Biography: Construction

Phillip Greenham has practised construction law for almost 30 years. He has been a partner in Minter Ellison for 23 years and has headed the construction, engineering and infrastructure group in the Melbourne office for the past 10 years.

Phillip has undertaken commercial drafting work, developing documents for a wide variety of construction, engineering and procurement projects, and dispute work. Phillip continues to practise in both areas and leverages the experience in each area to underpin and develop his practising techniques in the other.

Much of Phillip's work has been in the area of public sector procurement, working both for the government and in the private sector. This has involved a deep understanding of public sector procurement policies and the probity requirements surrounding large government procurement projects.

Phillip also has a BSc. He brings techniques from this discipline to his practise of the law. These include risk analysis techniques similar to those adopted by insurers. In the many large projects Phillip has managed he has been able to apply project management and financial analysis techniques to assist clients in making the most appropriate decisions. These techniques were particularly helpful in the management of the then-largest construction arbitration in Australia, the Murrin Murrin arbitration. This chess clock arbitration, conducted in an ICC framework involved many firsts for Australia.

Phillip's drafting work has involved reviewing many of the standard form contracts used in the construction industry around the world. This enables Phillip to quickly identify important aspects of large contracts and suggest efficient and acceptable drafting adjustments to enhance the acceptability of those contracts.