Dr Donald Charrett

Donald Charrett is a Barrister, Arbitrator, Mediator and Dispute Board Member practising in building and engineering disputes, arbitration/mediation/expert determination, construction law, commercial law, contract law and professional negligence.

He was named as Best Construction Law Practitioner, Australia - 2016 by Business Worldwide magazine and a Who's Who Legal Thought Leader - Construction 2019-21, 23, 24.

Before signing the Victorian bar roll, Donald was a solicitor in the construction group at Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

His prior experience as a consulting engineer for over 20 years included 12 years as a director of a highly respected consulting practice. In addition to managing engineering projects, he had management roles in contract negotiation and administration, professional indemnity insurance, international joint ventures, overseas projects, and corporate restructuring.

He has acted as an expert witness because of his specialised knowledge of structural engineering. Since admission to the Supreme Court of Victoria, Donald has been engaged in a range of complex construction disputes including Supreme and County Court litigation, mediation, expert determination and arbitration, as well as domestic building disputes in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

These disputes involved contractual issues, professional negligence, defects, variations, time and programming issues, quantum of claims, security of payment and professional indemnity and contract works insurance.

Donald has been engaged as an arbitrator, mediator, as a facilitator of joint experts’ conferences, as expert in contractual disputes and a member/Chair of one and three person Dispute Boards. He also has experience in the use of computer database technology for managing large volumes of court documents and preparations for a full electronic trial.

Donald has a Master of Construction Law, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a qualified mediator and a member of the FIDIC President's List of Adjudicators.

He has published a number of papers in legal and engineering journals and presented papers at conferences and seminars in Australia and internationally. His legal publications include articles on, resolution of construction disputes after COVID-19, insurance for construction projects, economic duress, FIDIC contracts, Dispute Boards, expert evidence, lay evidence, contractual lessons from past projects, the avoidance of disputes, designand construct contracts, quantum meruit, solidary liability, professional indemni

Academic Qualifications

BE (Hons); LLB (Hons); MConst Law; PhD; Prof. Cert. in Arb; Grad Dip LPSE; Dip Company Director’s Course, Diploma in International Arbitration.

Professional Affiliations

Member of Victorian Bar; Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; Member FIDIC President’s List of Adjudicators; Member FIDIC Body of Adjudicators; Member Dispute Resolution Board Australasia Inc; Fellow Institution of Engineers Australia; Founding Member Society of Construction Law Australia.

Named as Best Construction Law Practitioner, Australia 2016 by Business Worldwide magazine. Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader – Construction 2019-21,23, 24.

Professional Experience

2004 – Present: Victorian Bar

Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator practising in building and engineering disputes, arbitration/mediation, construction law, commercial law, contract law, insurance law and professional negligence.  Briefs have included:

• Expert Determination of disputed variations on the construction of two schools (2019). (Lahey Constructions Pty Ltd v State of NSW [2021] NSWCA 69).
• Expert determination of disputes over extension of time claims on a road construction project (2016).
• Expert Determination of a dispute over defects in a water treatment plant in Victoria (2014).
• Chair of Neutral Evaluation Panel to recommend resolution of disputes over time extension claims on a large resource project in West Australia (2011).
• Appointed by Supreme Court of Victoria as Special Referee on a contractual dispute over recycled glass (2016 – 2019). 
• Appointed by Supreme Court of Victoria as Special Referee on contractual disputes over solar power (2017).
• Sole Arbitrator of disputes over extensions of time on a construction project in PNG (2016 – 2019).
• Sole Arbitrator of a dispute over a settlement agreement (2018).
• Sole Arbitrator of dispute over sound wall on a Victorian highway (2014).
• Sole Arbitrator of a dispute over construction of a tennis court (2013).
• Joint Arbitrator of payment dispute in respect of material supplied for construction of a building (2011).
• Sole Arbitrator of dispute over consultancy services for a cogeneration plant in Victoria (2010).
• Sole Arbitrator of dispute over additional costs claimed as a consequence of Engineer’s instruction during construction of a bridge in Victoria (2008).
• Chair of Neutral Evaluation Panel to recommend resolution of disputes over time extension claims on a large resource project in West Australia (2011).
• One-person Dispute Avoidance Board on a design and construct contract for a major highway bridge in NSW (2016 – 2019)

nted by FIDIC President as Dispute Adjudication Board for a road project in Kazakhstan (2018).Chair of Dispute Avoidance Board appointed to a design and construct contract for a major highway upgrade in NSW (2013 - 2018). One-person Dispute Board appointed under FIDIC MDB Contract to adjudicate on a number of disputes on a bridge construction project in a Pacific country (2015 – 2016).Member of Dispute Resolution Board on a train stabling project constructed for Transport for NSW (2012 – 2014).One-person Dispute Adjudication Board appointed under FIDIC Silver Book to adjudicate on a number of disputes on an EPC project in Africa (2012 – 2013).Facilitation of Experts’ Conference on quantum issues arising from a building dispute (2020).Facilitation of Experts’ Conferences on programming and quantum issues arising from a building dispute (2019).Facilitation of Experts' Conferences of electrical engineers and architects arising from a switchboard fire (2017).Facilitation of Experts’ Conferences on technical and quantum disputes arising from a mineral processing facility in WA (2015).Facilitation of Experts’ Conference on disputes over defects in a rural highway in a high rainfall area in WA (2014).Facilitation of an Experts’ Conference of international experts and preparation of Joint Experts’ Report for a three-party dispute involving the lining failure in solvent tanks in the Olympic Dam  mineral processing plant in South Australia (2005). (BHP Billiton (Olympic Dam) Corporation Pty Ltd v Steuler Industriewerke GMBH [2009] VSC 322).Mediation of construction disputes involving: wind farm construction; independent certification; defects in reinforced plastic tanks; defects in induction furnaces; omissions, ambiguities and discrepancies in design documentation; defects in a domestic building; material transport (2009 – 2019).Advice on the application of FIDIC contracts in a Middle East country (2021).Advice on contractual issues arising from a solar farm project (2020).Advice on the application of FIDIC contracts to an infrastructure and technology project in the Philippines (2011, 2019).Counsel in a stop clock arbitration of a complex dispute on an oil and gas project in Victoria involving an offshore platform, onshore gas plant and pipelines, involving preparation of opinions, submissions and pleadings, briefing experts and interviewing lay witnesses and cross-examining witnesses (2005 – 2008). Court and Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal appearances as counsel in a range of construction disputes involving payment, variations, defects, extensions of time and applications in connection with statutory provisions for security of payment.

Delivery of conference papers, seminars and training courses on EPC, FIDIC contracts, Dispute Boards et al in Indonesia, Korea, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia.

2012- 2014: AMOG Pty Ltd Non-Executive Chairman           
2010 – 2011: Non-Executive Director.

AMOGis a consulting engineering firm that provides a broad range of specialist services to the offshore oil and gas, mining, process and defence sectors, marine construction companies and government organisations in high technology niche areas, with particular expertise in structural engineering and expert witness work.  It has offices in Melbourne, Perth, Houston USA and Colombia.