Steve White
Steve White has more reported arbitrations than any other arbitrator in Australia . In every case his arbitral decisions have been upheld by the Court and become enforceable judgments of the Court as if they were made by a Court in the first instance. His reported decisions have included jurisdiction, specific performance, injunctions, damages, declarations, proceedings against third parties and substantial costs orders in relation to technically complicated subject matter. His decisions have been cited with approval and followed by various Courts in subsequent cases and extensively relied upon to support arbitral process and cited with approval for the speed and enforcement of same.
His particular skill is in relation to the high speed determination of very complicated commercial matters. Those matters include, without limitation, engineering, energy (including renewable energy), mining, intellectual property, information technology and telecommunications. He has bachelor degrees in law and computer science and 20 years as counsel.
He has conducted very large litigation involving software . He has successfully defended important worldwide class litigation involving the global domain name root servers and software ownership.
He is a member of the following panels, amongst others:
- Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre
- Shenzhen Arbitration Commission Panel of Arbitrators
- Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (fellow)
- WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre
- auDA Review Panel
- ACDC Arbitration Panel
- The Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Grade 1 (top) arbitration panel (fellow)
- LEADR
- Law Society of New South Wales
- Law Institute of Victoria
He was made a fellow of the Australian Computer Society for his contribution to dispute resolution in relation to the ITC industry. He is an accredited mediator. He has made many expert determinations including the determination of breach of contract claims and damages in relation to hardware and software disputes, breach of contract claims and damages in relation to telecommunications billing disputes.
He has conducted many audits including the auditing of whether or not information technology infrastructure has be properly decommissioned and if so when the auditing of the removal of intellectual property and other electronic data. He has supervised the execution of Anton Piller Orders on behalf of the Federal Court of Australia and Microsoft Inc.
He has appropriate Australian Government Security Clearances.
He does not charge travelling or accommodation costs and is available for arbitral, mediation and expert determination matters.
Before practising law and ADR, he worked for IBM in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia as a technical instructor for IBM and its clients.
For more information visit www.arbitrator.com.au, www.mediator.com.au, www.expertdeterminer.com.au
Reported Arbitral Decisions
Larkden Pty Limited -v- Lloyd Energy Systems Pty Limited [2011] NSWSC 1567
- Our Mr White was the arbitrator in this matter.
- Commercial Arbitration Act s33B(1)
- Mr White's costs award of approximately $1m was upheld by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
- Followed in: Bluechip Development Corporation (Gladstone) Pty Ltd v Sunstruct Pty Ltd & Ors (No. 2) [2013] FCCA 1898
Larkden Pty Limited -v- Lloyd Energy Systems Pty Limited [2011] NSWSC 1331
- Our Mr White was the arbitrator in this matter.
- Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW), ss 35 and 36
- Award by arbitrator declaring a constructive trust, ordering specific performance of a Licencing Agreement and requiring the defendant to take steps
- Recognition and enforcement opposed on the basis that part of the Award dealt with the dispute not contemplated by or falling within the terms of arbitration and that recognition and enforcement of parts of the Award would be contrary to the public policy of this State
- Orders for recognition and enforcement made
- For third party commentary about this leading decision please visit the following links:
Larkden Pty Limited -v- Lloyd Energy Systems Pty Limited [2011] NSWSC 1305
- Our Mr White was the arbitrator in this matter.
- Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s440D
- An application for leave to bring and continue proceedings against a company in voluntary administration for recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award pursuant to Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) s 35
- Nature of discretion to be exercised
- Relevant circumstances
- Leave granted
- For third party commentary about this leading decision please visit the following links:
- Allen Arthur Robinson Focus: Is it easier to bring proceedings against companies in administration?
- Ashfords Solicitors Cross Border Restructuring & Insolvency
- Pmf Legal Insolvency International
- Followed in:
- Cited in:
Larkden Pty Limited -v- Lloyd Energy Systems Pty Limited [2011] NSWSC 268
- Our Mr White was the arbitrator in this matter which included two substantial arbitrations involving renewable energy technology.
- This was one of the first reported cases under the leading arbitration legislative instrument in Australia namely the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) which follows the UNCITRAL model and is being adopted in slightly different forms in each state and territory of Australia.
- This case was also cited with approval in:
- For third party commentary about this leading decision please visit the following links:
- Mr Warrick Rothnie, Leading IP/IT Counsel (formerly partner Mallesons Stephens Jaques)Mallesons Stephens Jaques, Mr Jason Clapham, Senior Associate
- Piper Alderman, Mr Andrew Robertson, Partner
- AR Conolly & Company Lawyers
- Mallesons Stephens Jaques, Adjunct Professor Max Bonnell, Partner
- TollFree800Legal.com
- Lexology
- i-law
- Supreme Court of Victoria Commercial Court
- Bazpat IP Clauses in Licensing Agreements
- This was the first decision under the new Act for recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award. The brevity of the process and the positive outcome, in that the award was enforced, bodes well for the efficacy of enforcement actions pursuant to the new Act.
April 30, 2010 - Oakton Services Pty Ltd v Tenix Solutions IMES Pty Ltd [2010] VSC 176
- Our Mr White did all the preparatory arbitration work for Tenix Solutions IMES Pty Ltd for over 12 months including running the dispute process which was the subject of this reported decision.
Unreported Decisions
- whether a Tribunal should proceed with the arbitration whilst it is subject to appeal pursuant to s16(9) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW)
- disclosure of confidential information to a non-arbitral party pursuant to Section 27G of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW)
- whether or not particular discovery should be permitted pursuant to Section 19(2) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW)
Browse Pool Members
- Philip Argy
- Roger Davis
- Mark Dempsey SC
- Francis Douglas QC
- Raymond Finkelstein QC
- Steven Goldstein
- Malcolm Gracie
- Ian Harley Bailey QC
- Michael Heaton QC
- Jim Holmes
- Sibylle Krieger
- David Levin QC
- Terry Mehigan
- Albert Monichino SC
- Dr Rob Nicholls
- Jonathon Redwood
- The Hon DM Ryan QC
- Tony Samuel
- Michael Shand QC
- Michael Sweeney
- Greg Thorpe
- Steve White