You cannot reserve a date utilising the Availability Calendar. It is not linked to the Outlook calendar program.

To book Mr Douglas for a mediation, expert conclave facilitation or “bedside” examination (ie court ordered examination de bene esse) please follow the steps below.

BOOKING

Mr Douglas is available for a day or half a day (10.00 am – 2.00  pm or 2.00 pm – 6.00 pm).  Early or late hour – or weekend or public holiday – mediations, expert conclave facilitations or bedside examinations respectively are available, at the same fee rates.

Mr Douglas is available to conduct such matters anywhere in Queensland, interstate or overseas, in person or by videolink.

After ascertaining Mr Douglas’s availability through the availability calendar on this website, please contact Mr Douglas’s personal assistant Pauline O’Neill, or Mr Douglas – by phone on (07) 3218 0620, or email to douglas@callinanchambers.com – to secure a date.  Alternatively, contact Mr Douglas on his mobile – 0417 788713.

Once confirmed with the other parties, the appointed date and timeslot, the details of the legal representatives and parties attending the mediation, or experts attending the expert conclave, and their email addresses and contact numbers – together with the agreed share for payment of fees, should also be provided via email to douglas@callinanchambers.com.

The parties will then receive from Mr Douglas a costs disclosure letter and/or a mediation (or expert facilitation) agreement for signing and return. Such agreement is made with the solicitors for the parties, who are responsible for fee payment. The fees below apply for newly booked mediations and expert facilitations to ensue from 3 March 2026.

TENTATIVE DATES

If you need to make a tentative booking, please telephone or email as above.  A tentative date will only be held for one week.  By that time – unless the parties have requested and Mr Douglas agrees to an extension – the tentative date will be removed from the availability calendar and made available to others.  Only one tentative date can be held at any time.

MEDIATION FEES

Mr Douglas’s fee rates for mediations – operative for newly booked mediations to ensue from 3 March 2026 – are as follows:

• • • Half day booking – $5,940 (being $5,400 plus 10% GST).
    • Full day booking – $10,340 (being $9,400 plus 10% GST).

Such fees are inclusive of the venue fee if provided by Mr Douglas (see ”Mediation, Conference and Conclave Venue” heading below). That is, Mr Douglas will provide the venue – if available – at no additional charge.

Such fees extend to all prior reading – confined to two single sided page volumes, or electronic equivalent – and any required post-mediation certification. Excess material provision and mediation time extension – in excess of 45 minutes – will attract an additional charge at a rate of $990 an hour (inclusive of GST).

If travel outside the Greater Brisbane region is required, the above rates apply to same (including travel time), but in addition there will be a travel outlay charged for road travel or economy airfares if outside the Queensland southeast corner and accessible by air.

Responsibility for payment of such fees and outlays lies with the respective solicitors for the parties, and is several, not joint and several, and is required within 21 days of invoice.

EXPERT CONCLAVE FACILITATOR FEES

Conclave facilitation fees will be at Mr Douglas’s above mediation fee rates, but with the ultimate fee struck by negotiation and agreement, due to the disparate time inexorably incurred by dint of prior reading, conclave conduct and subsequent conclave report drafting and finalisation.

Responsibility for payment of fees – by the solicitors for the parties – is several, not joint and several, and is required within 21 days of the date of invoice.

MEDIATION, CONCLAVE AND CONFERENCE VENUE

The venue for mediations, conclaves and conferences – if available – will be Hemmant’s List Centre, Level 6, Santos Place, Turbot Street, Brisbane or alternatively Callinan Chambers, Level 31, Santos Place.  Both venues have videolink and telephone conference facilities if required.  There will be no cost to the parties for provision by Mr Douglas of either venue, the only exception to this being where more than 3 meeting rooms are required.

The parties, however, are at liberty to appoint an alternative venue, but at their own cost.

Experience dictates that expert conclaves inexorably are conducted by videolink.

Public carparks are available nearby the above venues at the following sites:

• Secure Parking, 40 Tank Street, Brisbane.
• King George Square Car Park, 87 Roma Street, Brisbane.

“BEDSIDE” EXAMINATIONS

Not infrequently where a witness who would give evidence at a forthcoming trial is dying, or of advancing physical or neurological disability, a court will order an examination de bene esse at their home or other convenient venue. This enables the evidence of such witness to be taken – including for them to be cross-examined – in advance of trial, with the same video-recorded for tender at such trial.

Such “bedside” examinations are conducted before an experienced lawyer as examiner – appointed by court order – with such examiner facilitating the proper and orderly conduct of the examination. This includes the recording of any objections to any evidence adduced, reserving the same for ruling at trial.

Mr Douglas previously conducted many such examinations acting for one or other party. He now conducts same as an examiner.

Examination fees will be at Mr Douglas’s above mediation fee rates, but with the ultimate fee struck by negotiation and agreement, due to the disparate time inexorably incurred by dint of prior reading and examination conduct.

Responsibility for payment of fees – by the solicitors for the parties – is several, not joint and several, and is required within 21 days of the date of invoice. 

ADVICE, CONFERENCE AND PLEADING DRAFTING FEES

Mr Douglas – in instances not requiring court appearance, unless expressly agreed by Mr Douglas in exceptional cases– will accept briefs to advise in writing and in conference, or draft pleadings.

Advice, conference or pleading fees are as follows:

• Per day – $11,550 ($10,500 plus 10% GST).
• Per hour – $1,265 ($1,150 plus 10% GST).

The fees in any particular instance need be struck by negotiation and agreement as for any like brief, depending on the volume of material briefed and likely time required to complete the task. Payment of fees by briefing solicitors is required within 45 days of invoice.