Clayton is the Principal Lawyer at Stacks Law Firm in Bowral. He specialises in dispute resolution and commercial litigation, with particular expertise in insolvency matters. Growing up in rural NSW, Clayton completed his Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts at the University of NSW. He now has over 15 years of legal experience, including working in London for one of the largest law firms in the world, and at Minter Ellison and Sparke Helmore in Sydney.
Clayton has been involved as a consultant to a Dublin-based start-up company that has grown to become a successful international business. He is a full member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia and the Berrima District Law Society.
Clayton has a proven record of achieving excellent results for his clients. His strong research and drafting skills, combined with close attention to detail, have helped him obtain successful outcomes in many matters. For example, he recovered over 19 million dollars for a large and well-known furniture retailer in the Supreme Court against the company’s insurer, which had wrongfully refused to indemnify the company for a claim following a catastrophic fire that destroyed its flagship premises.
He has also successfully acted for a number of clients whose insurers had wrongfully refused to pay on claims, such as for home and contents, as well as for travel insurance claims.
During his time in London, Clayton acted as part of a large team defending the Bank of America against wrongful trading proceedings commenced by the liquidators of BCCI in the High Court of England. At the time the proceedings were the largest before the courts in the UK.
Clayton’s experience extends to conveyancing and real estate. He saved a client from a disastrous farm purchase where the vendor had misrepresented the capacity of a bore on the property that was vital to the farm’s viability. The result was that the vendors reluctantly agreed to buy back the property. He also regularly helps clients with tenancy issues, such as disputes over commercial lease terminations.
Clayton helped a client achieve payment of a debt by obtaining a Supreme Court injunction preserving the net proceeds from the sale of a property, over $150,000, where the vendor had promised to use those funds to pay back the debt.
Some of Clayton’s successes in corporate law include resolving a complex directors’ dispute in the Supreme Court that resulted in the client obtaining complete control of the company and having their legal costs paid. He has also drafted numerous Deeds of Company Arrangement for company administrators and acted for creditors in numerous winding up and bankruptcy applications in the Supreme and Federal Courts.
Clayton is committed to his clients and always keen to take on the next challenge. A father of two, outside of work Clayton is a keen but irregular golfer and an avid sports fan.
