John Saunders  Partner

John was admitted as a solicitor in 1983. He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce (UQ), Bachelor of Laws (UQ) and Master of Laws (QUT).

Over the last 27 years, John has assisted and advised his clients in a wide range of legal issues involved in commercial litigation and dispute resolution, including insolvency, trade practices and contract.

As part of his practice he has focused on and gained a great deal of experience and expertise in matters involving insolvency administrations (bankruptcy, receivership, winding up, voluntary administration and deeds of company arrangement) and debt recovery.

John's approach and focus is to work closely with the client to determine at an early stage:

• the strengths and weaknesses of the client's position
• the strengths and weaknesses of the other party's position
• the commercial realities of the situation (ie: are there other issues outside the dispute that require consideration which may influence the way in which the dispute is handled and/or resolved)
• whether mediation or some other form of alternative dispute resolution mechanism is appropriate instead of formal court proceedings

Throughout every dispute, John's overriding objective is to resolve it quickly, cost effectively and with the best business outcome for his clients.

John provides advice to clients on how to help minimise the risk of disputes occurring in the future, for example, advising clients to ensure that detailed and contemporaneous diary notes are maintained of important telephone conversations or meetings and sending letters confirming the content of those conversations or meetings.

John has memberships with the following professional organisations:

• Queensland Law Society
• Law Council of Australia – Insolvency and Reconstruction Committee
• Australian Institute of Credit Management
• INSOL

John's direct telephone number is 3307 4566 or he can be reached via email on jsaunders@shandtaylor.com.au.