Photograph courtesy of Gold Coast Bulletin
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Hickey Lawyer's banking and finance team is a highly experienced, dedicated team which provides high quality banking and finance services with clients ranging from local finance companies to large financial institutions. The banking and finance team has extensive knowledge and experience in advising on and documenting high value, complex funding transactions in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and regularly acts for clients in relation to transactions in these and other Australian states. Back to top Hickey Lawyers has a strong track record with strata title projects and has extensive experience in all aspects of establishing a body corporate, holding the first general meeting, and preparing and registering community management statements which incorporate by-laws, exclusive use schedules etc. Joe Welch, an Owner Partner of Hickey Lawyers, is a Fellow of the Australian College of Community Association Inc. Lawyers. A Fellowship of the College is only granted to those with extensive experience in Community Title Law. We have also been instrumental in recommending appropriate body corporate structures for particular projects, particularly when there are a number of different uses or buildings to be located within the one site. We are one of the few firms to have a solid understanding of, and to have actually been involved in, volumetric subdivisions and the registration of building management statements. We offer general advice to bodies corporate in relation to by-laws and legislative requirements, general advice to resident managers, provide advice to body corporate managers, attend body corporate meetings and draft motions for owners and committee members to put forward at body corporate general meetings. Other services include extinguishment and amalgamation of community titles schemes, preparation of community management statements, assisting owners, managers and bodies corporate with applications to the Adjudicator and advice on mediation, dispute resolution and litigation. Clients and projects:
Business and Corporate Service Hickey Lawyers acts for many public and private companies, including listed public companies. As a result, we have experience in all aspects of corporations and securities law. We have been involved in complicated corporate restructures which have involved consideration of issues relevant not only to corporations law, but also tax and stamp duty. Services include:
Capital Raising, Public Floats and Prospectuses Raising of capital is an essential ingredient of every business venture and activity. Hickey Lawyers understands the complexities of financial legal structures and vehicles and can provide clients with advice to help locate reliable sources of capital, to secure funds quickly and at a minimal cost. We can provide commercial advice on the most appropriate capital raising structure as well as contacts and referrals to fund managers, brokers, agents, corporate advisors and accountants. Consideration of tax issues related to capital raising is also an important area of Hickey Lawyers' activities. Our services include the preparation, establishment and registration of managed investment schemes and associated disclosure documents, including information memoranda, offer information statements, and prospectuses. We can prepare or assist with advice on independent reports and documents as part of the disclosure documents, and we can undertake and oversee the due diligence process as part of the preparation and registration of a prospectus or other disclosure documents. Hickey Lawyers has the capability to establish trust structures, private companies and public companies and structuring of constitutions. We also provide advice in respect of the Australian Stock Exchange listing rules and providing legal advice in respect of listing a company on the Australian Stock Exchange. Clients and Projects:
Our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team provides a full range of cost-effective commercial litigation and dispute resolution services. We have particular expertise in the following areas:
We aim to provide our clients with clear-cut solutions to disputes and litigation in which they are or may become involved. We spend our own time getting to know our clients' businesses so that we are able to help them to avoid disputes, or if that is not possible, to best position them in a dispute. Where matters proceed to Court we represent our clients' interests vigorously. We are known and respected for our honest and straightforward approach. We think ahead in litigation with a view to achieving the best possible result. Hickey Lawyers draws on deep and diverse experience gained with clients and projects worldwide. In Australia our body of work on behalf of Asian and European clients is substantial, providing us with a unique intellectual resource from which all our offshore clients benefit. Our fund of global knowledge ensures that today we are the leader in applying international legal methods in the Australian context. Hickey Lawyers offers offshore clients a full co-ordinating capability, protecting all of your interests, actively orchestrating all the strands of your strategy. We remain your lawyer, but we are something much more — your trusted partner. Our highly skilled professionals will report to you on all aspects of your investment from the initial concept and feasibility studies, through the approval and contract stages to financial control and overall management strategies. We will provide administrative support — establishing reporting, service and clerical systems that are compatible with your own, and able to be imported immediately. The result — reduced paperwork, administration and cost at the client's end. We can also introduce and co-ordinate the skills of outside professionals, including accountants, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, real estate agents, taxation specialists, valuers and property marketers. Nor are we limited by language. Hickey Lawyers retains multilingual professionals on staff to assist offshore clients. Foreign Investment and Immigration Hickey Lawyers has established an outstanding reputation in matters relating to foreign investment in Australia. We offer a complete range of services to assist offshore investors in dealing with foreign investment regulations, migration requirements and all aspects of investment in Australia, whether in property or business. Particular areas of expertise include obtaining approvals from the Foreign Investment Review Board for property transactions, as well as co-ordinating tax advice regarding investments in Australia and remittance of funds overseas. Hickey Lawyers acts as the Australian representative of foreign entities, co-ordinating management of all property-related and other affairs in Australia. The firm can also handle applications for visas and permanent residence status, as well as introduce and refer foreign clients to local authority, state government and federal government representatives, consultants and existing Hickey Lawyers clients. Foreign languages spoken by staff include Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, Croatian and Spanish Hickey Lawyers provides a complete range of general property services for a wide variety of clients. We act on the sale and purchase of residential dwellings and smaller industrial, commercial and retail properties, as well as in the funding and refinancing of such properties. We can also advise and act in all other areas of property law such as residential tenancies, easements and caveats. Hickey Lawyers has developed a unique and innovative plain-English form of retail and commercial lease, which is both user-friendly and protective of the lessor's interests. Using this form of lease, we have acted on behalf of the lessor at numerous major office and retail developments involving major tenants throughout South East Queensland. As well as the lease itself, we have expertise in:
We have an extensive understanding of the Retail Shop Leases Act and have represented clients in disputes before the Retail Shop Leases Tribunal. Clients and projects:
Hickey Lawyers provides general advice to buyers, sellers, real estate agents and bodies corporate in relation to the sale of management rights and consent of the body corporate, and also prepares contracts for sellers and buyers of management rights. Hickey Lawyers will liaise with buyer's accountants to set up the appropriate structure to acquire the manager's unit and the management rights. For body corporate committees, Hickey Lawyers can provide advice on factors to be taken into account when a caretaker/letting agent requests consent to assign the management rights business. We also provide assistance in preparing tender documents for tendering the sale of management rights for large resort buildings. Hickey Lawyers can advise in relation to the Managed Investment provisions of the Corporations Act and the appropriate class order exemptions. Our experience includes drafting product disclosure statements for resort developers and operators of serviced strata schemes. We can also -
Clients and Projects: Acting on the sale of management rights off-the-plan for the following Schemes:
Acting for Buyers of Management rights for the following Schemes:-
Hickey Lawyers is retained by the Stella Resorts Group to advise on all management rights and licencing aspects of the extensive management rights business operated by Stella Resorts Group. Hickey Lawyers has extensive experience in acting for developer clients who have sought development approval from local authorities for their property developments. Our involvement can include:-
We have a very good working relationship with Senior Council officers. We not act for any local authorities in respect of town planning matters, given that we act for so many developer clients in their regular dealings with Councils. Banking and finance are particular areas of expertise for Hickey Lawyers. We have acted for many developer clients in extremely complicated transactions for acquisition funding and construction funding. We can negotiate the terms of letters of offer, negotiate and finalise all security documentation with a financier's lawyers, negotiate priority arrangements with existing financiers or document and finalise funding transactions for non-institutional financiers Hickey Lawyers will also negotiate and document tripartite arrangements with third parties such as building contractors and hotel operators, as well as consider stamp duty issues. Clients and transactions:
Hickey Lawyers has built a substantial track record in the provision of legal services to the tourism industry. We act on the acquisition and sale of hotels, and can assist in all matters necessary for the change of ownership of hotels. The firm can negotiate and document hotel operator agreements, supply agreements and any relevant trademark licence agreements. Clients and projects:
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