Rachelle Hare is a Construction Lawyer, Commercial Manager and Business Adviser with 25+ years of experience advising and working inside construction businesses across Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and nationally. She is the founder of Blaze Business & Legal, a Brisbane-based firm that gives construction businesses whole-of-business legal, commercial and business advisory under one roof.
Rachelle practised as a Senior Associate in the Construction and Infrastructure teams at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and McCullough Robertson and in government for 5 years at Australian Government Solicitor (AGS). Her in-house career includes Acting General Counsel roles at Thiess and Defence Housing Australia (DHA), and Senior Legal Counsel roles at Laing O'Rourke, Acciona, UGL and Golding, where her work included business advice, legal advice, managing contracts, drafting and managing Risk Registers, running claims for payment, variations and extensions of time, and commercial negotiations with Principals' teams at project and program level. She has also worked for 6 years full-time as Commercial Manager at Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) and a Tier 2 construction and technology provider on a program of National significance, as well as 9 months as a Deputy Program Manager.
This combination of front-end and back-end Construction Law and hands-on commercial management, plus project management, is extremely rare in the Queensland legal market and in law firms around Australia. It gives Rachelle's advice a strong practical and commonsense grounding that serves her clients well when they seek advice from a construction lawyer.
Rachelle holds a Queensland Law Society Unrestricted Principal Practising Certificate and is currently admitted to practice in Queensland. She is a member of the Queensland Law Society and the Society of Construction Law Australia.
Rachelle advises construction businesses, civil contractors, infrastructure contractors, subcontractors and suppliers across Queensland and nationally on construction contract review, construction contract negotiation, construction contract drafting and administration, Security of Payment under Queensland's Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017, QBCC licensing and Minimum Financial Requirements compliance, Variations and Extension of Time claims, construction contract termination, pre-litigation dispute resolution and many other issues.
Rachelle also provides External General Counsel services, Commercial Manager services and Contract Administration services, as well as advice on government and Commonwealth defence contracts, construction business structuring, Construction Business Improvement, risk management, compliance, governance, and Brisbane 2032 readiness.
She advises on the full range of Australian standard form construction contracts, including AS4000, AS4902, AS4903, AS2124, AS4300, ABIC, NEC4, GC21 and FIDIC, as well as bespoke head contracts, subcontracts, services agreements, supply agreements and consultancy agreements. She has negotiated and advised on construction contracts from the Principal's side, the head contractor's side and the subcontractor's and supplier's side across infrastructure, civil, commercial, resources, mining services, transport and defence Projects.
Rachelle has been recognised by The Courier-Mail (News Corp Australia) as one of Brisbane's 60 most inspirational women shaping the city's future. She presented a webinar on contract drafting and negotiation for Loio, published by LexBlog, and has published construction law and commercial management content in The Impact Lawyers, FS Private Wealth, Contract Nerds, Canberra Building News (Master Builders Association) and Electrical Gems. She was a guest on the Gatekeeper HQ podcast, "Building Bridges Between the Procurement and Legal Teams," and has been interviewed on construction contracts and commercial management by How to Contract (Laura Frederick) and Gemcell. She served as Deputy Chair and Company Secretary of the ACT Writers Centre for four years and is profiled in the Women on Boards Australia Members on Boards success stories.
Blaze Business & Legal is located at Suite 8, Level 7, 154 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101. Rachelle works directly with her clients and can be reached at (07) 3063 3373 or enquiry@blazebusinessandlegal.com.au.
Further information about Rachelle's construction law and business advisory practice is available at blazebusinessandlegal.com.au. Rachelle publishes construction law and commercial management content on the Blaze Business & Legal YouTube channel and on LinkedIn.