Nicole Butler

Special Counsel | Melbourne

+61 3 8644 3556 nbutler@hwle.com.au

Nicole is a Special Counsel in the Melbourne Corporate and Commercial Team.

Nicole specialises in preparing, structuring and negotiating a range of commercial agreements for clients involved in a variety of industry sectors, including government, logistics, technology, health, manufacturing, and telecommunications.  Nicole also regularly advises private and not-for-profit clients on mergers and acquisitions, restructures, and corporate governance matters.

Nicole’s former roles, including in-house at an Australian subsidiary of one of Japan’s largest public companies and as a secondee in-house counsel to one of Melbourne’s private health services, provide Nicole with the ability to approach matters from a client perspective.  Her clients value her ability to clearly communicate with key stakeholders, swiftly understand their commercial and strategic goals, and create realistic solutions

Expertise

Experience

  • VicReturn Limited Advised on a range of commercial contracts, including negotiation of key contracts with the State of Victoria, in relation to its role as scheme coordinator of the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme.
  • TasRecycle Limited Advised on its engagement as the scheme coordinator of the Tasmanian Container Deposit Scheme, and assisting it with all legal requirements for its establishment, engagement as the scheme coordinator, mobilisation to and commencement as scheme coordinator.
  • City of Port Phillip Acting as a trusted advisor to the Procurement and Contracts department over several years, advising in relation to procurement matters and negotiating with successful tender respondents.
  • Victorian IBAC Providing advice in relation to contract negotiations, including developing template service agreements.
  • The State of Victoria Advising on commercial negotiations in relation to a major infrastructure project.
  • Aboriginal Housing Victoria Acting in relation to preparing a template suite of Request For Tender documents and advising in relation to tender processes and negotiation with successful respondents.
  • Not-For-Profit Community Entity Advising on tender processes and tenders, and assisting with evaluation and negotiations of commercial contracts with corporate and government counterparties.