Paul Lack

Senior Principal Lawyer

Paul has practised in all courts in the areas of commercial litigation, defamation law, false imprisonment litigation, State revenue appeals and land title disputes since joining Crown Law in 2002. He is also experienced in acting and advising on claims for pure economic loss, nuisance, trespass, promissory estoppel and breach of statutory duty.

Paul also has expertise in relation to third party requests for disclosure of documents, including notices of non-party disclosure, subpoenas and summonses issued from all State courts in both civil and criminal matters, the Federal Court, the Family Court, QCAT and requests issued out of courts from other States. 

Paul has been involved in significant State matters including representing the State in the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry and being a member of the team representing the State in the Bundaberg Hospital and Queensland Hospitals Commissions of Inquiry.

Before joining Crown Law in 2002, Paul worked in private practice where he gained experience in commercial litigation, personal injuries, building disputes, criminal law, family law, employment law, discrimination law, conveyancing and debt recovery.

  • Recovering costs by a redirection of monies on behalf of the Queensland Government Insurance Fund in the Supreme Court matter of Bazley v State of Queensland & Ors.
  • Defending the Queensland Police Service in Supreme Court proceedings for false imprisonment and negligence commenced by a plaintiff who was arrested and charged for murder and the conviction overturned on appeal (Ferguson v State of Queensland & Anor [2007] QSC 322).
  • Acting for the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs responding to an application for an urgent injunction to prevent the transfer of title of land the subject of the Mabo determination.
  • Acting for the State of Queensland in the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry which involved the coordination of instructions from 13 Government agencies.
  • Acting for the State in the multi-million dollar Federal Court proceedings of Telstra Corporation v State of Queensland which challenges the constitutional validity of Queensland Land Regulations imposing lease fees on telecommunications carriers.
  • Acting for various Ministers and government employees defending defamation proceedings including responding to concerns notices under the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld).
  • Representing Departments in QCAT proceedings, for example, the Department of Education, Training and Employment as a party to proceedings under the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994;  and the Department of Housing and Public Works as a party to proceedings under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Department of Housing & Public Works v Johnson (Townsville Mags Court 2015).
  • Acting on behalf of the State and the registrar of titles in respect of various compensation claims for fraud under the Land Title Act 1994 (Qld).
  • Representing the Commissioner of State Revenue in a Supreme Court appeal regarding the liability of a company to pay land rich duty (Sojitz Coal Resources Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue [2015] 7 QLR).
  • Obtaining judgment for the Commissioner of State Revenue to recover significant unpaid land tax (Commissioner of State Revenue v Amos [2014] QSC 128).
  • Acting for the Coordinator-General in matters to recover possession of land.