Robert Lindsay

Profile

Robert Lindsay trained as a barrister in the Temple, London and was called to the English Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1970. As a law student he was Associate to an English High Court Judge, Sir Ramsay Willis. In 1982, he came to Australia and in 1986 became in-house Counsel to the Corporate Affairs Commission in South Australia (now ASIC). In 1989 he was appointed Deputy Director and Chief Counsel to the Legal Aid Commission in Western Australia and between 1997 and 2000 he acted as Director of Legal Aid. In 2000 he left the Public Service and set up practice as an independent barrister. He has argued cases in the Privy Council and the High Court of Australia, as well as the Full Federal Court and various Courts of Appeal, relating to areas of constitutional, criminal, corporate, contractual, administrative, migration and employment law.

Practice Areas

  • Administrative Law
  • Appeals
  • Employment Law
  • Commercial Law
  • Criminal Law
  • Violence Restraining Orders

Selected Cases

Cases in the High Court include:
Chen Shi Hai v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs 2001 CLR 293 where the argument succeeded that a Chinese child born outside the Chinese one child policy qualified as a refugee under the Refugee Convention.

Mitchell v The Queen 1996 184 CLR 333 where the argument succeeded that principles of sentencing for life imprisonment did not require the imposition of a term of life without parole.

More recently in the Federal Court the argument succeeded that two companies prosecuted under the Fair Work Act 2007 were not subject to the jurisdiction of the Australian Court when their employees were operating on a foreign flagged ship in the Exclusive Economic Zone (Fair Work Ombudsman v Pocomwell Ltd (No. 2) 2013 FCA 1139 and Fair Work Ombudsman v Pocomwell Ltd (2013) FCA 250.

In Fair Work Ombudsman v Quest South Perth Holdings Pty Ltd & Others No. 2 2013 FCA 58 Sham Contracting alleged under the Fair Work Act against a labour hire company and its representatives was dismissed. The matter is now reserved for a judgment before the Full Court.

A case involving corporate fraud Queen v Aylen 1988 141 LSJS 1 went to the High Court and other cases relating to corporate regulations are reported. These include CAC v Karounos (1984-1985) ACLR 405 involving liability of a director for company debts under the Corporations Law which also went to the High Court.

Publications

Robert’s articles have been published in The Spectator, The Criminal Law Journal, The Australian Institute of Administrative Law forum, and Brief, covering matters in administrative, criminal, corporate and migration issues.

Some of Robert’s articles can be found by following these links:

For Now We See Face To Face: The Constitutional Divide (Aial Forum No. 68)

Robert Lindsay​

Contact Information

Address:

Sir Clifford Grant Chambers
Level 4, 16 Irwin Street
Perth Western Australia 6000

Telephone: (08) 9325 7001
Facsimile: (08) 9325 7007
Email: robertelindsay@bigpond.com

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation