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Box Forest Consulting is a sustainability, advisory and legal business based in Melbourne, Australia, founded by lawyer Mick Coleman in 2019.  Box Forest does legal advice and documents, business advice and training, and is also a vehicle for sharing work on sustainability and conservation.

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Box Forest operates on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations, the traditional owners of the region that is now Melbourne.  We pay our respects to the local people and to their Elders, past, present and future.  

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Our vision is a world where organisations flourish sustainably across multiple domains – as successful operations over a sustained period; as great places to work; as good to do business with; and having positive impact on staff, clients, the environment and communities. 

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We put our vision into practice through our mission - to provide quality legal and advisory services, at affordable rates, to help organisations and individuals achieve sustainable outcomes. 

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Our business model is to position Box Forest at the confluence of three fields of life we think will continue to align over time – 1) consideration for our planet and fellow humans, 2) professional and business success, and 3) bringing together skilled individuals to work flexibly with organisations.  We want you and your organisation to live long and prosper, and do the same ourselves.

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Team

Legal. Sustainable. Business.

Box Forest is a core group of two lawyers, Michael Coleman and Anthony Walsgott.  We work for a range of clients, as well as being virtual in-house lawyers for businesses including CSP National Pty Ltd, Sustaincoin, Consortia Ventures Holdings Pty Ltd, Metform Group Pty Ltd, Sonohaler AvS and Evitat Pty Ltd.  We work closely with collaborators in adjacent legal and professional fields.

Michael

Michael Coleman started his legal career at Mallesons (now KWM) in Melbourne in 1994, after completing Law (Hons) and Arts (Hons) degrees at Melbourne University.  Michael worked from 1997-2002 at WA Parliament and WA Treasury in legal policy roles, then for 13 years at Telstra, on the legal management team from 2006. 

In 2015 Michael moved to private practice, developing a telecommunications, energy, M&A and general commercial practice as a partner at Mills Oakley, a top 10 Australian firm.  Key clients included Telstra, SP Ausnet, Origin Energy, Elecnor SA, Optus, Wilson Parking, United Energy/Powercor, Brisbane Airport and Heatcraft.

In 2019 Michael started Box Forest Consulting with the idea of taking on more active roles with clients, and building a portfolio of business interests, with a sustainability focus. 

Major projects with Box Forest have included:

  • the finance law, contract and compliance work for Sustaincoin, a digital coin backed by carbon credits, due to be launched onto coin trading exchanges in early 2023

  • regulatory, compliance and contracts work to establish the initial telecommunications business for Origin Energy

  • developing an Eco-credit (carbon sequestration plus co-benefits) and a derivative Eco-bond instrument for the Organic and Regenerative Investment Co-operative

  • business establishment projects in diverse sectors - a solar power trading firm, concrete, electric vehicle conversions, a radiology chain, automotive design

  • business sales and acquisitions in diverse sectors – metal fabrication, leisure centre, phone recycling, a solar farm, a spa franchise, a community land trust, and many more.

Michael is also creating a trading platform for voluntary carbon market, initially working with Australian landholders excluded from the regulated ACCU market.  With business partners he is developing a “roll-up” business model, aggregating stakes in several businesses in a sector.

Michael follows Collingwood in the AFL and loves a road trip and bushwalking in the big hills.  He is blessed with two adult daughters who are much brighter than he is, and who might join the firm one day.

Anthony

Anthony Walsgott was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2004 and has since then worked as a solicitor in various positions, including:

  • Local government (the then Maroochy Shire Council) as council solicitor in charge of Local Laws and as one of two council solicitors in charge of planning law);

  • In-house solicitor for Walsgott Animal Law Service Inc. and Sunshine Coast Environment Council, preparing briefs and legal opinions and running/representing in court trials in the Planning and Environment Court in Maroochydore and Brisbane;

  • In-house solicitor for Interactive Community Planning, carrying out general commercial law work and representing Queensland Indigenous Native Title Holders in ILUA’s and negotiations with mining and utility companies and government departments, as well as Native Title Applicants in the Federal Court of Australia; and,

  • As a solicitor in various private law firms, carrying out general commercial law work, as well as some specialization in environmental law, planning law, animal law, property law, criminal law and family law.

 

Anthony specializes in preparation of court/trial briefs, court representation/advocacy, preparing legal opinions and conducting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) with certificates in Mediation and Arbitration as well as university training in Negotiation and out of court settlements as part of his Master of Laws. Anthony also participated in the Barrister’s Course (Queensland Bar Course) in 2004 before he was admitted as a solicitor.

 

Anthony is able to receive and carry out a broad range of legal work and has a vast wealth of life and work experience in order to assist with any legal issues that his clients present to him.

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