Samantha is a planning and environment lawyer specialising in the property, infrastructure, energy and resources industries.
She acts for major miners, infrastructure providers and large developers, and advises her clients on all aspects of planning and environment regulation including planning and environmental approvals, compliance, development contributions, water, biodiversity offsets, native title, contaminated land and pollution offences. She also regularly assists clients in assessing project risks and provides practical advice for her clients in responding to regulatory investigations as well as acting for her clients in planning and environment litigation.
Samantha has contributed to some of the largest mining projects in Australia and has a 100% success rate in obtaining planning and environment approvals for her clients.
She was recognised as a leading Environment and Climate Change lawyer in Doyle’s Guide in 2019 - 2021 and listed in Best Lawyers in Australia from 2017 - 2021. She was a finalist in the 2021 Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards in the ‘Planning and Environment’ category and the 2021 Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards in the category of ‘Partner of the Year- BigLaw’. She was also included in Australasian Lawyer’s Elite Women 2021 list – being only one of 50 women nationally to achieve this listing.
Acting for Grafil Pty Ltd (Grafil) and Robert Mackenzie (director of Grafil) in relation to a criminal prosecution brought by the EPA in which it is alleged that Grafil/ Mackenzie used land as a waste facility without lawful authority.
Assisted Glencore in obtaining the State and Federal planning and environmental approvals required for the A$150 million Mount Owen Continued Operations Project.
Acted in prosecutions in respect of charges of polluting waters, failure to notify a pollution incident and breach of licence conditions.
Advised GrainCorp in respect of a number of environmental matters relating to their grain business across their NSW, Victorian and Queensland operations.
Advised the peak industry body representing the mining industry in NSW in respect of a number of key policy and legislative reforms including recent proposed changes to the NSW planning, biodiversity and mining legislation.
Advised a number of AIS’ member schools in relation to planning approvals required for school expansion projects.
On 15 March 2022 the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia handed down its eagerly anticipated appeal judgment in the Sharma case. Allsop CJ, Beach and Wheelahan JJ separately found that the...
There has been a substantial uptick in novel climate change litigation in Australia, particularly in the Federal Court of Australia and the Land and Environment Court of NSW.
The Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 has now been passed by both houses of the NSW parliament and is awaiting assent. The Bill amends several pieces of environmental legislation...