Admitted to Bar: 1995

Appointed Senior Counsel: 2009

Floor Member Since: 1997

Shereef has an extensive practice in commercial litigation, including complex multi-party litigation and class actions. Shereef also practices in intellectual property, principally in patent, trade mark and consumer protection. He has appeared for and advised a wide range of clients including major Australian and foreign banks, large international pharmaceutical companies, and major insurers such as NRMA and Hannover.  Shereef’s recent matters include:

• Appearing for the class in the Supreme Court of NSW in representative proceedings against Suncorp with respect to superannuation fees;
• Appearing for the class in the Federal Court of Australia in representative proceedings against Nulis (formerly an NAB subsidiary) with respect to superannuation fees;
• Appearing for the respondent in the Full Federal Court against Avant concerning significant insurance issues relating to the notification of claims. I appeared before the High Court on Avant’s special leave application which was dismissed;
• Appearing in the High Court for the appellant on novel questions concerning the assessment of damages for the loss of use of motor vehicles;
• Appearing for Apotex, Alphapharm & Aspen in patent infringement litigation brought by Lundbeck – Federal Court of Australia;
• Appearing for Apotex prosecuting significant claims on various undertakings as to damages given in patent litigation- Federal Court of Australia;
• Appearing for the Applicant in an investor class action funded by IMF concerning an alleged misleading prospectus and alleged contravention of continuous disclosure obligations – Federal Court of Australia;
• Defending NRMA in commercial litigation concerning allegations relating to its preferred repairer programme – Supreme Court of Queensland;
• Appearing for the Commonwealth in a substantial claim brought by OPEL (an Optus and Elders joint venture vehicle) concerning the roll out of broadband to regional Australia – Supreme Court of NSW;
• Appearing for a major software integrator in a dispute with Optus concerning its wholesale business – Supreme Court of NSW.

Before joining the bar, Shereef was a visiting scholar at Stanford University Law School in California. After returning to Australia, Shereef was an associate to Wilcox J in the Federal Court of Australia, a solicitor at Freehills in the commercial and intellectual property divisions and for approximately 15 months a prosecutor at the Commonwealth DPP.

Shereef is regularly briefed by the top tier Australian commercial law firms.