PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE:
Rebecca Collins has a broad commercial litigation practice with a particular focus on insolvency, financial services, construction and resources disputes. She also has experience in property, professional negligence, consumer law, regulatory matters and representing clients in a Royal Commission.
Rebecca has acted for banks (including the Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac, ANZ, Macquarie Bank), funds, resource companies (including on the multi-billion dollar Sino Iron project), insolvency practitioners, ASIC, investors and creditors on a wide range of contentious matters. She previously practised as an attorney at law in the Cayman Islands and has acted on a number of multi-jurisdictional disputes including cross-border insolvency disputes. She brings technical expertise and an understanding of commercial drivers to deliver practical strategies and solutions. She also accepts briefs directly from in-house legal counsel.
Rebecca began her career at Mallesons in Perth, including a secondment to NAB where she acted as legal counsel in litigation. Immediately before the bar, she was a senior associate at Allens. She has appeared as counsel in the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the District Court, the State Administrative Tribunal and the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. She has also acted in both international and domestic arbitrations.
Rebecca has a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours and Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours and a PhD in philosophy from UWA with prizes in Evidence, Conflict of Laws and the KW Hatfield Memorial Fund Prize. She obtained a BCL from Oxford University. While studying at Oxford University she was also an Associate Editor of the Oxford Commonwealth Law Journal. She was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award to undertake a PhD in philosophy.
Rebecca understands the demands made on solicitors in trying to balance a range of competing commitments and is able to adapt to her instructors’ schedules to deliver what is required.
Rebecca has been a guest lecturer on personal property securities law in the Insolvency Law unit at UWA. She has also published widely including in the areas of insolvency and personal property securities law as well as in history and philosophy journals.
Rebecca is on the joint Law Council of Australia and Law Society of WA’s Insolvency and Restructuring committee and the Law Society of WA’s Courts committee. She was formerly on the WA committee of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA).