
- Construction dispute resolution in QCAT, arbitration and the courts
- Contract termination, notices to show cause, and recourse to security
Real property disputes
Property disputes involve real assets and rights that can shift in days. A caveat can stop a settlement. A lockout can end a business. The work is usually urgent before it is complex.
- Commercial lease and retail shop lease disputes
- Caveats, title disputes and easements
- Co-ownership disputes, partition and forced sale applications
- Sale and purchase disputes, including off the plan and settlement failures
- Sale and purchase disputes, including off the plan and settlement failures
- Mortgage enforcement and mortgagee disputes
- Body corporate disputes
- Planning and environment disputes, litigation only
Estate litigation and trust disputes
These disputes carry a family dimension alongside the legal one, and the assets are often illiquid, structured, or tied up in a business. Time limits are short and estates can be distributed while a claimant is still deciding what to do. We act for claimants and for executors and trustees defending.
- Will disputes and family provision claims
- Challenges to testamentary capacity, undue influence and will validity
- Executor disputes and applications for removal
- Trust disputes, breach of trust and trustee removal
- Beneficiary entitlement and trust accounting disputes
- Trust and estate construction disputes
Reputation and professional disputes
Reputation has commercial value, and the damage compounds daily while a decision is being made. Claims against professionals run the other way: they are slow, evidence heavy, and usually decided by expert opinion and causation rather than by whether something went wrong.
- Defamation, including online reviews, social media and media publications
- Misleading or deceptive conduct and injurious falsehood
- Professional negligence claims against lawyers, accountants, advisers, valuers and consultants
- Insurance disputes, including declined and underpaid claims
Regulatory and government disputes
Regulators have powers that ordinary opponents do not, and the early stages of an investigation are where exposure is created. What you provide, and when, matters more than the argument made at the end.
- Taxation disputes, ATO audits, objections and appeals
- Director penalty notices and personal liability for company tax debts
- ASIC investigations and examinations
- Regulatory investigations and licensing disputes
- Administrative appeals and judicial review
What we do not do
The list matters as much as the one above it. We do not offer conveyancing, contract drafting, corporate advisory, estate planning, family law, criminal law, immigration, personal injury or general workplace advisory. If your matter needs any of those, we will tell you and, where we can, point you to someone who does it well.
We also decline disputes where the likely cost will exceed the realistic upside. We say so at the first call rather than three months in. Litigation is expensive, and running a matter that cannot pay for itself serves nobody.
How we work
Assessment
A confidential call to understand the position, the documents and what you actually need to happen. You leave it knowing where you stand.
Strategy before steps
We plan from the outcome backwards. Where is the leverage, what does the evidence support, what will the other side do, and what is the fastest credible route to the result you need.
Decisive action
Where urgency is real, we move on it. Injunctions, freezing orders, caveats, statutory deadlines and urgent applications are handled without a queue.
Court ready throughout
Most disputes resolve. They resolve on better terms when the other side can see the case is prepared to be run. We prepare every matter as though it will be heard.
Why Boyle Litigation
We work alongside accountants, insolvency practitioners, private wealth advisers, brokers, bankers and other law firms, including on conflict overflow. Referred clients stay yours. We report clearly, we do not encroach on the relationship, and we give you a straight answer on prospects early enough for you to advise your client.
Why an Accredited Specialist matters
Any lawyer can describe themselves as experienced in disputes. The Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist program is the profession’s own benchmark, requiring independently assessed knowledge and skill in a defined area of law rather than self-description. There are 33 Accredited Specialists in Commercial Litigation in Queensland. Our Managing Partner is one of them, and is the lawyer on your matter from the first call to the last.
Where we act
Boyle Litigation is based at Level 27, Santos Place, 32 Turbot Street, Brisbane, and acts for clients across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, regional Queensland and interstate. We appear in the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts of Queensland, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the Planning and Environment Court, the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit and Family Court, and in courts and tribunals in other states where a dispute requires it.
Frequently asked questions
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What types of disputes does Boyle Litigation handle?
It depends on what the partnership agreement says. Where there is an agreement, it usually sets out a retirement or exit process and how the departing partner’s interest is valued and paid. Where there is no agreement or it is silent, a partnership with no fixed term is generally a partnership at will, which a partner can dissolve by giving notice to the others. Dissolution is not the end of the process, because the firm still has to be wound up and the accounts taken. Advice should be taken before notice is given, because the timing affects what you receive.
Do you act for clients outside Queensland?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.
Can you take over a matter that is already in court?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.
Is there a minimum value of dispute you will act in?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.
Do you do any work that is not a dispute?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.
How do referrals from accountants and other advisers work?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.
Which court or tribunal will my dispute be heard in?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.
What happens on a strategy call?
Only if the partnership agreement gives the other partners that power, and only if it is exercised in accordance with the agreement and in good faith. There is generally no default right to expel a partner under the Partnership Act. Where an expulsion has been attempted without a valid power, or without following the required process, it can be challenged, and the attempt itself may amount to a breach by the other partners.