Cross border disputes

With other firms, I haven’t always felt I got 100% attention. With Fiona, however big or small the client, everyone gets the same level of attention and focus.

For us, getting something wrong could do more than cause the business to fail. We deal with registered medicines, so we could breach the regulations and not be able to sell our product.

I wanted a lawyer to discuss or debate an approach’s pros and cons. Fiona has a very clear perspective, and she’ll share that view based on her experience. She’s fine if you go in another direction, but you’re never left wondering where you stand because her advice is opaque.

A great thing about Argyll Law is that I know I’ll pick up the phone, and I won’t be passed to one of 15 different people. I’ll talk to Fiona. And I never get big bills based on all these people I never saw having reviewed my case.

Fiona has a great international background, which is super helpful. She knows what we don’t know about Australia, and takes that into account to give us advice we understand.And I don’t have to go through 10 layers of secretaries and other lawyers to talk to Fiona. She goes out of her way to work with our time zones. It’s almost like having your own in-house counsel.

Fiona’s like a part of the company. We trust her and I rely on her significantly for advice on many, many things.

She’s also approachable and practical. And she’ll give very direct feedback if that’s what you want.

Working with a lawyer with a strong knowledge of the healthcare sector means you don’t spend half the time explaining. You can get straight to the issue at hand. And even when Fiona doesn’t know an area specifically, she comes up to speed very quickly.

That matters a lot because Australian law is very different from US law. There are things in Australian law that I’ve never seen before.

Fiona is communicative and fast to respond. She’s very sensitive to the fact that employee relations issues are sometimes really pressing.

Because Fiona’s advice is detailed, I’m confident advising leaders about what’s happening in Australia. That means we’re managing our risk well.

Her experience means she can be proactive, helping us to make informed decisions and negotiate resolutions that benefit us and the customer. Fiona’s hit rate on keeping disputes from going too far is almost 100%, which protects our reputation and saves time, money and resources.She’s responsive, approachable and readily available. And her international experience means she frames her advice in ways that are useful to our head office overseas.

Instead of dealing with multiple lawyers and confusing fees, Fiona handled everything directly and efficiently. She simplified our contracts, reducing two documents into one with an updateable schedule for each customer.Her expertise saved us time, money, and unnecessary stress. I highly recommend her for personalised and clear legal advice.

Fiona worked with us step by step to set up a new company. She knew the ins and outs of what needed to be done, and gave us tons of good advice. She guided us on getting the employees and payroll set up, certifications with the government, opening the bank accounts, and making sure everything was done correctly.That included transferring the shares to me and setting me up as a foreign director. Fiona became our resident director.
Everything was done in a couple of months.

Along the way, Fiona was very kind and super professional. She was always polite to the person who had let us down while making sure he couldn’t cause us more damage. That person was close to us, and Fiona was very empathetic but practical.

Fiona never tried to exploit a complicated, aggravating situation to charge us more. She was honest, forthright and always there. She cares.

My wife and I found Fiona to be a master communicator who quickly picks up things, understands the bigger picture, and bolts everything together very well. She’s so well organised with a very nice balance in her approach.

Every response nailed it, just nailed it — well-weighted and precise.

In court, we had the A-team. Fiona had two suitcases of documents and was passing the right papers to our barrister at the right time. The other side had two barristers, who were scrambling. It was like something from The Castle.

We spent about $600,000 on this case, and if we’d lost, we would have paid similar costs again. Fiona gave us the confidence to proceed, and that confidence was justified.

To get us there, Fiona went above and beyond. She made herself available outside normal business hours, worked on weekends, and handled time pressures like a pro. She was hugely invested in us winning.

When my wife got to court to testify for the first time ever, she felt prepped and ready, thanks to Fiona.

This was not just a legal case — it was personal, involving our home. Fiona was amazing at handling the emotional stress. She truly understood the personal impact on us and guided us through it with care.

Without Fiona, we wouldn’t have won. It’s as simple as that. She was the difference between success and failure.

Some lawyers ruin a negotiation fighting over a point of law. Fiona gets the commercial element when she’s negotiating. She doesn’t push the legal points at the expense of reaching a good deal. That’s because she’s always listening to the client.

Somehow, Fiona has maintained the human touch while being aggressive in pursuit of the right result for her client.

She gets her head around the issues quickly and cuts through to what matters, including the commercial reasons why we would pursue one case and not another. And then she keeps us focused on what’s important.

She’s also able to use different strategies to get a positive result, not just litigation. If you can get the result you want without going to court, that’s excellent.

Fiona doesn’t let that happen. She keeps the matter focused on the end goal and the actual issues.

Also, with Fiona, you don’t get passed through the firm to people who might not understand your business. You’re dealing with Fiona, with her extensive network of colleagues and barristers.

I was surprised how little we had to explain. Instead, she quickly gave us a detached, professional opinion about whether our case was worth pursuing.

With Fiona, it’s not like sitting with lawyers in boardrooms, getting bombarded or feeling like you’re a nuisance. It was actually pleasant.

Fiona is a great lawyer and an adept cross-cultural communicator. She’s insightful, listens well and provides seasoned advice with great customer service.

We appreciate that our work isn’t handed down to a junior associate; it’s handled by Fiona herself with all her skill. And with her experience, she quickly understands our context and the situation, and gives it due consideration and comes back with options that I would not have come up with myself.

The outcome was better than we expected, and we achieved all our goals. Fiona’s advice was invaluable.

All of the business and personal matters Fiona has handled for us have been dealt with professionally and successfully.

Fiona’s legal advice is always honest, practical and commercial. She has the ability to analyse a problem and master the detail whilst not losing sight of the big picture and commerciality of the situation. She explains complex legal concepts clearly and at a level that can be easily understood and applied in a commercial context.

At times her advice has needed to be frank and not necessarily what I wanted to hear. In those circumstances, she has always managed to communicate that advice with tact and understanding.

In addition to being an excellent lawyer, I have really appreciated the respect and sensitivity which she has shown towards my indigenous cultural heritage.

She achieved a great outcome for us every time.

She’s also helped me to be across the myriad legal issues and requirements that are often overwhelming when you don’t have in-house lawyers.

I am so grateful for her expertise, friendly manner and integrity.