Donald is a Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator practising in building and engineering disputes, arbitration/mediation/expert determination, construction law, commercial law, contract law, insurance law and professional negligence.

Before signing the Victorian bar roll, Donald was a solicitor in the construction group at Mallesons Stephen Jaques.  His prior experience as a consulting engineer for over 20 years included 12 years as a director of a highly respected consulting practice.  In addition to managing engineering projects, he had management roles in contract negotiation and administration, professional indemnity insurance, international joint ventures, overseas projects, and corporate restructuring.  He has acted as an expert witness because of his specialised knowledge of structural engineering.

Since admission to the Supreme Court of Victoria, Donald has been engaged as a solicitor and barrister in a range of complex construction disputes including Supreme and County Court litigation, mediation, expert assisted determination and arbitration (including stop clock arbitration), as well as domestic building disputes in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.  These disputes involved contractual issues, professional negligence, defects, variations, time and programming issues, quantum of claims, security of payment and professional indemnity and contract works insurance.  Donald has been engaged as an arbitrator, as a facilitator of a joint experts’ conference and an expert in contractual disputes. He also has experience in the use of computer database technology for managing large volumes of court documents and preparations for a full electronic trial.

Donald has a Master of Construction Law, is a Grade 3 Arbitrator of the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia and is a qualified mediator.  He has published a number of papers in legal and engineering journals and presented papers at conferences and seminars.  His legal publications include articles on the avoidance of disputes, contractual lessons from past projects, design and construct contracts, quantum meruit, solidary liability, professional indemnity insurance and reinsurance.