People

Matthew Bransgrove holds a Bachelor of Laws and was admitted to the NSW Supreme Court in 1992. He has presented over fifteen papers for the NSW College of Law on mortgage related topics. He is a co-author of the 2008 LexisNexis textbook ‘The Essential Guide to Mortgage Law in NSW’. He has written eight articles on mortgage related topics for the NSW Law Society Journal. His articles in the NSW Law Society Journal and his textbook have both been cited with approval by the NSW Supreme Court. He has practised exclusively in the field of mortgage law and mortgage related litigation since 1998.

At Bransgroves, Matthew is responsible for practise management and the vetting of new matters. This involves appraising the evidence and issues, and determining a general strategy to take the matter forward. He does not have the day-to-day conduct of any litigation matters. He has the primary conduct of all mortgage advances acted on by the firm. Each month, Matthew reviews all case law handed down in the NSW and federal jurisdictions, and writes case notes on them, which are published on this website and, where the decision is significant, in the NSW Law Society Journal.

In his spare time, Matthew enjoys reading elementary books of public right including Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c.

Lesa Richards holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland and a Master of Laws from the University of London. Lesa was admitted as a solicitor of the Queensland Supreme Court in 1996 and the UK Supreme Court in 2002 and as a barrister of the NSW Bar Association in 2009. After working at Minter Ellison Lawyers in Brisbane, Lesa spent the next ten years abroad, working at Allen & Overy and White & Case Lawyers. Following completion of her Master of Laws in international finance in 1998, Lesa has practiced exclusively in the field of finance law and finance litigation. Lesa worked on the trading floor of Morgan Stanley in London and completed the UK Securities and Investment Institute exams in Investments.

Following her return to Australia, Lesa worked at Macquarie Bank in Sydney before moving to the bar in 2009 to act as counsel in various class action litigation involving  a range of financial products and banks. Lesa’s crossover of skills in both banking and law meant that she was uniquely placed to apply her knowledge of the workings of financial products from her structuring desk days to advise on complex litigation involving this asset class at the bar. Lesa has written articles for the Australian Law Journal and the NSW Law Society Journal.

Lesa joined Bransgroves in 2011 as partner and is now responsible for litigation involving all types of financial products and all entities involved in the offering and distribution of financial products to the market. Lesa's extensive knowledge of structured products, securitisations and derivatives from her banking and finance days makes her a versatile lawyer at ease with banking concepts. Each month, Lesa reviews all case law handed down in the NSW and federal jurisdictions, and writes case notes on the most significant of them, which are published on this website and, where the decision is significant, in the Australian Law Journal and the NSW Law Society Journal.
 

Kate is the Partner in charge of legal services. In this role she allocates new matters and determines strategy. She specialises in Supreme Court litigation in the fields of mortgage enforcement, professional negligence, originator/funder disputes, and family provisions cases.

Kate has written multiple articles for the NSW Law Society Journal and regularly lectures on topics pertaining to mortgage law for the NSW College of Law. She is an expert on Proportionate Liability, Managed Investments Law and Consumer Credit Legislation and Property Law legislation in NSW.

Kate has been involved with the systems and precedents adopted by the Supreme Court Registry through her long-time membership of the Supreme Court's Possession List User's Group which meets regularly with His Honour Justice Davies to consider ways to improve the efficiency of the possession list

Rachael is a Partner in our litigation department where she specialises in Supreme Court litigation in the fields of mortgage enforcement, professional negligence, and originator/funder disputes, and family provisions cases.

Rachael has been involved with the systems and precedents adopted by the Supreme Court Registry through her long-time membership of the Supreme Court's Possession List User's Group which meets regularly with His Honour Justice Davies to consider ways to improve the efficiency of the possession list. Rachael is the firm expert on contracts for Sale of Land and partner in charge of major clients.

Georgia is a Partner in our litigation department where she specialises in originator/funder or broker/originator disputes, proportionate liability and complex contractual disputes.

Georgia has been involved with the systems and precedents adopted by the Supreme Court Registry through her long-time membership of the Supreme Court's Possession List User's Group which meets regularly with His Honour Justice Davies to consider ways to improve the efficiency of the possession list.

Georgia is the firm expert on proportionate liability and funder law.

Caitilin is a solicitor in our litigation department where she specialises in originator/funder disputes, mortgage enforcement and complex contractual disputes. She also has in depth experience suing solicitors for negligence.

Caitilin has been involved with the systems and precedents adopted by the Supreme Court Registry through her long-time membership of the Supreme Court's Possession List User's Group which meets regularly with His Honour Justice Davies to consider ways to improve the efficiency of the possession list.

In her spare time she is a keen skiier.

Amy is a solicitor in our litigation department where she specialises in Supreme Court litigation in the fields of mortgage enforcement, professional negligence, and originator/funder disputes.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Social Science from Bond University.

Amy is an avid reader of classic novels and enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Lauren is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Technology, which she will complete in 2012.

At Bransgroves she works as a billing clerk. Lauren enters the time into our billing system for our solicitors, and generates and sends out our fully itemised bills. She is the first point of contact with our clients in relation to billing queries. During her university holidays she works as a paralegal.

Lauren received the NSW Premier’s Award for her HSC result of 97.7. She was also a Physical Culture (dance) national finalist, and now enjoys teaching children her dancing skills.

Nicole is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce / Bachelor of Laws at the University of Western Sydney, which she will complete at the end of 2013.

At Bransgroves she works as a accounts clerk, paralegal and website administrator. As accounts clerk she reconciles all payments and receipts and audits the integrity of trust account records. As paralegal, she assists our solicitors with correspondence, discovery, and attends on the Supreme Court before judicial registrars for mentions and return of subpoena. She also attends settlements (mortgage discharges and advances). As Website administrator she uploads academic articles written by the firm's solicitors and also uploads all monthly mortgage case notes.

Nicole is a recipient of the UWS Academic Excellence Scholarship, was selected for the UWS Aspire Future Leaders Program, won the WHS Principals Award for Academic Excellence and Commitment to School Activities, won the University of Wollongong Academic Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in the 2008 HSC, and won the High Achiever Award for being 1st Legal Studies 2008 HSC.

In her spare time Nicole enjoys spending time with her family and friends, going to the beach and playing bass guitar and keyboard.

Victoria is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Business- Commerce/Bachelor of Laws at the University of Western Sydney, which she will complete at the end of 2012. Her business major is Human Resources.

At Bransgroves she works as a filing clerk/paralegal. In this role she assists our solicitors with correspondence, discovery, and attends on the Supreme Court Registry and on the Land Title’s Office to file our clients’ documents. She also attends settlements (mortgage discharges and advances).

In her spare time she plays netball, basketball and is a keen skiier. She has represented her University in both basketball and netball. 

Jodie is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Law/Bachelor of Science at the University of Wollongong, which she will complete at the end of 2014. Her science major is Psychology.

At Bransgroves she works as a filing clerk/paralegal. In this role she assists our solicitors with correspondence, discovery and attends on the Supreme Court Registry and on the Land Title's Office to file our clients' documents.

In her spare time she plays soccer, oztag and enjoys swimming spending time with her family and friends.

Cassandra is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Politics) at Macquarie University, which she will complete at the end of 2012.

At Bransgroves she works as a filing clerk/paralegal. In this role she assists our solicitors with correspondence, discovery and attends on the Supreme Court Registry and on the Land Title's Office to file our clients' documents.

 In her spare time Cassandra enjoys Model United Nations, debating and yoga.