Melbourne has turned to Michael Borsky KC in its Federal Court fight with board challenger Peter Lawrence

A top King’s Counsel who acted for Crown Resorts in the Finkelstein Royal Commission will join Melbourne in its fight against board challenger Peter Lawrence.

Melbourne has engaged a top King’s Counsel who acted for Crown Resorts in the Finkelstein Royal Commission in its Federal Court fight with Demons board challenger Peter Lawrence.

Justice David O’Callaghan on Friday set aside three days in May to hear Lawrence’s bid for an overhaul of Melbourne’s “closed shop” director election system.

Lawrence, a finance expert who is running for a seat on president Kate Roffey’s board, has accused the Dees of engaging in “oppressive” conduct towards “non-aligned” board contenders.

Voting on the make-up of Roffey’s board closed on Thursday with eight candidates, including Lawrence and football director Brad Green, vying for three seats.

The winning candidates will be unveiled at the club’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Melbourne, which is embroiled in a separate Federal Court fight with former president Glen Bartlett, has turned to Michael Borsky KC and top law firm Ashurst to lead its defence in the Lawrence case.

Michael Borksy during the Finkelstein Royal Commission

Hostilities in the long-running and costly Bartlett court stoush will resume in January.

Lawrence is seeking court orders to allow board contenders to make public statements and campaign about their candidacy.

He has said the Demons are the only Victorian AFL club that prevents electioneering.

Lawrence, who forced the first Melbourne board election in almost two decades in January 2021, also wants greater transparency around the announcement of club elections and a committee “independent of the board” used to assess the suitability of future directors.

Jim Peters KC, for Lawrence, told the court his client had lodged “a classic oppression case”.

“The central restriction is Mr Lawrence can’t say anything publicly that adversely affects people such as the directors,” Peters said.

“So if you’re standing to be a director, the first thing you have to say is what you want to fix up. What’s wrong with the way the company is being managed? And this is not a small

company. It has 70,000 members. It makes 30-plus million dollars in revenue. It has got net assets of several million dollars.

“And members have a right to stand and convince other members to appoint them if they believe the company can be run better. And in this case, in the case of the Melbourne Football Club, there’s a history of the board appointing its own directors and really restricting the members’ choices by preventing a full and frank discussion of the affairs of the club.”