B.A LL.B M.Com M.Tax FTIA CTA
Legal Practitioner – Director Principal

Professional Background

Peter has substantial commercial and legal experience and is the senior director at CharterLaw Legal. Peter has been a practising lawyer for over 30 years and established his own firm in 1991 with Karin Bergseng. Prior to founding his own firm in 1991, Peter was a corporate and tax equity partner in a top 10 Sydney commercial law firm. On 1 September 2015, Peter and Karin joined forces with Tony Wilkes, CPA, to establish the CharterLaw Professional Group. CharterLaw Legal Pty Ltd and CharterLaw Accounting Pty Ltd are wholly owned subsidiaries of the CharterLaw Professional Services Group.

Professional Qualifications

Peter holds Bachelors’ degrees in Arts and Law and Masters’ degrees in Commerce (Accounting and Finance) and Australian Tax Law. He has been a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 1982 and the High Court of Australia and is a registered Notary Public. He is a member of the Law Society of New South Wales and a registered Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) with the Taxation Institute of Australia.

Current Practice

Peter practices in the areas of commercial and tax law including, commercial and tax restructuring for both business and high net worth individuals, providing advice on complex legal and related issues in relation to commercial, tax or corporate law, estate planning and related areas of asset protection and business succession, insolvency and bankruptcy, the law of trusts and superannuation, contractual arrangements and disputes, small and large equity or debt fundraising and is regularly involved in dealing with complicated disputed estates involving high net worth families, individuals and their related investment and business structures.

As a practising commercial and tax lawyer for more than 30 years, Peter has extensive experience in providing legally complex and commercially aware advice and in devising and implementing strategies to meet the complex commercial and private needs of sophisticated clients.

Peter has assisted many clients with a wide range of legal issues including:

  • the structuring of private and tax efficient investment structures;
  • advice on corporate compliance and governance issues;
  • advice, structuring and re-structuring domestic and overseas companies and trusts so they have an improved and more efficient (and sometimes compliant) Australian tax profile;
  • advising large family investment structures and handling the business succession issues that arise from a corporate and tax viewpoint;
  • planning and implementing the tax effective distribution of fully and partly franked retained earnings and pre-CGT reserves in a tax efficient manner for large private investment companies;
  • providing advice in negotiation and implementing small and large contractual and commercial agreements and arrangements;
  •  advice on and implementing the exploitation and licensing of intellectual property and information technology generally and on the implementation of licensing and distribution arrangements for both the Australian and overseas markets.