Partner, Commercial Division

Experience

Leon joined Ward Keller in March 2003 after spending six years in Sydney and Brisbane as a Revenue lawyer with Ernst & Young. He was appointed a Partner with Ward Keller on 1 July 2006.

Leon provides legal advice on commercial matters across a broad range of sectors including property, banking, insurance, utilities, mining, pastoral and government as well as franchising and foreign investment.

He has a particular interest in State/Territory Taxation. In this practice area he has assisted clients prepare for audits, make voluntary disclosures, request private rulings on complex issues and prepare objections. He is also active in lobbying the Territory Government on tax policy issues.

Leon has chaired seminars for the Taxation Institute of Australia, delivered several presentations including a paper entitled ‘Corporate Reconstruction Exemptions The Scope for Reform and Uniformity’ at the 14th Annual Stamp Duty Symposium in Queensland and lectured Business Law at Charles Darwin University. He is also an author of the Butterworths Australian Stamp Duties Law Reporter.

Qualifications & Memberships

• Bachelor of Economics, University of Western Australia
• Bachelor of Laws, University of Queensland
• Master of Laws, Deakin University
• Certificate in Financial Markets, Securities Institute of Australia
• Admitted as a Legal Practitioner in the Northern Territory (1994) and New South Wales (1998)
• Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia
• Vice President of the Palmerston Regional Business Association
• Territory Taxation Administration Liaison Committee

Areas of Law

• Stamp Duties
• Payroll Tax
• Property Law
• Commercial Law