Lawyers A–Z

Miraglia, Teresa

Deputy General Counsel and Property Practice Leader Commercial

Teresa is an expert in property law and is AGS’s national Property and Construction Practice Leader. Her experience ranges across the full range of property-related transactions. She brings to her work commercial acumen, the desire to achieve the client’s goals and a broad technical expertise and understanding of the Commonwealth regulatory and policy context.

Through her work for many Government clients and her role as Practice Leader, Teresa brings a whole-of government-insight to her work, enabling her to leverage this understanding for the benefit of the project.

Relevant experience

Projects

Teresa has assisted agencies with the establishment of head office and accommodation roll-outs. This has included providing ‘end-to-end’ services on a multi-million-dollar project for the Australian Institute of Family Studies establishing its new headquarters in Melbourne which spanned commercial negotiation support (at the heads of agreement stage) through to lease negotiation and fit-out construction.

Real estate and accommodation

She has supported Government in the roll-out of accommodation through developing the full suite of lease accommodation acquisition and disposal tools such development of a suite of standard documents, checklists, heads of agreement and a streamlined electronic instructions process, helping our client to minimise its external legal costs while at the same time managing legal and operational risks.

She has also provided advice to a wide range of Commonwealth agencies on their property requirements – covering both one-off transactions for smaller agencies, advising on major projects for larger agencies and supporting agencies to acquire, dispose of, fit-out and manage a portfolio of properties.

Acquisitions and disposals

Teresa has handled complex property acquisitions and disposals (including by way of open market tender) of rural and semi-industrial land. She recently acted for one corporate Commonwealth entity in the disposal of semi-industrial land for development, which involved complex negotiations with multiple stakeholders, development of approach to market documents, due diligence, management of confidentiality, participation in tender evaluation, providing legal risk assessment support, leading contract negotiations and contract exchange and sale completion.

Securities

She has also been involved in supporting Government agencies in utilising property securities to secure the performance of both financial and non-financial obligations (security of purposes). This has included preparing and negotiating complex real property mortgages, personal securities and guarantees. For instance, she has acted for the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation in the settlement of a multi-million-dollar tax debt. This involved providing legal advice, preparation and negotiation of a complex range of securities offered by a third party group of companies of real property mortgages, corporate guarantees and personal property charges to secure the repayment of the debt. She has also acted for the Insolvency and Trustee Service as trustee in proceeds-of-crime proceedings, including the implementation and realisation of a broad range of securities.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Laws / Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne, 1991

Areas of law

Property and environment