We are seeking a Partner-grade Disputes Advisory and Expert Witness practitioner to join our client in Sydney. The ideal candidate will be a Chartered Accountant (CA ANZ) or CPA Australia or equivalent with at least 15 years of relevant experience, the most recent 3+ years at Partner, Managing Director or equivalent practice-leadership level, and an established testifying-expert track record admissible under Federal Court Practice Notes on expert evidence, NSW Supreme Court rules and international arbitration. The successful candidate will have a portable book of senior client and law-firm-partner relationships, a sustained personally-originated disputes-advisory revenue track record, and the brand presence to lead a disputes-and-expert-witness practice in the Sydney market. They will be responsible for taking signed-off testifying-expert positions on the most complex matters, leading the most high-profile class-action and commercial-litigation damages disputes end to end, originating and growing Partner-instructed mandates, and setting practice strategy on methodology, technology, hiring and pricing.

Confidential Client. Applying to this position means that you are interested to have an initial confidential discussion about how we can help you to identify and join a new disputes advisory and expert-witness practice at Partner level. With your authorisation we will exclusively run the entire application and recruitment process for you, keeping you apprised at every step. With over 30 years' combined experience of helping the most talented disputes practitioners to make safe exits to launch rewarding new careers, we have the experience, network and ability to help you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Take signed-off testifying-expert positions on the most complex quantum, damages and valuation disputes - high-profile, often privileged, often counsel-instructed disputes running AUD 1.5m - 15m+ in fees - with full P&L responsibility for the disputes engagement portfolio.
• Originate, win and grow Partner-instructed disputes mandates by carrying a portable book of senior relationships at General Counsel, CFO and Head of Litigation level, and at relevant law firm partner level.
• Lead testifying-expert work in the Federal Court of Australia, the NSW Supreme Court, the Federal Family Court, ACICA, AIAC, ICC, SIAC and ad hoc UNCITRAL arbitration matters; lead concurrent-evidence (hot-tub) and joint-expert-statement procedures on bet-the-company disputes.
• Convert reactive disputes work into multi-year retainer engagements covering disputes-readiness, valuation-policy review, accounting-disputes-prevention frameworks and standing expert-panel positions.
• Serve as engagement Partner on the most complex damages-quantification matters, including class actions under the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, post-Hayne financial-services follow-on damages, post-M&A purchase-price disputes, JV-deadlock valuations, IP-infringement royalty and lost-profits claims, construction quantum, mining-and-resources disputes, agribusiness disputes, and competition-law follow-on damages.
• Set the practice's strategy on methodology, technology adoption, hiring, pricing and market positioning; shape testifying-expert development pipelines and AI-assisted analytics governance at investigation-and-tribunal depth.
• Build the practice's external IP and brand presence on disputes themes through published thought leadership, expert-panel directory standing and conference-level speaking engagements; pursue and maintain CIArb fellowship and arbitrator-track positioning where applicable.
• Hire, develop, mentor and advocate for the practice staff - Senior Directors, Directors, Senior Managers and the wider bench - championing advancement at firm-wide promotion rounds, sponsoring sustained upskilling on emerging methodology and AI tooling, and shaping their external profile-building. Contribute to firm strategy beyond the disputes sub-practice.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Chartered Accountant (CA ANZ) preferred, or CPA Australia, or equivalent professional accounting qualification (ACA / ICAEW, ACCA, CPA US, HKICPA, ISCA). Partner-level disputes practitioners are expected to be qualified accountants whose professional credibility is respected by tribunals, courts, audit committees, regulators and the disputes bar.
• At least 15 years of relevant experience in disputes advisory, forensic accounting, quantum analysis or expert-witness support, with the most recent 3+ years at Partner, Managing Director or equivalent practice-leadership level.
• Demonstrable track record of admissible testifying-expert reports and (where instructed) oral testimony on bet-the-company disputes, with full P&L accountability.
• Demonstrable, sustained, personally-originated disputes-advisory revenue track record. Sydney market guide: AUD 2m - 4m+ annually originated on disputes work, calibrated to the engaging firm.
• Portable senior client relationships at General Counsel, CFO, Head of Litigation, Audit Committee Chair and Chief Risk Officer level, and at relevant law firm partner level (international arbitration, commercial litigation, class actions, construction, M&A litigation, shareholder disputes, competition-and-consumer-law and IP litigation practices) who refer and instruct disputes advisory and expert-witness work - credibly portable subject to non-compete and non-solicit posture; named accounts with multi-year history are the strongest evidence.
• Experience running a disputes sub-practice or country-team P&L: revenue, utilisation, gross margin, partner-time leverage, hire-and-promote responsibility.
• Authority on the Australian disputes framework: Federal Court Practice Notes on expert evidence and the Federal Court Code of Conduct for Expert Witnesses, the NSW UCPR Code of Conduct for Expert Witnesses, ACICA arbitration rules and procedural conventions, the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, class-action procedure under the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, Family Court single-expert procedure where relevant, and Australian enforcement-of-foreign-arbitral-awards practice.
• Cross-border fluency on ICC, LCIA, SCC, KCAB, KLRCA, JCAA, SIAC, HKIAC and ad hoc UNCITRAL arbitration, and on US Federal Court damages procedure (Daubert / Frye), UK High Court expert-witness procedure (CPR Part 35) and Hong Kong / Singapore disputes practice for cross-jurisdiction matters.
• Familiarity with industry-standard disputes-advisory tooling, including financial-data platforms (such as Bloomberg, Capital IQ or Refinitiv), valuation databases (such as Mergermarket or Pitchbook), modelling environments (such as Microsoft Excel with Power Query or Argus), simulation tools (such as @Risk or Crystal Ball), and visualisation tools (such as Power BI or Tableau).
• Realistic engagement on notice periods and non-compete / non-solicit obligations given the senior nature of the move and the relationship-led nature of the practice.

Preferred Experience:

• CFF (Certified in Financial Forensics, AICPA) or CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner, ACFE) where the disputes work crosses into financial-accounting forensics or fraud quantum.
• CA ANZ specialist designation in Forensic Accounting; ASA (American Society of Appraisers) or RICS valuation accreditation where the disputes work centres on real-asset or business-valuation issues.
• CIArb fellowship (FCIArb) and arbitrator-track standing; published listings on testifying-expert and arbitrator directories (such as Who's Who Legal: Arbitration / Quantum or Global Arbitration Review).
• Postgraduate qualification: Master of Accounting, Master of Finance, MBA, or LLM with disputes / arbitration / valuation relevance.
• Visible market profile in the Australian / Trans-Tasman disputes community: published author on disputes themes, conference speaker, recognised authority on damages or valuation, named in legal directories.
• Demonstrable conversion of one-off disputes engagements into multi-year retainer and standing expert-panel positions.
• Visible thought leadership on the AI developments reshaping disputes advisory and a documented growth-mindset operating posture: candidates who set the practice direction on tooling adoption (such as AI-assisted comparable-transaction analysis, ML-aided market-evidence enrichment, or LLM-supported expert-report drafting under Federal Court Code of Conduct defensibility review), advocate for and develop their practice staff on emerging methodologies, and have a track record of upskilling-programme delivery within the sub-practice.

Compensation:

Partner-level package commensurate with origination, portable book and seniority. Includes base, profit-share / partnership-distribution, equity participation and long-term incentive arrangements.

Next Steps:

This opportunity is open to Australian citizens, permanent residents and qualified candidates with relevant Australian work-rights status who match the above criteria. Please apply to receive prompt confidential contact from an experienced and specialist disputes advisory and expert-witness recruitment Partner.

Search & Counsel is a trading style of Feltan Associates Pte Ltd; an international Executive Search, Recruitment and Consulting business based in Singapore, licensed and regulated by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower to conduct recruitment services for clients. UEN: 202225620G. EA Licence 23S1672. All rights reserved.