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Dr Anton Trichardt
Blur LLB (Pretoria), MALS (Chicago Kent), MLM (UNSW), PhD (UWA)
Room 512, Lonsdale Chambers, 530 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
(03) 8615 7305
0412 582 777
(03) 9670 5756
anton.trichardt@vicbar.com.au
August 2002 (Victoria)
January 1989 (Johannesburg, South Africa)
English, Afrikaans
Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, England and Wales, South Africa,
New Zealand
Areas of Expertise:
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Banking and Finance
Building and Construction Law
Competition Law
Corporate / Commercial Law, including corporate finance, corporate insolvency and securities
regulation, contracts, trade practices
Property Law
Trade/Transport / Maritime Law
Practice Profile:
Anton previously practiced at Mallesons Stephen Jacques (Perth) and Freehills (Sydney), before being
called to the Victorian Bar in 2002. He has appeared in a variety of matters in the High Court, Federal
Court, Victorian Court of Appeal, Supreme Courts of Victoria and Queensland, and the Victorian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal, as well as commercial arbitrations. Anton practices in a wide range of
commercial law, including competition law, building and construction law, property law, transport and
maritime law and banking and finance. He completed his Blur (1980) LLB (1982) at the University of
Pretoria in South Africa. Anton also undertook a Master of American Legal Studies (MALS) on a Fulbright
scholarship at Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a Master of Law and Management (MLM) at the
University of New South Wales. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Western Australia for his
dissertation on maritime liens and conflict of laws. Anton will be submitting his SJD dissertation, Letters
of comfort – a trans-systemic analysis of chameleonic instruments, to UNSW by the end of 2009.
In addition to Mallesons Stephen Jacques and Freehills, Anton’s legal career has seen him work for a
number of leading firms, including: Baker & McKenzie, Chicago, USA; and Edward Nathan & Friedland
Inc, Johannesburg, South Africa. He also practiced at the Johannesburg Bar.
Miscellaneous:
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Fellow Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration
Law Council of Australia member (Insolvency and Reconstruction Committee, Melbourne)
Deputy President of the Australia-Southern Africa Business Council (NSW), Sydney (2001)
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President of the Australia-Southern Africa Business Council (WA) Inc, Perth (1999)
Convened and chaired a two-day Commercial Shipping Law Course at Notre Dame University
(Australia) in Fremantle on 9 and 10 July 1998
Lecturer in Transnational Business Law for the LLM programme, University of Pretoria (1990 and
1992)
Delivered a paper at an international conference on The Future Development of South African
Corporate Law (1993)
Expert witness engaged by McDonalds Corp, USA, regarding the effect of the USA disinvestment
legislation on its activities in South Africa in a test case relating to expungement of trademark
applications
Scholarships and Awards:
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Fulbright Scholarship (1986-7)
H Edsall Olson Scholarship, Chicago-Kent (1986-7)
American Jurisprudence Award for Comparative Law, Chicago-Kent (1987)
American Jurisprudence Award for International Business Transactions, Chicago-Kent (1987)
Chief Justice Rumpff Prize, University of Pretoria (1982)
Publications:
Anton has 40 publications in professional and academic journals in the diverse fields of civil
disobedience and jurisprudence, contract law, corporate law, securities regulation, antitrust law,
insolvency, international law and maritime law. These publications, three of which are monographs,
have been published in England, Australia, South Africa and The Netherlands.
The following is a list of legal publications authored and co-authored by Anton:
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“Ruimtereg” (Space law) 1983 De Jure 95 (law journal of the University of Pretoria)
“Die regsfilosofiese implikasies van die Marxisme” (The jurisprudential implications of Marxism)
1984 Codicillus 17 (law journal of the University of South Africa)
“Die invloed van die eksistensialisme op die regsfilosofie en regswetenskap” (The influence of
existentialism on jurisprudence and the law) 1985 Journal for Contemporary Roman Dutch Law
183 (independent law journal)
“Finbro Furnishers (Pty) Ltd v Registrar of Deeds, Bloemfontein 1985 (4) SA 773 (A)” 1986
Journal for Contemporary Dutch Law 110 (case note on what is a mineral)
“Civil disobedience” 1986 De Rebus 216 (the South African attorneys’ law journal)
“Civil disobedience and jurisprudence” 1986 Comparative and International Law Journal of
South Africa 357 (law journal of the University of South Africa)
“A confession for a concession” 1987 Journal for Contemporary Roman Dutch Law 428 (article
on plea bargaining)
“Computer crime by means of the automated teller machine – just another face of fraud?” 1987
South African Journal for Criminal Law and Criminology 122
“Comfort letters: are they binding under South African law?” 1988 De Rebus 795
“The purchase by a company of its own shares: the English rule vs the American rule”
(monograph published by the Centre for Business Law, Faculty of Law, University of the Orange
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Free State, Bloemfontein, 1989). This publication was also presented formally to the Standing
Advisory Committee on Company Law (SACCL), South Africa, as the main part of a
comprehensive research report on the capital maintenance rule. This publication, which
contained a draft Companies Amendment Bill, was accepted by the SACCL as its official
document. Legislation incorporating recommendations from this publication was subsequently
adopted verbatim in the South African Companies Amendment Act 1999.
“Extraterritorial application of United States antitrust laws: the South African experience and
reaction” (monograph published by the Centre for Business Law, Faculty of Law, University of
the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, 1989)
“Disinvestment, divestment, divestiture – a survey of US state, county and municipal legislation
(monograph published by the Centre for Business Law, Faculty of Law, University of the Orange
Free State, Bloemfontein, 1990)
“Non-extradition of political offenders - a superfluous anachronism?” 1989-1990 Obiter 69 (law
journal of the University of Port Elizabeth)
“Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Malaysia Mining Corporation Bhd (1989) 1 All ER 785 (CA)” 1990 Journal
for Contemporary Roman Dutch Law 436 (case note on comfort letters)
Book review re “H Daniels Technique in Litigation (1993)” in 1994 South African Law Journal.
Paper delivered at an International Conference on The Future Development of South African
Corporate Law held by the Coordinated Research Institute for Corporate Law (CRIC) on 28-31
July 1993 at the Carlton Hotel, Johannesburg, and published as “Capital in Company Law” (1994)
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“Comfort letters in Australia: some pointers for South African auditors and lawyers” 1994 SA
Mercantile Law Journal 360 (law journal of the University of South Africa)
“ ‘Them damaged cargo blues’ – the perils of the sea exception” 1998 (Dec) Brief 10
Reform of South African Corporate Law: Purchase by a Company of its Own Shares, the third
volume in the Corporate Law Development Series of the Co-ordinating Research Institute for
Corporate Law, a sub-committee of the South African Standing Advisory Committee on Company
Law (1998)
“Sub-bailment on terms in Western Australia” 1999 (July) Brief 8
“Rugby administrators take note – a recent development in Antipodean law” (1999) 15
Professional Negligence 153
“Perils of the sea ‘Down Under’ (1999) 10 Stellenbosch Law Review 436 (law journal of the
University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)
“The new Australian Takeover Panel – the end of legalism and tactical litigation?” (2001) 9(1)
Tilburg Foreign Law Review 19 (law review in The Netherlands)
“Plugging black holes: freezing assets in aid of foreign proceedings” June 2001 Law Society
Journal 50
“Comfort letters – a quartet of decisions interrupts the judicial quiescence” (2001) 9(2) Tilburg
Foreign Law Review 162
“Sports, policy and liability of sporting administrators” (2001) 75 Australian Law Journal 504
“Chameleonic documents in law – a comfort letter trilogy” October 2001 Butterworths Journal
for International Banking and Finance Law 416
“Novel causes of action and the common law of obligations” published in LAAMS (Legal and
Accounting Management Seminars Pty Ltd) Conduct in Contracts (NSW), Sydney, 19 March 2002
“Market stabilisation and the Green Shoe option: Some comments from Australia” (2002) 4
International and Comparative Corporate Law Journal 249 (published by the Institute for
Advanced Legal Studies, London)
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“The UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-border Insolvency” (2002) 6 Flinders Journal of Law Reform
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“War clauses in charter-parties – there is more to war than you think” (2003) 19 Journal of
Contract Law 75
“The UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency” (2002) 3(1) Butterworths Insolvency
Law Bulletin 1
“Australian Green Shoes, Price Stabilisation and IPOs – Part 1” (2003) 21 Company and Securities
Law Journal 26
“Australian Green Shoes, Price Stabilisation and IPOs – Part 2” (2003) 21 Company and Securities
Law Journal 75
“The Comfort Letter Trap” (2004) 78(11) Law Institute Journal 46
“Comfort Letters are like boomerangs … they tend to come back” (2005) 26 The Company
Lawyer 54
“The Spectre of Houldsworth in the Antipodes” (2006) 27 The Company Lawyer 155
“The new cross-border insolvency regime” (2008) 20 Australian Insolvency Journal 12
“Cross-border Insolvency” in Butterworths Bankruptcy Law and Practice (chapter in loose leave
service)
“Recovery of Property or Compensation”, “Winding Up of Other Bodies”, Winding Up Generally”
in Butterworths Australian Corporate Law and Practice (chapters updated in loose leave service)