Our Team

SBA Lawyers are experienced, creative and enthusiastic. We bring a variety of backgrounds, experience and a framework to problem solving to address our client's needs.

Our employees have a passion for the law and are eager to assist you solve your legal needs as a team. We value our clients and are dedicated to providing a commercially valuable service that meets and exceeds their needs and objectives.

The team enjoys working in a relaxed and friendly office environment.

Our aim is to provide valuable and practicable legally sound solutions to our clients’ problems in a commercial environment while pursuing our own personal and professional goals.

Stephen Blanks

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Neria Huang

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Josh Pallas

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Stephen Blanks

Stephen has 30 years’ post-admission experience, having graduated in Law and Arts from the University of New South Wales in 1983, and commenced legal practice in 1985.

Stephen commenced his own legal practice in 1991, and has now been in his own practice for more than 24 years. In 1996, Stephen became an Accredited Specialist in Commercial Litigation.

Stephen has always, since first being admitted as a lawyer, worked in litigation matters and advised on corporation and commercial transactions.

On the litigation side, Stephen has acted in significant litigation involving takeovers, schemes of arrangement, compulsory acquisition of shares, intellectual property infringement, winding up companies and general commercial disputes. The matters have been in a wide variety of Courts, including the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia, every Supreme Court in Australia (except Northern Territory and South Australia), and various lower Courts and Tribunals.

On the corporate and commercial side, Stephen has advised on significant business acquisitions and sales, intellectual property development and licensing, joint ventures, venture capital transactions, franchising, company formations, trade practices issues, trade marks and property transactions. Stephen’s clients have tended to be in industries dependent on intellectual property, especially in the IT and biotechnology industries.

Running his own practice has enabled Stephen to pursue many interesting areas in and around the law.

At present, one of Stephen’s major areas of interest is commercialising intellectual property, and Stephen is a director of and shareholder in Vecor Limited, a company commercialising technologies for the utilisation of waste fly ash from coal-fired power stations. Stephen is also active in the human rights and civil liberties space, and is currently the President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties. Stephen appears frequently in the media on a variety of issues in this role.

Contact Stephen Stephen on LinkedIn | +61 2 9555 8654 | [email protected]

Neria Huang

Neria graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Sydney and was admitted to practice law in 2016. Working with SBA Lawyers since 2016, she practices in the areas of commercial and property transactions, including particularly contracts involving intellectual property. Neria is a native Mandarin speaker and has extensive experience advising clients on international commercial transactions involving China.

Contact Neria 02 9555 8654 | [email protected]

Josh Pallas

Josh Pallas graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons 1) and Bachelors of Arts (Hons 1 in Politics) from the University of Wollongong in 2016. He also holds a Master of Laws (Criminal Justice and International Law, UNSW) and will soon complete a PhD in law at the University of Sydney.

Josh was admitted to legal practice in 2017 after completing periods of practical legal training with SBA Lawyers and the Inner City Legal Centre. He then worked as a Tipstaff in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He has since practiced with Levitt Robinson Solicitors and the NSW Crown Solicitor's Office before returning to SBA Lawyers in 2024. His practice areas have been varied but have principally involved criminal law (including regulatory enforcement), commercial litigation and administrative law. He has also assisted in human rights and public interest litigation. Much of Josh's experience has been in legally complex and large scale litigation.

Outside of legal practice, Josh has taught law and politics at the University of Sydney and University of Wollongong and administered student law reform projects at the University of Sydney. He has published on criminal and international law and legal theory.

Josh has served on the Board of the University of Sydney Law School, the Youth Advisory Committee for NSW Red Cross and on the committee of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, including past terms as Vice President and President.

Selected cases:

Searle v Commonwealth of Australia [2018] NSWSC 105 (overturned in favour of Searle on appeal)
State of New South Wales v Dunn [2019] NSWSC 426
Baldwin v State of New South Wales [2020] 102 NSWLR 447
Natural Resources Access Regulator v Budvalt Pty Ltd; Natural Resources Access Regulator v Harris [2020] NSWLEC 113

Contact Josh Pallas [email protected]