Jason is an experienced junior counsel with a broad practice. 

He focuses principally on general commercial litigation. He also acts and advises in administrative law, bankruptcy and insolvency, building and construction, competition law, criminal and regulatory prosecutions, human rights and professional negligence. 

His clients have included “big four” banks (CBA and ANZ), local councils (Gold Coast City Council and Sunshine Coast Council), liquidators, large and small scale companies, bodies corporate and individuals.

He represents clients both led and without a leader in trials, appeals, applications and mediations. He has a considerable amount of experience ‘on his feet’, having worked as a solicitor advocate for years before coming to the Bar in 2019. 

Large and complex civil litigation

Jason is regularly briefed in complex large-scale litigation. In Gold Coast City Council v Wilkins & Ors (BS 11722/20) he acted for the plaintiff Council in a professional negligence suit involving over a dozen parties. Another large and complex case concerned a building and construction adjudication between a mine operator and a ventilation contractor, in which the operator brought a $28M setoff. Jason (led by Matthew Jones now KC) succeeded in recovering $4.7.M plus costs for the client and defeating the setoff in its entirety. 

Appellate work

Jason has appeared unled in the Court of Appeal, including against silk. Most recently, he appeared for the respondent body corporate in a landmark appeal concerning novel questions of law under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) and its application to body corporate adjudicators.  The intervening Attorney-General was represented by Gim Del Villar KC S-G and Kent Blore, and the intervening Human Rights Commission was represented by Paula Morreau KC. Judgment has been reserved. 

In 2024, Jason appeared unled in the Court of Appeal for the successful appellant in a rape conviction appeal: R v MDY [2024] QCA 119. 

Other significant appellate experience includes his appearances with Stephen Lee for the successful appellant in a significant contractual dispute, and subsequently in a special leave application to the High Court of Australia which was successfully resisted: Allen v G Developments Pty Ltd [2019] QCA 287; G v Developments Pty Ltd [2020] HCA Trans 74, 5 June 2020. 

Criminal and regulatory work  

Jason has appeared for both the prosecution and defence on numerous serious criminal matters including trials, sentences and appeals. In 2022, he appeared with Phil Dunn QC for a man charged with alleged Syria-related terrorism offences and was successful in applying for Supreme Court bail, requiring demonstration of the notoriously stringent ‘exceptional circumstances’ test. 

He has represented an examinee in a coercive examination under the ASIC Act, and he regularly defends companies and individuals charged with offences in regulatory prosecutions such as under the Electrical Safety Act and the Food Act.

Experience prior to the Bar 

Prior to coming to the Bar, Jason practised as a senior solicitor at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Legal Aid Queensland. He was also a judge’s associate. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the Queensland University of Technology. 

Jason undertakes pro bono work. He is an active member of the Queensland Bar Association and currently sits on the New Bar Committee.