A principal-led practice in NSW land, planning and environment law.
Stone & Pillar Legal focuses on New South Wales compulsory acquisition, planning, environment and local government matters. These matters commonly involve the effect of statutory decisions on land, approvals, projects and commercial interests.
Our practice encompasses compulsory acquisition, planning and development, environmental regulation, and the delivery of infrastructure. These are related statutory regimes. A planning, regulatory or acquisition decision can affect project viability, land use and the compensation available to an affected owner.
The firm is principal-led. The practitioner who receives your instructions conducts the work, and answers for it.
The meaning behind the name
The name is the practice in two words.
Stone
The land. What lasts, what it is worth and whose it is.
Pillar
Government. What it builds, and the statutes by which it plans, regulates, acquires and protects the natural and built environment.
A pillar stands on stone. The practice works where the weight falls: where a statutory power bears on land, a project or a private right.
Michael Themis
Michael brings experience of both private practice and government to planning, environmental regulation and compulsory acquisition. Trained at Herbert Smith Freehills and King & Wood Mallesons, he has senior in-house experience across the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments.
Michael Themis’s experience includes roles in private practice and government and work involving project approvals, environmental regulation, compulsory acquisition, valuation disputes, infrastructure delivery and litigation. That experience can assist in identifying how a statutory decision was prepared, what evidence supports it and which review or negotiation options may remain available.
The firm advises landowners, developers, businesses, councils and other public authorities on planning, environmental regulation, local government, land access and easements. Its compulsory acquisition work focuses on affected landowners and businesses. Any engagement remains subject to conflicts, agreed scope and written terms.
The practice areas set out the work in more detail, and the insights explain how the statutory processes run in practice.
Selected experience
A selection of matters Michael has advised or acted on over his career, many in earlier roles in private practice and government before he founded Stone & Pillar Legal. They are listed as evidence of relevant experience, not as retainers of the firm.
Compulsory acquisition & compensation
- Acted for landowners challenging compensation for the Sydney Metro project, including Celestino (Sydney Science Park) and AsheMorgan (9 Hunter Street).
- Acted in the Randwick Hospital redevelopment acquisitions for Health Infrastructure in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
- Acted and advised on challenges to compensation for land acquired by Transport for NSW.
Water rights, resources & secured interests
- Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Hancock / Manulife, water rights, allocation arrangements and NRAR enforcement across agricultural acquisitions.
- Westpac and Rabobank, taking security over Australian water entitlements.
Planning & major projects
- Star of the South, Commonwealth and Victorian approval processes for a proposed offshore wind farm.
- Frasers Property, voluntary planning agreements, developer side deeds and road-works arrangements for the Mamre Road Precinct.
- Western Sydney Parklands Authority, precinct planning for the Aerotropolis; Korea Electric Power Corporation, appeal prospects on the Bylong Valley coal mine refusal.
Environment, contamination & pollution
- BHP, regulatory, environmental, approval and compliance matters at the Mount Arthur mine; Glencore, tenement, access, environmental, executive-liability and water-rights matters.
- Palisade Investment Partners, contamination liability on the acquisition of Geelong Port; Orica, contamination at Botany.
- George Weston Foods and its directors, defending EPA pollution charges in the Victorian Magistrates Court.
Native title & heritage
- Centennial Myuna, a native title application in the Federal Court of Australia.
- Heritage advice on significant private developments, including at Point Piper and 71 York Street.
Education
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The University of Sydney
Master of Laws · March 2021, Sydney
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Australian National University
Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice · July 2014, Canberra
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Macquarie University
Bachelor of Laws · April 2014, Sydney
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Macquarie University
Bachelor of Commerce · February 2013, Sydney
Admissions & memberships
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The Supreme Court of New South Wales
Admission · 20 February 2015
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The High Court of Australia
Admission · 27 June 2019
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Planning Institute of Australia
Affiliate member
Get in touch
Provide preliminary details.
If you have received a decision, notice or acquisition document, identify the issuing body and any stated response date. Do not send confidential, privileged or time-sensitive material.
No charge · Not legal advice
A preliminary call is a short conversation to check whether we can help, at no charge, and not legal advice. Please don't send confidential or time-sensitive material until we confirm in writing that we can act.