Commercial & Corporate Litigation · Melbourne & Victoria
Has a contract been breached, has a partner walked, or have you been served with a claim that could take your year? With Law Flow you get a solicitor who has appeared in the Supreme Court and the Federal Court, with AI-assisted discovery and research that keeps the cost of document review down.
Is this you?
The decisions that determine the cost of a commercial dispute are made in the first few weeks, usually before anything is filed. That is the point at which advice is worth the most and costs the least.
Any of these apply? A free 30 minute consultation to discuss your situation, identify apparent urgent deadlines and scope the next steps. Detailed advice may require document review. Call 0480 893 317 or request a call back.
Scope of work
We assist businesses and individuals with commercial disputes in Victoria. Depending on the claim and the relief required, proceedings may be brought in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, the County Court of Victoria, the Supreme Court of Victoria or a federal court with jurisdiction.
Time critical
The cost of litigation is set less by the size of the claim than by how well the first six weeks are run.
Your response deadline depends on the court, the document served and where service occurred. A Supreme Court writ served in Victoria generally requires an appearance within 10 days after service. Other proceedings and service outside Victoria can have different deadlines. Send us the complete documents and service details promptly so we can identify the appearance and defence dates and the risk of default judgment.
If you need to stop conduct, delay is itself evidence against you. Applications for urgent relief are strongest when brought immediately.
Generally six years from the breach in Victoria, with shorter periods for some claims. Waiting also degrades the evidence you will need to prove the case.
Once a dispute is reasonably anticipated, relevant documents must be preserved. Putting the hold in place early avoids serious problems at discovery.
Lawyer-led, AI-assisted
In most commercial cases, discovery and document review is the largest single cost and the least strategic work in the file. That is precisely what AI is best at, and it is why our litigation budgets look different to a traditional firm.
Large document sets are processed quickly to help identify the material documents, so review time is concentrated on the ones that matter to the case.
Authorities are located and tested quickly, so pleadings, submissions and interlocutory applications are drafted from a complete picture rather than a partial one.
Keeping the cost base down means the decision whether to continue can be driven by the merits and the commercial value of the claim rather than by what the other side is willing to spend.
We use AI-assisted tools to support legal research, document review and initial drafting, with the work checked by the solicitor responsible for your matter. Combined with low office overheads, this helps us work efficiently and keep costs proportionate.
The time and cost involved depend on your matter’s complexity, documents and scope. We explain the proposed work and fees upfront, with fixed-fee options where the scope allows.
Tell us what you are dealing with and we will explain the proposed work and the fees before anything starts.
Book A ConsultationHow it works
A free 30 minute consultation with Tristan, Principal Solicitor, to discuss your situation, identify apparent urgent deadlines and scope the next steps. Detailed advice may require document review.
You get a written scope and a price for the next stage before any work starts. No open-ended retainer, no surprise invoices.
The documents, ledgers and authorities are processed at speed, then reviewed by your solicitor. This is the stage traditional firms bill hardest.
Advice, negotiation, drafting and advocacy are done by the lawyer with carriage of your file, and you deal with him directly throughout.
Cost
Uncontrolled legal costs are the reason good commercial claims get abandoned. We budget by stage, and we tell you when a claim is not commercially worth running.
A free 30 minute consultation to discuss your situation, identify apparent urgent deadlines and scope the next steps. Detailed advice may require document review.
Pre-action, pleadings, discovery, evidence and hearing are each quoted so you approve the next stage before it begins.
Letters of demand, dispute triage and defence assessments are commonly quoted as a fixed fee.
Your lawyer
Tristan Burt
Principal Solicitor
Tristan Burt is the Principal Solicitor of Law Flow. He works directly with clients to understand their position, identify the practical options and develop a strategy for resolving the dispute. Law Flow assists clients in New South Wales and Victoria, with consultations by phone or video and arrangements for court appearances explained at the outset. Tristan uses lawyer-supervised technology to support research, document review and drafting, while remaining responsible for the advice and conduct of your matter.
Common questions
Consultations are available by phone or video. We review your documents, advise on the applicable law and procedure, and explain how any required Victorian court appearance will be handled and priced before you engage us for that work.
It depends on the type and value of the claim, the parties and the orders sought. The Magistrates’ Court generally hears civil disputes up to $100,000. The County Court hears a broad range of commercial disputes without a monetary ceiling within its jurisdiction. The Supreme Court hears complex commercial disputes and matters within its specialist or exclusive jurisdiction. Some federal law claims can be brought in the Federal Court. We assess the appropriate forum before proceedings are started.
Many resolve within a few months through pre-action correspondence and mediation. A matter that runs to a contested hearing in the County or Supreme Court is more commonly a one to two year process. The strategy we recommend depends on which of those you can commercially tolerate.
The court may order the unsuccessful party to pay a proportion of the successful party’s legal costs, but recovery is not automatic and usually does not cover the full legal bill. The result depends on the court’s orders, the applicable costs rules, the conduct of the proceeding and the other party’s ability to pay. We factor those risks into the litigation budget.
Used properly it is the opposite. Courts have been clear that AI output must be verified by the lawyer, and that is exactly how we work. Every citation and submission is checked by the solicitor responsible for the file, and client material is handled under business grade terms that prohibit it being used to train AI models.
Yes. We regularly review live matters, give a frank assessment of the position and the likely spend to finish, and take carriage where that makes sense. Bring the pleadings and the last few invoices to the consultation.
Next step
Thirty minutes with the solicitor who would run your matter. Bring the contract and the correspondence so we can discuss your situation, identify apparent urgent deadlines and scope the next steps.
