Celestine Frost
Special Counsel | Brisbane
Dispute Resolution | Financial Services Regulatory
Celestine is an experienced litigator focussing on significant commercial disputes, internal and regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings.
Celestine represents leading corporations, financial institutions, professional services firms, directors and senior executives in high profile commercial litigation including contractual, competition and consumer, director and shareholder, partnership, joint venture and land access disputes. Celestine also helps clients during regulatory investigations and associated civil penalty litigation including concerning allegations of insider trading, continuous disclosure breaches, competition and consumer breaches and corruption investigations. Celestine has strong experience engaging with a broad range of regulators including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australian Communications and Media Authority and Queensland’s CCC and Office of Fair Trading.
Before commencing private practice, Celestine spent several years working in enforcement for ASIC and the CCC.
Experience
Celestine’s experience includes advising:
- Jump Loops, Swim Loops Holdings and their managing director in civil penalty and freezing order proceedings commenced by the ACCC alleging contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law;
- A client during an investigation conducted by the ACCC concerning suspected misuse of market power, including the collection and review of in excess of 1 million documents;
- Examinees/witnesses with respect to Federal Court pecuniary penalty proceedings commenced by ASIC against a listed company and its former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer;
- Belridge Enterprises in Land Court proceedings for the determination of compensation prior to the issue of Infrastructure Mining Leases and objections lodged to the grant of the leases by a joint venture of miners with overlapping tenure; and
- Ebony Iron in Federal Court proceedings commenced after the termination of an off-take agreement, including allegations of breaches of a contractual obligation to inform the other party of circumstances which may result in conditions precedent not being satisfied and misleading and deceptive conduct.