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David Weinberger

Principal Lawyer

David Weinberger

Principal Lawyer

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) (George Washington University), Juris Doctor (JD) (Emory School of Law)

Legal secretary:

☎ +61 3 8600 8863

✉ dweinberger@kcllaw.com.au

David has more than three decades of civil litigation experience in Australia and the United States. Serving as a Principal Lawyer and Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at KCL Law since 2008, he specialises in a diverse array of legal matters.

David possesses a comprehensive understanding of the legal landscape impacting his clients, which are mainly small to medium-sized businesses with intractable disputes. He adeptly guides his clients through often daunting, sometimes novel (e.g., cryptocurrency), and usually complex commercial scenarios. His experience extends to trials and appeals. The main categories of cases that he deals with relate to the following:-

breach of contract
shareholder and partnership disputes
insurance
insolvency
misleading and deceptive contact / Australian Consumer Law
international litigation, often involving companies in the United States.

David has dealt with an incredibly wide range of disputes in his career. In addition to representing SMEs, he also helps individuals. Litigation involving individuals often relates to alleged misleading and deceptive conduct, guarantees, corporate shareholding rights / obligations and disputed insurance claims.

Leveraging his extensive experience, David seeks where appropriate to negotiate a quick and favourable resolution, often mitigating his clients’ risks. David also regularly runs trials, obtaining good outcomes for his clients.

Since joining KCL Law in 2002, David has handled matters in all Victorian courts and the Federal Court of Australia. He has also represented clients in the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. David has appeared as Counsel before the High Court of Australia, and played a pivotal role in several leading cases in Australia, including:

Acted for the plaintiffs in the first reported case in Australia, Chen v Blockchain Global Ltd, using the Court’s power to preserve property to secure access to Bitcoins pending completion of the case. The Order was made under Rule 37.01 of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015.
Represented the United States government in Wells Fargo Bank Northwest National Association v Victoria Aircraft Leasing Limited, navigating complex legal terrain concerning the commercial exception to sovereign immunity under the Foreign States Immunities Act 1985 (Cth). Successfully secured favourable rulings under the Act of State doctrine, non-justiciability, and sovereign immunity. Both the lower and appellate courts roundly rejected all of Nauru’s claims.
Advised a famous American rapper in the case Flo Rida v Mothership Music Pty Ltd. Mothership Music, was a music festival promoter and served court documents via social media on Flo Rida, and then obtained a default judgement against Flo Rida. The client’s appeal was granted, on the basis the plaintiff failed to properly serve the documents on Flo Rida who resided in the United States. Music Mothership had obtained an Order from the District Court judge permitting service by Facebook. On appeal, filed by KCL Law, the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal threw out the judgment on the basis there was no jurisdiction over Flo Rida. This case serves as a timely reminder of how not to try and effect service via social media.
St Hilda’s College v Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust, a case involving a statutory charitable trust and land located on the University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus. The client was the first defendant. Each and every one of the plaintiff’s claims was dismissed, including its claim against the Victorian Attorney-General, who was the second defendant.

David is a dual American and Australian citizen, and is qualified to practise law in both jurisdictions. He maintains strong connections in both countries and heads KCL Law’s US Group and Insurance practice areas in addition to being the head of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution (LDR) Team.

Prior to joining KCL Law, David practised at a New York City law firm where he specialised in insurance coverage litigation and professional indemnity claims (i.e. errors and omissions claims) against insurance brokers/agents. During that time, he conducted trials and argued appeals in State and Federal courts in New York state, including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and several New York State Appellate Divisions (1^st and 2^nd).

David is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) and the New York State Bar Association. He is a Life Member of the St Kilda Baseball Club (est. 1879). David has served on of the firm’s executive committee for four years and was a governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham AU).