John Syminton

John’s background is in property law, with particular reference to commercial property law. John also has a particular interest in strata titles.

While John’s background is primarily in commercial property law, John’s practice has extended to preparation of Wills and associated documents – being Enduring Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Guardianship and Advance Health Directives.

John gained his degrees of BA and LLB from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He migrated to Australia in 1976 achieving a Master of Laws degree from the University of Western Australia and for many years was a Partner at national law firm Freehills, now known as Herbert Smith Freehills.

John has been a strong advocate and contributor to the legal profession in Western Australia. John drafted the 2002 Plain Language version of the General Conditions for the Sale of Land and prepared subsequent amendments to the General Conditions.

John has held positions with numerous bodies including the Law Society of Western Australia where he was President in 1997, and the Legal Practice Board where he was the chairperson of the Board between 2012 and 2016. For many years John provided lectures and tutorials for final year law students at UWA in Commercial Practice.