Olaf M Ciolek | Victorian Bar

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Date of Admission:

12 Oct 2010

First Signed Bar Roll:

22 Oct 2015

Division of Bar Roll:

Victorian Practising Counsel

Qualifications:

BSc (Hons), LLB (Hons) (Melb), LLM (Cantab)

Previous Occupation:

Associate, High Court; Associate, Court of Appeal; Researcher to the Solicitor-General for Victoria; Solicitor, VGSO; Solicitor, Mallesons Stephen Jaques

Accepts briefs from in-house counsel

Profile:

Olaf practises in public, commercial and tax law.

He advises and appears on behalf of individuals, corporations and government agencies in administrative law, constitutional law, federal and state taxation law, corporations law and general commercial matters. For a list of some past cases, please click here.

Before coming to the Bar, Olaf was an associate to the Hon Justice Crennan AC of the High Court. He was later the Researcher to the Solicitor-General for Victoria and an associate to the Hon Justice McLeish of the Court of Appeal. As a solicitor, Olaf worked at the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office and Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

Olaf holds bachelor’s degrees with first class honours in science and law from the University of Melbourne, where he received several academic prizes and scholarships. He also holds a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge, where he studied as a Supreme Court of Victoria – Trinity Hall Scholar and Honorary Cambridge Australia Scholar.

Olaf is a reporter for the Commonwealth Law Reports.

Cases:

Talacko v Talacko [2021] HCA 15

Tort – unlawful means conspiracy – loss of chance – loss of value of rights or chose in action – led by D O'Sullivan QC, with B Kremer, for the second to fifth respondents

COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry

Board of Inquiry – COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Program — led by S O'Meara QC, with K Foley, for the Premier of Victoria

Maguire v Parks Victoria [2020] VSCA 172

Administrative law — standing — whether applicant had standing to challenge decision of Parks Victoria on basis of lack of public consultation — led by J Pizer QC, for the respondent

Mount Atkinson Holdings Pty Ltd v Landfill Operations Pty Ltd [2020] VSC 345

Environmental law – appeal in respect of application to VCAT to review issue of works approval by the EPA for an extension of the Melbourne Regional Landfill – led by J Pizer QC, for the EPA

Australian Securities and Investments Commission v King [2020] HCA 4

Corporations law — shadow officers — meaning of "officer" of a corporation — led by the Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth and M Brady QC, for ASIC

Reardon v Magistrates’ Court of Victoria (2018) 56 VR 266

Criminal law — blackmail — whether applicants immune from prosecution on basis that conduct alleged would, if proved, constitute a contravention of Pt IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) — led by P Hanks QC, for the informant

Central Park Estate (Vic) Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (2018) 53 VR 690

Taxation — dutiable property — whether goods held or used in connection with primary production — led by P Neskovcin QC, for the Commissioner

Talacko v Bennett (2017) 260 CLR 124

Procedure — enforcement of Australian judgment in foreign jurisdiction — validity of certificate issued under s 15(1) of Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth) — led by P Solomon QC, for the respondents

Bennett v Talacko [2017] VSCA 163

Intentional torts — conspiracy to cause economic loss — led by P Solomon QC, with O Bigos, for the appellants

Plaintiff S99/2016 v Minister for Immigration (2016) 243 FCR 17

Negligence — equitable injunction for an apprehended breach of a common law duty of care — led by R Merkel QC, with E Nekvapil, for the applicant

O’Sullivan v Andrews (2016) 50 VR 600

Constitutional law — application for mandamus requiring Premier to advise Governor to summon the Houses of Parliament for a joint sitting — led by the Solicitor-General for Victoria, with J Watson, for the Premier of Victoria

Gill v Minister for Immigration (2016) 248 FCR 398

Migration — whether applicant should bear responsibility for migration agent’s fraud — with A Aleksov, for the appellant

Singh v Minister for Immigration (2016) 247 FCR 554

Migration — whether migration agent's fraud meant that there was no valid visa application — with A Aleksov, for the appellant

Duthie v Nixon (2015) 47 VR 355

Defamation — interlocutory injunction — application to restrain publication of material about the plaintiff pending the hearing and determination of plaintiff’s proceeding — led by W Houghton QC, for the plaintiff

Publications:

“Techniques of Adjudication” in Cheryl Saunders and Adrienne Stone (eds), Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Peter Hanks)

‘The Principle of Legality and the “General System of Law”’ in Matthew Groves and Dan Meagher (eds), The Principle of Legality in Australia and New Zealand (Federation Press, 2017) (with Justice Stephen McLeish)

Cited in Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services v Hayward (a pseudonym) [2018] NSWCA 209; 360 ALR 159 at [32] (Bathurst CJ, Beazley P, Basten, Gleeson and Payne JJA)

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