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Ante Golem

Partner and Joint Global Head of Construction & Infrastructure Disputes
Perth Australia

Ante is a partner in the Australian Dispute Resolution team and is section head of the Perth Disputes team.

Ante has extensive experience in commercial dispute resolution, with a focus on disputes in the construction, engineering, mining, energy and resources and infrastructure sectors. He specialises in advising clients in respect of construction disputes across a variety of sectors. He has been recognised as a Leading Construction & Infrastructure Litigation Lawyers – WA – 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Doyle’s Guide.

Based in Perth, Ante is focused on delivering strong commercial outcomes. He advises clients throughout the Asia Pacific region and has developed close relationships with many of the firm’s key clients.

Ante has also developed significant experience in class action litigation and has acted in some of Australia’s largest class action proceedings. He is one of the contributing authors to the text book, 25 Years of Class Actions in Australia.

Ante has represented clients in various federal and state courts in Australia, international and domestic arbitrations and before investigatory bodies, as well as in multi-party negotiations, mediations and other alternative forms of dispute resolution. He regularly advises clients in respect of strategic claims and project management and adjudications under the Construction Contracts Act 2004 (WA).

Ante has proven himself to be able to work closely with clients’ in-house legal teams in order to achieve a preferred resolution strategy. As part of this, he regularly collaborates with consultants and independent experts across a variety of fields. 

Background

Ante graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce with majors in Accounting and Finance.  Prior to commencing at the firm, he worked at the Supreme Court of Western Australia as the Associate to the Honourable Justice Carmel McLure.

Ante is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Western Australia and in the Federal and High Courts of Australia.

He has also lectured and tutored at the Murdoch University Law School.

He is a member of the Society of Construction Law Australia, a Fellow of Leadership WA, a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia and, since 2013, has been a member of the board of Ronald McDonald House Charities (WA).

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

  • advising a major international oil & gas principal on disputes relating to certain packages of its major project, including in relation to claims about defects, variations and prolongation costs 
  • advise Samsung C&T, the EPC Contractor, on the Roy Hill Project in relation to numerous claims, disputes, adjudications and project issues with Forge Group and Duro Felguera Australia Pty Limited. This has involved dealing with an application for public examinations in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, various hearings and appeals concerning Samsung C&T calling down performance bonds on the project, adjudications under the Construction Contracts Act 2004 (WA) and related judicial review proceedings, international arbitration proceedings and numerous other project issues under a large number of subcontracts;
  • defending Iluka Resources in relation to a class action, including a preliminary discovery application in the Federal Court of Australia in relation to the claim;
  • advised an ASX top 20 company in relation to the risk of a potential shareholder class action;
  • advised a Canadian listed company in relation to a dispute in Papua New Guinea concerning the ownership of certain petroleum licences. The dispute involved proceedings in Papua New Guinea and an ICC arbitration;
  • advising an ASX listed energy company in relation to a dispute with its joint venture partners concerning petroleum licences off the coast of the Canary Islands;
  • acting for various energy companies in relation to gas price reviews;
  • defending OZ Minerals in funded shareholder class actions, which raised allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct and contraventions of Australian securities law; and
  • defending Centro in several landmark multiparty litigation-funded shareholder class actions, regarded as one of the most complex class actions in Australian history which involved allegations of contraventions of Australian securities laws and in the context of the $16 billion restructure of the Centro Group.