Tom is a leading practitioner in town planning and building law. He provides advice to clients on complex building and town planning issues. He appears before the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), the Building Appeals Board, the Magistrates’ Court and the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) on a wide range of town planning, building and disciplinary matters.
Experience
Tom’s experience includes appearances in the following areas of practice:
VCAT - Planning & Environment List
Building Appeals Board
Magistrates' Court
VBA as Disciplinary Body
Other Experience
Before coming to the Bar, Tom was the in-house solicitor and manager for an inner-city council in Metropolitan Melbourne. Tom's role comprised of multiple portfolios including the role of Manager of Property Services, Legal Services and Planning Enforcement and the statutory role of Municipal Building Surveyor for approximately 14 years. Prior to this unique role, Tom was employed as a Building Surveyor and Building Inspector in both the private sector and public sector for a further 23 years.
Tom’s experience included a ministerial appointment (i.e. by the Minister for Planning) as the 'Legal Representative Member’ for the Building Advisory Council between 2012 to 2018.
Since 2013, Tom has been an instructor at Leo Cussen Centre of Law, where he regularly instructs graduate lawyers in property law, advocacy and town planning law. Tom was also a sessional lecturer at the University of Melbourne between 2014 to 2019 where he jointly presented 'Planning and Development Law' for the Melbourne Law Masters. Tom also presented to undergraduate students the prescribed law module as part of the Environmental & Risk Engineering degree at Victoria University between 2014 and 2019.
Academic Qualifications
Tom’s academic qualifications include the following:
Other Professional Qualifications
Tom was registered as a building practitioner for 26 years with the VBA in the category of Building Surveyor Unlimited and Building Inspector Unlimited.
Tom’s unique qualifications and experience gives him the ability to read architectural and structural drawings / designs with ease. He can also analyse specialist reports including fire engineering, traffic, DDA, urban planning, acoustic and Environmental Sustainable Design reports, including structural engineering reports / computations.
To discuss Tom's availability or for more information, please contact the Clerks at Greens List on +61 3 9225 7222.