Kelly Coulston

Kelly is a highly experienced litigator with deep expertise in complex commercial disputes and major contentious matters. She is known for her pragmatic, early-resolution approach and her ability to navigate high-stakes issues with clarity and commercial judgment. Kelly works collaboratively with clients to deliver clear, efficient and effective dispute strategies.

Experience

Kelly has acted in major proceedings in the Supreme Courts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and the Federal Court of Australia, and has experience in arbitration, adjudication, mediation and expert determination.

Kelly advises clients across energy and infrastructure, mining and resources, financial services, government, retail and real estate. Her practice includes defending complex class actions concerning continuous disclosure, negligence and consumer claims, advising on regulatory investigations, and resolving disputes arising from large-scale infrastructure projects.

Kelly’s specific areas of expertise include advising on:

• complex commercial litigation and major contentious matters
• construction and infrastructure disputes, including upstream and downstream issues and project-specific investigations
• class action defence across shareholder, consumer and operational failure matters, including board level preparedness and strategic response
• regulatory investigations and enforcement matters, including ASIC matters and public inquiries
• project delivery risk management, dispute avoidance, and strategic contract and claims management
• insolvency related disputes and advisory matters for banks, insolvency practitioners and corporates.

Career highlights

Kelly’s career highlights include:

Construction and commercial disputes

• acting for a major contractor on complex upstream and downstream disputes arising from a significant road infrastructure project in Queensland, involving detailed legal and technical issues concerning geotechnical conditions, design, delay and defects, and providing strategic advice on pursuing project-specific contract works and professional indemnity claims
• acting as a key contact and trusted adviser to a market-leading real estate and construction company regarding various joint venture, shareholder and project issues
• acting for an oil and gas company in a major dispute with its EPC Contractor, including responding to rolling security of payment claims and developing a broader disputes strategy
• advising a major mining and metals company on internal investigations, including those arising from whistleblower complaints
• providing "projects in delivery" support to engineering and services businesses, including strategic management of distressed renewable projects and related legal issues, with a focus on dispute avoidance and resolution
• acting as lead internal counsel and instructing external lawyers in major Supreme Court litigation arising from a large scale transport infrastructure project, involving complex technical issues, multiple stakeholders and the development of overarching litigation strategy.

Class Actions

• acting for an Australian based electricity generating company defending a class action alleging contravention of s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)
• acting for a major ASX-listed company defending complex shareholder class action proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales regarding disclosures in respect of its Tier 1 construction business
• acting for an international engineering group defending shareholder class action proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia concerning earnings guidance and continuous disclosure obligations
• acting for two contractors defending shareholder class action proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia concerning the traffic forecasts for a Queensland tollway tunnel
• acting for a franchised retail network listed on the ASX defending consumer class action proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia concerning its lending practices
• acting for a State government in defending complex class action proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria arising from a large scale public program.

Insolvency

• advising banks, insolvency practitioners and corporate clients on a range of insolvency issues.