/ɡrəˈveɪmɛn/

noun LAW
noun: gravamen; plural noun: gravamina

  • the essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation.
    “a constitutional violation may comprise the gravamen of a plaintiff’s complaint”
  • a grievance.

Origin: early 17th century (as an ecclesiastical term denoting formal presentation of a grievance): from late Latin, literally ‘physical inconvenience’, from Latin gravare ‘to load’, from gravis ‘heavy’.

Areas of Practice

Gravamen is a boutique commercial law firm specialising in shareholder disputes, partnership disputes, and disputes between trustees and beneficiaries.

When co-owners disagree, Gravamen can assist.

  • Shareholders in companies who feel unfairly prejudiced by the way the company’s affairs are conducted might seek our help launching a corporate oppression suit.
  • Partners whose business relationship has broken down might seek our help dissolving the partnership, and dealing with the consequences.
  • Beneficiaries of a trust of any kind – commercial, discretionary, testamentary – might approach Gravamen to protect, and project, their interests.

Values in Action

Gravamen’s Values in Action initiative sees us donate a minimum of $1,000 every month to charitable organisations dismantling the patriarchy, challenging inequality, tackling systemic racism, addressing wealth disparity, and championing environmental responsibility.

This is a commitment Gravamen has made from its very beginning. Three months after he first took any salary from Gravamen, our founder was causing these donations to be made. The “Values in Action” program is ingrained in the DNA of Gravamen and will continue indefinitely into the future.

Coffee and a Case Note

James is also the creator, founder and presenter of ‘Coffee and a Case Note’, a successful and influential series of online videos and podcast episodes that sees James summarise up to the minute cases in his specialty area and present them to camera over a cup of coffee.

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