Commercial Law Services and practical commercial advice for construction, civil and infrastructure businesses that need practical solutions, not lengthy legal opinions.
Blaze Business & Legal helps business owners, directors and decision-makers manage commercial risk, negotiate contracts, structure transactions and make better business decisions with confidence. Our Legal Practitioner Director, Rachelle Hare combines her 25+ years of experience with Commercial Law, Construction Law, Commercial Management and Business Advisory to deliver advice that works in the real world, not just on paper.
Whether you need help with commercial contracts, shareholder agreements, business structuring, company set-up, trust set-up, procurement, governance, business sales, commercial negotiations or strategic business decisions, we provide practical commercial legal advice in Brisbane and around Queensland and Australia that is focused on protecting your business and supporting long-term growth.
Commercial Law at Blaze Business & Legal covers the commercial, property, corporate and transactional legal work a business deals with alongside its Project work. That means commercial contracts and commercial leases, employment contracts, shareholder agreements, joint ventures and Teaming Agreements, mergers and acquisitions, business restructuring, corporate governance, and the Business Legals every operating business needs in place.
Rachelle Hare leads every piece of Commercial Law work personally. She is a Senior Construction and Commercial Lawyer with 25+ years of legal experience, and she has owned and run her own bricks and mortar businesses alongside her legal career. Our Commercial Law advice therefore comes from someone who has lived the consequences of a badly drafted commercial lease, an under-specified supply agreement, and a shareholder arrangement nobody thought through before the business started making money.
Commercial Law practiceRachelle has owned and run her own bricks and mortar businesses and knows how commercial documents behave once the business is live and the cash is moving. You get the perspective of a business owner alongside the legal analysis.
For construction businesses the commercial and construction issues rarely separate. A commercial lease on a new yard connects to the Project pipeline. A joint venture ties into the construction contract structure. Keeping both practice areas with one Senior Lawyer means the advice accounts for the whole picture.
Rachelle's private practice experience at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and McCullough Robertson provides the technical legal foundation underneath her commercial and in-house experience. The drafting meets top-tier private practice standards.
Commercial Law work for an SME looks different to the same work for a large ASX-listed corporate. Advice is scoped for the business in front of you, with a fixed-price quote before work starts, so owners and Directors know exactly what they are paying for before they commit.
Lease reviews take account of yard and storage requirements. Supply agreements deal with material escalation and Principal flow-down. Employment contracts cover site-based work and KPI structures that match Project delivery.
No junior does substantive review, drafting or legal advice on any Commercial Law work Blaze Business & Legal takes on. The Commercial Lawyer you instruct is the same person who reads the document, writes the advice, drafts the changes and supports the negotiations.
Blaze Business & Legal is your Contract Lawyer, advising and supporting you on all aspects of Commercial Contract Law. A business owner taking a new commercial lease often needs the related supply agreements, employment contracts and shareholder arrangements dealt with at the same time.
The first cluster covers commercial contract drafting, review and negotiation across the full range of documentation a business works with. That includes supply and services agreements, distribution and agency agreements, employment contracts, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and the Business Legals a business needs to operate compliantly online and at the point of sale.
Drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts for operating businesses, including service agreements, consultant agreements, distribution and agency agreements, partnership agreements, and bespoke commercial documentation across every sector we advise.
Drafting and reviewing supply agreements, purchase orders, services agreements and subcontractor agreements, covering material escalation, delivery timing, quality specifications, payment terms, limits of liability and termination provisions.
Standard Terms and Conditions of Trade for construction businesses, SMEs and service providers. Drafting, review, Personal Property Securities Register registration, retention of title provisions, and ongoing management as the business grows.
Drafting and reviewing employment contracts, independent contractor agreements, KPI frameworks, restraint of trade clauses, and the policies and procedures governing staff performance, roles and responsibilities.
Drafting and reviewing confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements, mutual NDAs and intellectual property assignment clauses for commercial negotiations, tenders, joint venture discussions and contractor engagements.
The everyday legal documentation every operating business needs, including website terms and conditions, privacy policies, terms and conditions of trade and customer-facing documentation. Drafted or reviewed to match the business model rather than pulled from a generic template library.
Commercial and retail leasing is where the difference between a Commercial Lawyer who has signed a lease themselves and one who has not shows up most clearly. Lease terms that read reasonably on paper turn into significant liabilities once the business is operating in the premises. Blaze Business & Legal provides commercial lease review, negotiation, assignment and surrender work for construction businesses, SMEs and business owners taking on yards, offices, workshops, retail premises and storage facilities.
Detailed review of commercial leases before signing, covering rent and rent review mechanisms, outgoings, make good obligations, assignment and subletting provisions, default and termination clauses, and the commercial terms that most often cause disputes during the lease term.
Negotiation support, including drafting tenant-side amendments, preparing issue lists for negotiation, advising on which points to push and which to let go, and coordinating with the landlord's lawyer through to execution.
Retail lease advice under the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 (Qld) and the equivalent retail leasing legislation in other Australian jurisdictions, covering disclosure statements, minimum terms, rent review mechanisms and statutory retail tenant protections.
Legal work on lease assignment including landlord consent, surrender arrangements, sublease documentation, and exit from commercial lease arrangements where the business is changing premises, selling or restructuring.
The commercial and corporate legal work underneath how a construction business, SME or family-run operation is owned, governed and run. Shareholder agreements and director arrangements, corporate governance frameworks, joint ventures and Teaming Agreements, and business formation work, coordinated with the Construction Business Structuring service on the Business Advisory side of the practice.
Shareholder agreements, director deeds, shareholder dispute resolution mechanisms, transfer restrictions, drag-along and tag-along rights, pre-emptive rights, and the commercial arrangements governing how shareholders deal with one another as the business evolves.
Joint venture agreements, partnership agreements, Teaming Agreements for tender bids, heads of agreement, memoranda of understanding, and the commercial documentation governing collaborative arrangements between construction businesses and their partners.
Board governance frameworks, delegation policies, director duties advice under the Corporations Act 2001, corporate meetings, resolutions, conflicts of interest policies, and the ongoing governance work Australian companies need at Board and leadership level.
Legal work on business formation, including choosing the right structure, company incorporation, trust establishment, partnership formation, and the founding legal documentation. Delivered alongside the Construction Business Structuring service, which covers the management accounting and tax-efficiency side of structure design.
Pre-litigation commercial dispute resolution, regulatory compliance across the framework Australian businesses operate within, and the risk-focused legal work that stops disputes escalating. Where a dispute needs formal litigation, Blaze Business & Legal works with trusted litigation partners and stays involved as the Client's commercial and strategic adviser throughout.
Pre-litigation commercial dispute resolution, including contract disputes, shareholder disputes, supplier disputes, lease disputes and partnership disputes, with early-stage negotiation and mediation support. The focus is commercial resolution rather than litigation.
Commercial regulatory compliance including Australian Consumer Law, Unfair Contract Terms legislation, Privacy Act obligations, the Personal Property Securities Act, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and industry-specific compliance requirements affecting Australian businesses.
Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles compliance, data handling frameworks, data breach response, privacy impact assessments, and the compliance work construction businesses, SMEs and corporate Clients need when collecting, holding and using client, employee and Project data.
Mergers and acquisitions, business and share sale and purchase transactions, due diligence, business restructuring, and exit strategy planning. This work is usually delivered alongside Business Advisory input on the financial, commercial and structural side.
Legal work on business acquisitions, share purchases, asset purchases, due diligence, sale and purchase agreements, earn-outs, warranty and indemnity negotiations, and post-completion integration, for construction businesses and SMEs acquiring, merging with, or being acquired by another business.
Legal work on corporate restructuring, group reorganisations, entity consolidations, intra-group asset transfers, and transitions between business structures. Delivered alongside the Construction Business Structuring service where management accounting or tax efficiency is driving the restructure.
Legal work on exit strategy planning, business sale preparation, succession arrangements, shareholder exit documentation, and the multi-year legal setup that makes a clean sale or transition possible when the business owner is ready to leave.
The Commercial Law practice is built for construction businesses turning over $5M to $100M+, SMEs across residential, commercial, civil, infrastructure, mining services and defence sectors, and business owners and Directors working through the commercial decisions around running and eventually exiting their business. Clients are located across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and other Australian jurisdictions.
Commercial Law advice for business owners and Directors working through shareholder arrangements, director duties, corporate governance, succession planning, and the personal commercial decisions around running the business.
Commercial Law support for SMEs taking on new premises, restructuring the group, formalising shareholder arrangements, bringing in new Directors or investors, or expanding into new commercial relationships.
Drafting and reviewing joint venture agreements, Teaming Agreements for major tenders, partnership documentation, and the commercial collaboration arrangements underpinning bids for large construction Projects.
Construction businesses and SMEs taking commercial leases on yards, offices, workshops, retail premises and storage facilities, and retail tenants with premises subject to the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 (Qld) and equivalent legislation.
Businesses working through employment contracts, independent contractor agreements, KPI frameworks, restraint of trade clauses, and the policies and procedures governing staff performance, roles and responsibilities.
Construction business owners, SMEs and shareholders planning a sale, succession or exit, whether to a third party, to the next generation, to employees, or through a structured business wind-down.
Every piece of Commercial Law work follows the same process. You know what you are getting, what it costs, and who is doing the work, before anything starts.
You send the documents, describe the transaction or commercial arrangement, and set out any specific concerns. Rachelle reads the enquiry personally and confirms the scope and approach before anything else happens.
Rachelle provides a fixed-price quote for the scope agreed. No legal work begins until you accept the quote. Pricing is set per piece of work rather than hourly, so you know your legal spend upfront instead of watching a bill build against a timesheet.
Blaze Business & Legal issues a Disclosure Notice and Costs Agreement for signature, as required under Queensland Law Society rules. Scope, fees and deliverables are documented in full before the work formally begins.
Rachelle reviews the documents, prepares the drafting, or provides the advice personally. No junior does substantive legal work. On a review, the output is a detailed email with dot-point advice and recommendations, prioritised by materiality and tied to concrete action points.
Where negotiation is involved, Rachelle supports it directly, drafting amendments, responding to counter-proposals, and coordinating with the other party's lawyer. You always see the strategy before a position goes to the other side.
For businesses that come back to Blaze Business & Legal repeatedly, the External General Counsel service provides a retained legal function on a fixed monthly scope, covering both Commercial Law and Construction Law as required.
When I signed my first commercial lease on one of my own businesses, I thought I knew everything I needed to know. I was wrong. The make good provisions at the end of the lease were significantly more onerous than I had understood at signing. The outgoings and operating expenses were structured so the landlord could pass through costs I had not anticipated. The assignment restrictions made it difficult to exit the lease cleanly when the time came. The legal review I had relied on was technically correct, and nobody had told me what the clauses meant for me as the tenant running the business.
That experience is one of the reasons I draft and review commercial leases differently to many Commercial Lawyers. I write the advice the way I would have wanted to receive it when I was signing the lease myself, priority-ranked around what will hurt the business if the commercial arrangement runs into trouble.
Rachelle is a Senior Construction and Commercial Lawyer, Commercial Manager and Business Adviser with 25+ years of experience. That covers Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 construction contractors, top-tier private practice, and six years as a Commercial Manager for Defence and a Tier 2 Construction and Technology Provider.
Her top-tier private practice experience at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and McCullough Robertson provides the formal commercial legal training underneath her in-house and Commercial Manager experience. Her senior in-house roles include Acting General Counsel at Thiess, Senior Legal Counsel at Laing O'Rourke and Senior Legal Counsel at Acciona. She has done further in-house and advisory work at UGL, Golding and Airservices, and through the Australian Government Solicitor, Defence Housing Australia and the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group.
Alongside her legal career Rachelle has owned and run her own bricks and mortar businesses, which shapes how she advises business owners and SMEs on commercial leases, supply arrangements, shareholder matters and employment contracts. She has advised on commercial contracts and commercial transactions across Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions. Read more on the About Rachelle Hare page.
Blaze Business & Legal is based in South Brisbane and provides Commercial Law services to construction businesses, business owners and SMEs across Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions. The Brisbane base means Rachelle works daily with Queensland legislation, including the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994, the Fair Trading Act 1989, the Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) and the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991.
The practice runs across five clusters. Contracts and agreements covers commercial contracts, supply agreements, terms of trade, employment contracts, NDAs and Business Legals. Commercial leasing and property covers lease review, negotiation, retail lease advice, assignment and surrender. Corporate and structuring covers shareholder agreements, joint ventures, corporate governance and business formation. Disputes and compliance covers commercial dispute resolution, regulatory compliance, and privacy and data protection. Exit and transactions covers mergers and acquisitions, business restructuring and exit strategy planning.
The primary Client base is construction businesses, SMEs and business owners, with most Commercial Law work delivered alongside related Construction Law work. Blaze Business & Legal also advises SMEs in related industries, and acts for non-construction businesses case by case, particularly on commercial leasing, shareholder agreements, business sale and purchase, or employment contracts. Enquiries from outside construction are welcome.
Every piece of work is quoted on a fixed-price basis before it starts, so you know the cost upfront. Fixed pricing covers commercial lease reviews, commercial contract drafting and review, shareholder agreement preparation, joint venture documentation, mergers and acquisitions work, and standalone commercial legal advice. Retained External General Counsel arrangements run on a fixed monthly retainer scoped to the business. There are no published dollar prices, because pricing depends on the scope and complexity of the work.
Blaze Business & Legal is based in Brisbane and advises businesses across Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions. Rachelle works with the commercial and regulatory frameworks applying in each state and territory, including retail shop lease legislation, Personal Property Securities Register requirements, privacy legislation, Unfair Contract Terms legislation, and the Corporations Act 2001 requirements applying nationally.
Commercial Law here covers employment contracts, independent contractor agreements, KPI frameworks, role descriptions, restraint of trade clauses, and the policies and procedures governing staff performance, roles and responsibilities. Blaze Business & Legal does not provide broader workplace relations, industrial relations or Fair Work Act advisory work, which belongs with a dedicated employment law practice. For workplace relations we refer Clients to trusted employment law partners.
Blaze Business & Legal takes pre-litigation commercial disputes, early-stage negotiation, and alternative dispute resolution including mediation support. The focus is commercial resolution rather than litigation. Where a dispute escalates to formal court proceedings, Blaze Business & Legal works with trusted litigation partners and stays involved as the Client's commercial and strategic adviser throughout.
Business formation under Commercial Law covers the legal work in setting up a business, including incorporation, trust establishment, partnership formation and the founding legal documentation. Construction Business Structuring on the Business Advisory side covers the management accounting and tax-efficiency analysis driving the choice of structure. Most businesses take both together so the legal and commercial analysis line up.
For construction business Clients that is typically how it works. Rachelle is a Senior Construction and Commercial Lawyer and most work pulls in both disciplines. That might be a commercial lease on a yard connected to the Project pipeline, a joint venture tied to a construction contract, or a business sale requiring review of the existing construction contracts alongside the corporate documentation. Keeping both practice areas with a single Senior Lawyer means the advice accounts for the whole picture.
Queensland Law Society rules require a Disclosure Notice and Costs Agreement at the start of every piece of legal work where fees are expected to exceed a prescribed threshold. The Disclosure Notice sets out scope, fees and deliverables. The Costs Agreement is the formal document between the Client and Blaze Business & Legal. Both are issued before substantive legal work begins, so you are never billed for work you did not agree to.
Alongside Commercial Law, Blaze Business & Legal provides Construction Law services covering contracts, Projects, disputes, compliance, risk, governance and retained External General Counsel work. There is also a separate Business Advisory practice covering management accounting, fractional CFO services, construction business structuring, commercial advisory, operational advisory and Brisbane 2032 Olympics contractor readiness. More detail is on the Legal Services and Business Advisory pages.
Rachelle leads every piece of Commercial Law work personally, with a fixed-price quote before work starts, direct access and no junior handover, and advice reflecting 25+ years of legal practice and a career running businesses.
