Archive

Rohan practices predominantly in common law with a particular focus on public liability, dust diseases, and insurance claims. He has appeared led and unled in County Court and Supreme Court matters, acting for both plaintiffs and defendants.

In 2025, Rohan was recognised by Doyle’s Guide as recommended Insurance & Personal Injury Junior Counsel.

Before coming to the Bar, Rohan worked as a Senior Associate in the General Insurance team at Wotton Kearney and as a solicitor at DLA Piper in the Litigation & Regulatory team.

Rohan holds a Bachelor of Laws with honours from the University of Melbourne, as well as a Bachelor of Arts and an Associate Performance Diploma (Piano).

Rohan read with Mr Daniel Wallis and his senior mentor is Ms Roisin Annesley KC.

Since coming to the Bar in 2011, Andrew has developed a broad common law practice, with a strong personal injuries focus; his practice includes advice, and more particularly, appearance work – for both plaintiffs and defendants – in the following areas, in particular:

1.   Industrial accident claims (including Serious Injury Applications);

2.  Claims for statutory benefits under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013

3.  Judicial review of medical panel decisions;

4.   Motor vehicle accident claims; an

5.   Public liability claims.

Before signing the Bar Roll, Andrew worked as a solicitor for nine years, practicing primarily in the area of personal injuries (first at Slater & Gordon, and later, at Minter Ellison, where his practice consisted primarily of industrial accident damages claims, and included the management of the Latrobe Valley circuit; he also handled a number of appeals).

Andrew is also a past Chair of the Western Suburbs Legal Service, where he volunteered for over seven years, advising clients across a range of areas.

With more than 30 years’ experience as an advocate at The Victorian Bar, John appears regularly as leading counsel for plaintiffs in common law personal injury damages trials before the County Court of Victoria inclusive of WorkCover, TAC and public liability matters. For more than 15 years, John has appeared at trial in numerous VWA recovery actions for and against plaintiffs seeking statutory indemnity against third parties in accordance with s.138 of the (old) Act, now replaced by s 369 of the (new) Act as well as appearing in worker’s serious injury applications.

John also has a special interest in advising and appearing in product liability and insurance matters (personal injuries and torts other than personal injuries). Recent product liability matters include acting for an injured plaintiff against the manufacturer of an allegedly defective truck and a primary producer, as the plaintiff, against the importer and retail distributor defendants of an allegedly deficient product in proceedings filed in the Major Torts List of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

John has also worked for leading Australian national law firms, US Attorneys and English law firms in tobacco, pharmaceutical and medical device product liability litigation. He also regularly undertakes briefs in common law matters to protect the interests of clients in commercial law, insurance, occupational health and safety, professional negligence, trade practices and Australian Consumer Law matters.

Recent common law personal injury damages cases:

Rawlins v Coca Cola Europacific Partners Australia Pty Ltd [2026] VCC 341 (30 March 2026)

Rawlins v Coca Cola Europacific Partners Australia Pty Ltd [2026] VCC 191 (18 February 2026)

Terceros v Allen Foundry Company Pty Ltd [2024] VCC 1831 (21 November 2024)

Pirrone v Bostik Australia Pty Ltd [2024] VCC 11 (29 January 2024)

Primmer v Don Watson Pty Ltd [2024] VCC 2045 (18 December 2024)

Chol v Pickwick Group Pty Ltd [2023] VCC 66 (6 February 2023)

Lenon v Australian Skydive Pty Ltd [2023] VCC 1255 (25 July 2023)

Recent commercial case:

Al Shawi v Ghaffari – Hesari [2026] FCA 68 (5 February 2026) – interlocutory application seeking removal of a party granted

Professional memberships:

· Victorian Bar

· Commercial Bar Association (Victorian Bar)

· Common Law Bar Association (Victorian Bar)

· Australian Insurance Law Association (AILA) – committee member of AILA (Victoria)

Legal articles and papers:

· Searching for a causal explanation in liability cases

· International Trends in Products Liability – “Forewarned is forearmed”

· Products Liability for the cosmetic manufacturer

· The State-of-the-Art Defence – What state of whose art?

· A Strict Approach to Liability for Defective Products under the EEC Product Liability Directive