Matt Bell

Matt is a Director with our Firm
and Lawyer in our Business & Employment Law Team.

Biography

Matt Bell Director Accredited Specialist Business Law

My name is Matt Bell and I am the Director of Business & Employment Law at Murdoch Lawyers.

I am passionate about helping business.

I love the positive contribution businesses make each day to so many people by giving people the social interactions and other benefits of a job, providing incomes to families, sponsoring our sporting and cultural activities, assisting charities and providing essential goods and services.

At the moment I am helping a large number of businesses across a range of industries including: agriculture, horticulture, transport and logistics, not-for-profit, medical, education, building and construction, manufacturing and retail.

I help businesses at all stages, whether that is with a purchase or sale, contracting, securing assets, employing people, managing employee misconduct or underperformance, defending claims or helping business owners separate when things don’t work out between them.

When it comes to claim risks, I prefer a preventative approach. My experience has confirmed time and time again, it is far more effective to be pro-active to prevent a claim from arising or intervening early to minimize the exposure of a claim.

I am a Queensland Law Society accredited specialist in Business Law. It was important to me that I obtain this accreditation because business law is what I do and the area that I wanted to specialise in. It was also important because at Murdoch Lawyers we like our directors to be leaders in the area of law we practice in.

I have been a lawyer since 2004. I started in an inner city Brisbane general practice. It was a great place to start because I was exposed to all sorts of law and quickly worked out certain areas of law were not for me. It helped me decide I wanted to narrow my focus onto a particular type of law.

I was then very fortunate to have spent the next five years working for a top tier international law firm in Brisbane. It was a great experience that enabled me to work on very large transactions for some of Australia’s biggest companies. I mainly worked for companies in the mining, gas, petroleum, banking and property industries, but I also acted for a number of Commonwealth Government Departments and agencies.

Before becoming a lawyer I worked for Commonwealth and State Government Departments in social policy in the areas of community development, youth services and outside school hours care.

Law was a natural progression for me. It has been a very rewarding career which has allowed me to meet many great people and to work with some amazing businesses.

One of the comments I often hear from business owners is “it is getting too hard to employ people”. I tell those people, it is not, but it takes the right attitude and an investment into your business to set up a system aimed at maximizing compliance and preventing claims.

Most employers I come across genuinely try to do the right thing, but it can be tough without the right support.

If you are a business owner or you want assistance on a business or employment law matter, I would love to hear from you.

Practice Areas

Practice areas

  • Business law
  • Corporate law
  • Contracts and agreements
  • Business licensing
  • Intellectual property
  • Personal Property and Securities (PPS)
  • Franchising
  • Employment
  • Human Resources
  • Industrial Relations
  • WH&S

Qualifications & Reputation

Professional Qualifications

  • Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist Business Law
  • Graduate Diploma in Professional Legal Practice (QUT) 2004
  • Bachelor of Laws (QUT) 2003
  • Bachelor of Social Science (Human Services) 1998

Articles

Franchising Changes

In 2021, the Franchising Code has been amended on three separate occasions to improve fairness and transparency in the franchising…

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Award free employee… not any more

On 19 August 2020, we wrote about the amendment of the Miscellaneous Award 2020 (Award) (Read Here) which significantly expanded…

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Queensland transfer duty barrier removed for small business restructures

Co-written by: Leanne Matthewson (Director) In September 2020, the Office of State Revenue (OSR) introduced an important exemption for transfer…

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Minimum Wage Increase 1.75% Staggered Across 2020/2021

The Fair Work Commission has completed the annual wage review and determined that in FY20/21, minimum wages in Modern Awards…

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Easier Access to Workers Compensation for Psychological or Psychiatric Injuries?

As a result of the five yearly review of Queensland’s workers compensation scheme, the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003…

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Podcasts

Matt Bell - Lawyer in Business & Employment Law Team

    Contact Information

    Direct Line: 07 4616 9860