DAVID GRACE Founding Partner - Consultant Cooper Grace Ward As one of the founding partners of Cooper Grace Ward, David Grace has more than 40 years’ experience in corporate and commercial law and is highly sought after for his expertise. David specialises in competition and consumer law, and in corporate law. He has prepared competition and consumer law compliance programs, acted in two cartel cases and given extensive advice to clients, both corporate and individuals, on competition and consumer law matters. David has delivered training in competition and consumer law to many companies across Australia. His commercial approach to legal problem solving and his knowledge of risk management systems are grounded in his extensive experience as a company director serving on numerous boards. This includes service on the audit committees, operational risk management committees and corporate governance committees of public companies. David has won Lawyer of the Year for Competition and Consumer Law for four consecutive years in the Lawyer Monthly Legal Awards. He is supported by a team of lawyers at Cooper Grace Ward, including special counsel Adelaide Hayes who has wide ranging experience in transactional and corporate advisory work and associate Lochlann Woodall who provides support on competition and consumer law matters. What first sparked your interest in this area of law, and what continues to fuel your passion for it today? I first became seriously interested in this area of law when I was involved in a cartel case spanning the 1990s and early 2000s. What particularly enticed me was the opportunity to engage extensively with the full spectrum of the Board and senior management of the organisations I was advising. Over a number of years on the case, I developed a strong rapport and became very well known to the key stakeholders, which enabled me to more effectively promote the firm’s broader capabilities. The first cartel case took four years to finalise. A few years later, I was asked to act in a second cartel case that took five years to conclude. The work required the assistance of several junior lawyers, fostering heightened interest in this expertise throughout the firm. Building on this momentum, I promoted the formation of a Competition & Consumer Law Committee within the Queensland Law Society and had the honour of serving as its inaugural Chairman. I led the Competition & Consumer Law Committee with commitment for the next ten years. Competition and consumer law sits at the intersection of public policy, regulation and corporate behaviour. What aspects of this field do you find most intellectually challenging – and most rewarding? The vital area of competition and consumer law risk management fundmentally challenges the corporate culture within an organisation. A key aspect of succeeding in this field involves understanding that corporate culture must be shaped from the top down. Through this insight, I identified the need for tailored competition and consumer law programs and began developing such initiatives for various companies. In time this extended to providing general advisory on competition and consumer law, preparing compliance programs for corporate clients and delivering training across diverse sectors of the economy. Training requires a deep comprehensive knowledge of the roles of everyone within a business that intersects with competition and consumer law provisions, which creates a propicious interface with important players in a business and provides the opportunity to continue to elevate the profile of my law firm within the corporate sector. How has your approach evolved in response to recent changes in the enforcement priorities, especially with the ACCC’s current focus areas? Each year, we look for the announcement of the Regulator’s priorities and we incorporate those priorities into our training programs. This way, clients develop their understanding of where the Regulator’s focus is and often leads to the opportunity to provide further legal advice outside competition and consumer law. What trends or issues do you see are most critical for businesses to watch in 2025 and beyond, particularly around consumer protection and digital platforms? The two major areas of competition and consumer law for the digital economy are, in competition law, cartel conduct; and in consumer law, misleading and deceptive conduct, false and misleading conduct and unfair contract terms. Our training emphasises these points and has a heavy leaning towards ensuring participants understand the cartel framework and circumstances where they are at greatest risk of contravention. For consumer law, the focus is on false and misleading and deceiving and deceptive conduct, highlighting situations within a corporation’s daily business where those risks more commonly arise. Tel: +61 7 3231 2421 Email: david.grace@cgw.com.au Online Profile: https://cgw.com.au/people/david-grace/ LinkedIn: www.au.linkedin.com/company/cooper-grace-ward www.cgw.com.au Training requires a deep comprehensive knowledge of the roles of everyone within a business that intersects with competition and consumer law provisions, which creates a propicious interface with important players in a business and provides the opportunity to continue to elevate the profile of my law firm within the corporate sector. AUSTRALIA COMPETITION & CONSUMER LAWYER OF THE YEAR LAWYER MONTHLY LEGAL AWARDS 2025 81 AUSTRALIA COMPETITION & CONSUMER LAWYER OF THE YEAR LAWYER MONTHLY LEGAL AWARDS 2025 80
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