Annmarie Geros

Annmarie is a Dispute Resolution and Litigation Lawyer, with experience and expertise across various practice areas. Annmarie is well placed to spot legal issues quickly and address them efficiently with the view of resolving disputes during the pre-litigation stage.

Annmarie has acted for a breadth of clients from individuals, small to medium businesses, and large corporations. Annmarie enjoys getting to know her clients and their business, so that she can provide her clients with practical legal advice. In her pursuit to provide her clients with service, a cut above the rest, aside from providing clear yet technical legal advice, Annmarie keeps clients informed at every step of their matter so that they always feel that they are in the driver’s seat.

Where necessary Annmarie is equipped to appear as a solicitor advocate, drawing on her advocacy skills from her appearance work at both the State and Federal levels. Annmarie brings with her an enthusiasm and enjoyment of the law, which translates into commercially suitable, cost-effective outcomes for her clients.

Apart from advising her clients and advocating for them throughout their matter, Annmarie sits on the professional development sub-committee of the Women in Insolvency and Restructuring Victoria (WIRV) Committee 2022. Annmarie is a strong advocate for supporting and mentoring other Junior Lawyers whilst remaining at the forefront of the substantive and practical issues facing her clients’ business and legal needs.

Annmarie’s Commercial Litigation and Insolvency work includes some of the following:

Insolvency:

• Advising on debt recovery disputes, including on the merits of recovery and the likelihood of success;
• Acting for unsecured and secured creditors in wind-up proceedings, appearing and negotiating to resolve same;
• Acting for creditors in complex bankruptcy proceedings, involving multiple companies, trusts, loan agreements, and where there have been ongoing proceedings in the Family Court of Australia;
• Providing advice and issuing statutory demands for debt recovery; defending Set Aside Applications;
• Preparing Proof of Debt and Reports on Company Activities and Property;
• Appearing in bankruptcy hearings;
• Advising on transactions to defeat creditors pursuant to section 120 (undervalued transactions)/121(transfer to defeat creditors) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966;
• Appearing at wind-up hearings to adjourn, settle or wind-up debtor companies;
• Advising and instructing on Appeals from wind-up applications;
• Advising upon and defending unfair preference claims, voidable transactions and unreasonable director-related transactions;
• Acting on behalf of administrators/liquidators for companies in voluntary/involuntary administration, including reviewing Deeds of Company Arrangements (‘DOCA’); and
• Advising directors with respect to insolvent trading claims brought against them and appearing on their behalf.

Corporate and Commercial Litigation:

• Providing advice and preparing commercial agreements;
• Assisting counsel to advise on the merits of Appeal;
• Reviewing and providing advice upon costs disputes, including the taxation of costs;
• Advising on contractual disputes, including shareholders and partnership disputes, interpretation of contractual disputes, and general commercial and property agreements;
• Advising on the sale of land and building contracts, sale and purchase of business, seeking and obtaining an urgent injunction to prohibit a lender from taking possession of a development site, reviewing and advising on lease agreements, including disputes regarding the novel COVID-19 and the new regulatory provisions and legislative changes;
• Issuing proceedings for the sale of real property; seeking warrant for the seizure and sale of real property;
• Acting for clients in oppression proceedings both issuing and defending claims;
• Advising individual clients and companies on lending disputes and the AFCA process; and
• Appearing in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for urgent hearings injunctions and successfully obtaining costs (in a no-cost jurisdiction), pursuant to section 109 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic).

• Past Co-Chair of the LIV Young Lawyers Editorial Committee
• WIRV Professional Development Committee Member 2022