FAQ

Leonardus Smits has become a prominent member of the legal community in Eastern Australia since 1976. Leonardus Smits Lawyer offers a broad variety of legal services to clients throughout Australia. Leonardus Smits provides counsel and strategic representation in a diverse range of practice areas for all kinds of clients operating in a wide cross-section of industries.

With over 40 years of experience as a prominent lawyer, Leonardus Smits lawyer is well-positioned to handle a broad spectrum of challenging, novel and complex legal issues and matters.

Our clients receive comprehensive, cost-effective and efficient representation at every stage of the legal process, with a view to achieving innovative, pragmatic and successful outcomes.

With extensive representation in complex and diverse real estate, construction, development, commercial, tortious, trust, consumer, and litigation matters. Leonardus Smits has established a strong reputation for helping small and mid-sized businesses, large corporations, banks, insurance carriers, public institutions and other entities across the nation to navigate and overcome legal challenges of every kind – from the seemingly routine to the extraordinarily sophisticated matters. Leonardus is recognized as a dedicated lawyer, with intense attitudes and research, committed to developing practical solutions that best serve our clients’ legal and business objectives.

Leonardus Smits meticulously investigates and examines every conceivable facet of a case to ensure a polished, powerful and result driven, presentation that gives his clients the best or realistic prospects of success.

Unlike many larger firms, Leonardus is able and dedicated to providing clients with individualized attention they deserve throughout the course of our legal representation.

Leonardus Smits regularly represents parties in superior court and cross-border litigation. Many of his cases involve multi-million dollar claims, complex documentary databases and complicated questions of fact and law. Recognizing that endless, protracted or lingering disputes erode our client’s resources, time, and goodwill, Leonardus acts decisively and effectively to resolve critical issue effectively and efficiently.

We approach cases differently than other law firms that seek merely to “litigate.” and run matters whatever the costs the clients incur, with no responsibility for the reasonably foreseeable outcomes, favourable or unfavourable. We take the view that its not just a matter of going through the motions. We begin every matter with the assumption that litigation will run its course, however, concurrently, there are always overarching and non-litigious strategies. This focuses us on the key issues, strategies that have been overlooked and alternative analyses and untried approaches that are likely to decide or override the outcome of each case. As a result, not only are we always prepared to run the case if that is necessary, we work to avoid unproductive pre-trial motions, minimize discovery costs, and obtain pretrial outcomes for our clients. We encourage clients to take a pro-active involvement in matters rather than slavishly following advisers, especially counsel, who are often driven by different markers and results to clients. They need to be managed as resources rather than dictators of legal processes, without demur or direction.

Business, Corporate, Consumer, Commercial & Litigations Matters.

We provide a full range of corporate counselling and curial services to our clients including organizing and structuring business entities, mergers and acquisitions work, bank and corporate financing, restructuring of debt and equity, and the preparation and negotiation of agreements such as partnership agreements, shareholder agreements, employment contracts, license agreements, lease agreements, equipment agreements, franchise agreements and distribution agreements.

Litigation is not always resolved at the trial level and, sometimes, cases must be appealed to challenge a decision of the lower court. We are well-versed in appeals that cover a wide array of substantive legal areas and often involve novel legal theories, significant sums of money, or unsettled legal issues.

We have successfully pursued or defended numerous appeals in federal and state appellate courts, and possess the requisite experience and sophisticated brief writing and oral advocacy skills to handle appeals on behalf of our clients.

The firm handles a wide range of real estate litigation matters, including:

• Fraud and Misrepresentation
• Breach of Contract
• Construction Litigation
• Commercial Landlord and Tenant Disputes
• Premises Security and Liability
• Purchase, Sale, and Financing Disputes
• Subcontractors’ Liens
• Land Use and Zoning
• Quiet Title Actions
• Deed and Covenant Restrictions
• Adverse Possession
• Eminent Domain and Condemnation
• Tax Appeals and Assessment Challenges
• Easement Disputes
• Valuation Litigation and Disputes
• Broker Commission Disputes
• Cooperative and Condominium Disputes
* Timesharing Schemes
* Insolvency rights, duties and reviews

Banking, Finance, Securities, Insolvencies, Structured Finance & Venture Capital.

The firm represents borrowers and lenders, including banks, individuals and other financial institutions, in connection with all kinds of financing transactions, including security agreements, construction and real estate financing, credit-based lending, term loans, and lines or letters of credit, private placements, seed, angel, and venture capital, and project finance
Real Estate, Construction, Development & Finance Transactions.

We have substantial expertise in all areas of real estate law, including sales and acquisitions, commercial and residential landlord-tenant, institutional and private lending, leasing, development projects, including complex construction matters and subdivisions, as well as real estate litigation. We handle all aspects of major transactions, from inception to closing, representing both significant lenders and prominent developers. Our experience includes the negotiation, preparation, review and revision of documents, instruments and agreements in connection with the acquisition, sale, development, leasing and financing of commercial, industrial, hotel, casino and residential real estate.

Reflecting the economic climate of today, our practice includes developing claims for lender liability, loan and debt restructuring and general real estate and corporate workouts. We have substantial experience in restructuring complex real estate and business financing transactions and asset divestitures, including the structuring and negotiation of settlement agreements, loan modification agreements, surrender agreements and agreements relating to deeds in lieu transactions. Our approach towards collateral evaluation, in restructuring secured loan transactions, includes the use and analysis of appraisals and cash flow statements, which enables us to effectively negotiate and properly restructure the transaction.

Leonardus Smits Lawyer not only has competitive fixed hourly rate fees but in some matters, we offer payment options to assist you in paying your legal fees. Contact us today to determine whether these may be available for you.

We work on contingency, hourly and flat fee bases, depending on our analysis of your matter, circumstances and requirements.

Yes

Yes unless there is an enforceable disclosure order or direction.

We understand that your matter is very important to you. Your decision of whom you will hire as your lawyer is a difficult one. There are several reasons why we believe you can trust our firm with your matter. You can speak to us and we speak to you in terms we both understand. We will not conceal things from you. We will tell you frankly when and why we disagree with you. We have been practising for over 40 years. We have secured many favourable results for many of our clients. We are a small firm with the time, ability, tenacity and drive to dedicate appropriate resources to your matter.

We expect you to be honest, responsive, and diligent throughout your matter. We want you to ask us any questions and inform us of any concerns you have. You will ordinarily be deposed at some point in the litigation and we expect you to prepare for that deposition diligently by meeting with us and reviewing key facts in your case. we expect you to pay us as we agree with you.

We understand the importance of communication and transparency between lawyers and clients. Although we would like to talk to you weekly by telephone, that is not always practical, nor productive. Legal matters have a way of stretching out over long periods of time. To you, it may often seem like ages have gone by without activity, however, in fact, much behind-the-scenes work is being completed so that on the day your matter has to move forward, its ready To keep the cost of legal services down while maximizing communications, we will strive to keep you informed when anything important happens and to respond to your questions in a reasonable time. In addition, we will inform you when your presence is required,

All usual business hours and more often than not at any other times by arrangement of it is needed to keep things on track for you.