Adrian Culas graduated with Honours from University of London, UK in 1992. He was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in February 1995. He has been in active practice since his admission to the Malaysian Bar and in 2003, established the firm Messr Culas-Netto, Advocates and Solicitors.
Adrian has been involved in numerous commercial disputes in Malaysia and draws on his experience as an extremely capable and skilled commercial litigator in Malaysia. Adrian has more than 13 years of experience as a practising lawyer and regularly undertakes briefs and appears in all areas of commercial and civil litigation in the High Court of Malaya and Court of Appeal in Malaysia. Adrian was also involved in negotiating and advising local companies on various joint venture agreements in Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, management contracts, consultancy contracts and suppliers’ contract.
In addition, he was the Facilitator/Lecturer for Irvine University, USA, United Business Institute, Belgium, Cambridgeshire Management Institute, UK for MBA programs in the area of Company Law. Recommended textbook: Commercial Applications of Company Law in Malaysia, CCH Asia Pte Ltd, an adaptation works of the original version, Commercial Applications of Company Law published by CCH Australia written by acknowledged writers, Ms Pamela Hanrahan, Professor Ian Ramsay and Dr Geof Stapledon.
The skill and art of verbal communication is an important key to Adrian’s success of becoming a competent lawyer. He is able to empathize in order to properly understand the needs and concerns of the clients. Further as a result of having acted for numerous financial institutions and companies in Malaysia, Adrian possessed analytical skills to identify the potential legal issues that must be addressed and then to formulate a plan to reach a result that is consistent with the desires of the client as well as the requirements of the law.
Adrian’s expertise is focused in the following areas:
- Company/commercial disputes;
- Wills and estates claims;
- Corporate drafting;
- Debt recovery;
- Bankruptcy proceedings:
- Employment law: unfair dismissal, unlawful termination claims, discrimination;
- Breach of contract claims.
- Civil Litigation; and
- Laws within Malaysia jurisdiction
Adrian’s capabilities include:
- multilingual in English, Malay, Indonesian;
- consultancy with a diverse range of peoples and varying management levels.
In his free time, Adrian indulges in the sport of badminton and has played for the Selangor State Bar until his arrival in Australia. He is also very active member of the Rotary Club in Malaysia and is currently a member of the Parramatta City Rotary Club.
Prior to joining LAC Lawyers, Adrian has worked as a Senior Paralegal in the Legal Department of a public listed company in Australia.
Setting up a discretionary trust
Date: July 04, 2009
Author(s): Adrian Culas LL.B. (Hons.), CLP.
A trust is a relationship where a person (The Trustee) is under an obligation to hold property or assets for a benefit of a group of persons called the Beneficiaries. The relationship and terms of the Trust are contained in the Trust Deed executed by the Trustee and the Settlor.
Employment Law - Redundancy - Transmission of Business
Date: July 04, 2009
Author(s): Adrian Culas LL.B. (Hons.), CLP.
Your employer writes to you informing you that the company has sold its business together with its assets to another entity and that you are to re-apply for the same position in the new company. What are your rights? Have you been terminated? Are you entitled to claim redundancy payments?
Taxation Law - CGT and Trust Cloning Exception
Date: June 15, 2009
Author(s): Frank Egan B.A., LL.B., A.C.L.A., F.T.I.A. (Notary), Adrian Culas LL.B. (Hons.), CLP.
In 1990, Section 160M(1a) ITAA 97 was enacted to ensure that mere change of legal ownership in an asset does not constitute a change of ownership of the asset for the purpose of Part IIIA of the ITAA 97. Consequently neither the transfer of an asset nor the change of the Trustee of a trust would be deemed to be a disposal under Part IIIA ITAA and therefore not subject to the payment of CGT.
Taxation Law - CGT and Trust Cloning
Date: June 10, 2009
Author(s): Frank Egan B.A., LL.B., A.C.L.A., F.T.I.A. (Notary), Adrian Culas LL.B. (Hons.), CLP.
A Discretionary trust is one of the most sought after trust structures in view of the enormous benefit that follows from the establishment of such a trust. The Discretionary Trust structure creates a framework for family assets to be passed from one generation to another without losing control over key assets, allows for the protection of assets from creditors, creates an effective tax structure and in particular allows access to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) concessions.
Debt Recovery - The Common Stages
Date: September 24, 2008
Author(s): Adrian Culas LL.B. (Hons.), CLP.
Debt Recovery - To Sue Or Not To Sue
Date: September 03, 2008
Author(s): Adrian Culas LL.B. (Hons.), CLP.
Your regular Customer calls you and request delivery of some goods in store. A delivery order and an invoice for the goods are raised and the goods are promptly delivered the next day to the customer. The delivery order is acknowledged and invoice handed over your customer with a thirty day credit period. Thirty days lapses and the customer failed to make payment. Despite various reminders, the Customer still refuses to pay the outstanding amount. That regular customer has now become a debtor of your company.