Director · Lazarus Legal
Mark is a Sydney commercial and trade mark lawyer and the Director of Lazarus Legal. He has spent more than 20 years in private practice, at the NSW Bar and in senior in-house roles with Monster Energy.
Sydney · Australia
As featured in
Recognised Australian legal publishers
Lawyers WeeklyThe Lawyers Weekly Show, Aug 2026
Law Society JournalFeature article, Jul 2026
LexisNexisPractical Guidance author, 2026
In brief
Mark Lazarus is the Director of Lazarus Legal, a Sydney commercial law firm established in 1975 by Barry Lazarus. He has more than 20 years of legal experience, including four years in London as Legal Counsel and then Legal Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Monster Energy. Mark was admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW in 2004, became a Solicitor of England and Wales in 2008 and was called to the NSW Bar in 2010.
Mark mentors founders at the Macquarie University Incubator, where he holds the Digital Mentor Badge, and has written for the Law Society Journal and LexisNexis Practical Guidance. Lazarus Legal is a Premium Partner of the Australian Furniture Association.
Mark Lazarus of Lazarus Legal is a Sydney lawyer. He should not be confused with the US media executive of the same name, who is the CEO of Versant.
Credentials
Each of Mark Lazarus’s admissions and credentials below links to the body that granted or lists it, so it can be checked independently.
The Law Society of NSWNSW register of solicitors
Solicitors Regulation AuthoritySolicitor of England and Wales
NSW Bar AssociationCalled to the NSW Bar
Macquarie University IncubatorDigital Mentor Badge
| Credential | Granted or listed by | Year | Check it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admitted as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of NSW | Supreme Court of NSW | 2004 | NSW register of solicitors |
| Solicitor of England and Wales | Solicitors Regulation Authority | 2008 | Find a Solicitor listing |
| Called to the NSW Bar | NSW Bar Association | 2010 | nswbar.asn.au |
| Digital Mentor Badge | Macquarie University Incubator | Current | Badge certificate |
The Journal of
The Law Society of NSW
Feature article · Published 10 July 2026
“Since 2020, the instinct has been to make force majeure clauses longer and more specific. That instinct is misplaced; a force majeure clause allocates risk and allocating the risk of an event is precisely what stops the doctrine of frustration applying to it.”Read the article on LSJ Online
Career
Mark practised as a barrister at the Bar of NSW from Edmund Barton Chambers and then Second Floor Selborne Chambers, before moving in-house at Monster Energy in 2013.
At Monster Energy, he managed a legal team, handled global bottling agreements with Coca-Cola, negotiated athlete endorsement and sponsorship deals, and contributed to energy drink regulation through international conferences. In 2017, he joined Lazarus Legal as Director.
Having worked inside a fast-moving global brand, Mark knows how a legal team operates when its work is judged on commercial results.
Law isn’t theatre. I don’t play a part, I change the ending.
Mark Lazarus
Practice areas
Mark Lazarus works across five areas of law for founders and business owners: trade marks and IP, commercial and corporate law, capital raising, dispute resolution, and AI and the law.
01
Trade marks and intellectual property are the centre of Mark’s practice. At Monster Energy, a global brand that guards its intellectual property closely, Mark led trade mark enforcement as part of the company’s worldwide brand protection strategy.
Today he advises clients on registration, IP Australia adverse examination responses, opposition proceedings, infringement strategy, design protection, copyright, and ownership of work created on their behalf. Lazarus Legal’s trade mark lawyers and intellectual property lawyers handle this work for Australian businesses.
02
Mark works with businesses from the day they incorporate. The work covers shareholder agreements, founder agreements, employment contracts, supplier and distribution agreements, and the everyday commercial contracts that determine whether a business can scale cleanly.
Most of the structures he drafts are shaped by what he has seen go wrong elsewhere. This contract and structuring work sits at the core of Lazarus Legal’s practice as commercial lawyers in Sydney.
03
Mark’s focus in capital raising is structural: bringing capital in without giving the founder away. The work covers term sheet negotiation, equity and convertible note structures, founder vesting, control provisions, and the protective mechanics that determine whether a founder still runs their own company after the round closes.
Hear Mark on this on the Don’t @ Me podcast
04
Mark represents businesses defending what they have built: IP infringement matters, trade mark oppositions and disputes, breach of contract claims, and the strategic decision of when to litigate and when to settle.
He approaches dispute resolution commercially, with the aim of getting the business back to running.
05 · What he’s known for
Mark speaks and writes regularly on where AI helps lawyers and founders, and where it creates risk. He breaks down how AI-drafted contracts fail, hosts sessions on why ChatGPT contracts break and what founders can do about it, presents on AI in practice, and runs regular AI workshops at incubators and accelerators.
In his view, AI is a useful tool for people who already understand contracts.
Associations
Macquarie · Full circle
Mark studied law at Macquarie University and has returned to the same campus as a mentor at the Incubator, Macquarie’s flagship innovation and entrepreneurship hub. He has reflected publicly on that move.
The Incubator matches mentors to founders based on skills and experience, and the Digital Mentor Badge is awarded annually in recognition of ongoing contribution. Mark holds that badge and works directly with Incubator founders on legal structure, IP and capital strategy.
Industry partnership
Lazarus Legal is the Australian Furniture Association’s nominated legal adviser for design IP, manufacturing agreements, supply chain contracts and trade mark protection across Australia’s furniture, furnishing, manufacturing and supply chain sectors.
Mark spoke at the AFA’s Grow. Promote. Protect. Forum 2026 alongside speakers from IP Australia, RMIT, GS1 and Circular Australia.
Leadership
Alongside his work at Lazarus Legal, Mark Lazarus holds board and legal roles with five businesses.
Latest appointment
Since April 2026, Mark has been the external Chief Legal Officer of Andie Body, an Australian beauty and wellness brand with global ambitions, while continuing to run Lazarus Legal.
He works across commercial strategy, regulatory positioning, IP protection, international market access and capital raise readiness. He also coordinates the brand’s external legal specialists in Australia, the US and the UK, including patent attorneys, trade mark counsel and regulatory advisers.
Mark works alongside co-founders Tim O’Sullivan, who built the Korean pear juice brand Bae Juice, and Caitlyn Mefflin, who launched Potentia Pilates, to build the legal and commercial infrastructure the brand needs to scale.
Media
Mark Lazarus has been interviewed by Lawyers Weekly and on legal and founder podcasts in Australia and the United States, on running a law firm, legal hiring, AI and commercial law for founders.
Featured interview · The Lawyers Weekly Show · August 2026
Mark spoke with Lawyers Weekly about the hiring challenges facing law firms in a changing market. Lawyers Weekly also covered the conversation in its article “AI, talent, and the future of law: Rethinking legal hiring”.
Podcast · EP 186
The Law Firm Owners Podcast · September 2026
Podcast · S7 EP 5
The Bar Podcast, UTS Law Students’ Society · August 2026
Guest appearance · EP 93 · 31 min
The CUSP Podcast · July 2025
Mark joined Tom Hitchcock, Founder and CEO of Purple Patch Consulting, on his interview series The CUSP Podcast (released on the Mr Purple YouTube channel) for a conversation on career, leadership and what it means to invest in yourself.
Podcast · 56 min
Don’t @ Me · July 2025
A conversation covering Mark’s path through legal practice, shareholder agreement strategy, tax implications for international operations, and the uses and risks of AI in legal drafting.
Video interview · EP 33 · 39 min
Josh Gerben Show · March 2024
Mark joined US trade mark lawyer Josh Gerben to discuss running a small commercial firm, client acquisition, marketing methods, and the mental health side of legal practice.
Video interview
Law for the Lay · June 2019
Clara Eve, host of Law for the Lay, interviewed Mark about innovation in legal practice and his work with startups, tech businesses, influencers and FMCG brands.
Podcast
Beyond Billables · June 2018
A long-form conversation on legal marketing and the business of running a law firm.
Speaking
Mark Lazarus speaks regularly at university incubators, industry bodies, startup events and legal education providers in Sydney and Melbourne, on commercial law, IP, contract risk and AI.
18Mar 2027
Upcoming · ICC Sydney
Sep 2026 · UTS Sydney
Spark Festival 2026, Startup Growth Lab, 24 September 2026. A moderated conversation with Zander De Klerk, Managing Partner of XETA.
Sep 2026 · Sydney
Mark spoke on the founders’ panel, “Beyond the Hype: Building Real Traction in Australia’s Most Selective Funding Market Yet”, hosted by LiveHaus at the AWS Sydney office on 9 September 2026.
Sep 2026 · The Rocks, Sydney
Debate at the Startup to Scaleup (S2S) Summit 2026, hosted by Tank Stream Labs at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 1 September 2026.
Jun 2026 · Online
A LegalWise CPD webinar for practitioners, 9 June 2026, on how current force majeure clauses work and how they interact with frustration, drawing on Australian authority from Codelfa to Cao v ISPT.
Jun 2026 · Sydney
Mark spoke on Power Panel 1 at StartupHaus Sydney, hosted by LiveHaus at Tank Stream Labs, Haymarket, on 16 June 2026, alongside the founders of Realrun, Agentsy, LoanOptions.ai and Harley’s Haus.
Apr 2026 · Streamed live
Leo Cussen Centre for Law, 30 April 2026, alongside Amanda Lees (King & Wood Mallesons) and Justin Carter (Victorian Bar).
Feb 2026 · Melbourne
A two-day industry forum at RMIT University, Melbourne, on 24 and 25 February 2026, hosted by the Australian Furnishing Industry Stewardship Council, the Australian Furniture Association and RMIT. Mark spoke on the panel “What a Bloody Rip Off!”, on protecting design IP, brands and certifications.
Jun 2025
A careers day at Ottimo House, Denham Court, for more than 300 Year 10 students from South Western Sydney schools. Lazarus Legal joined the industry partners running panels and masterclasses, including on careers in law.
May 2025 · Macquarie Park
A hybrid session at the Macquarie University Incubator on 14 May 2025 on how AI is changing contract drafting, including privacy, trade marks and IP.
May 2025 · Sydney
The Great Room, 85 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, 22 May 2025.
May 2025 · Melbourne
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. Presentation on privacy compliance for medical practices.
Apr 2025
A Lazarus Legal founder lunch at WOTSO Pyrmont on 2 April 2025, where Mark covered the most common faults in AI-drafted contracts and why free templates often default to US law.
Published
Mark Lazarus has written on force majeure and frustration, design IP and FMCG regulation for the Law Society Journal, LexisNexis Practical Guidance, the Australian Furniture Association and Lazarus Legal.
Practical Guidance · LexisNexis
Published 2026
Mark is the author of the Force Majeure Guidance Notes and Precedent in the Commercial module of LexisNexis Practical Guidance, a resource Australian lawyers use when drafting and reviewing commercial contracts.
Feature article · Australian Furniture Association
Published June 2025
“A design is only yours if you’ve protected it.” Mark’s article examines the gap between Copyright Act protection and the Designs Act when artistic works are industrially applied.
Opinion · Lazarus Legal
Published March 2023
Drawing on his Monster Energy regulatory experience, Mark analyses caffeine compliance in the Australian energy drink market.
What clients say
I’ve been using Mark from Lazarus Legal to assist my PR agency with contracts, agreements, trade marks, and general advice. He’s fast-working, authentic and generous with his advice.
Get in touch
You can contact Mark Lazarus through Lazarus Legal’s Bondi Junction office.
If you’re raising capital or protecting your brand
Mark and the team at Lazarus Legal would be glad to help. Get in touch for a first conversation about what you’re working on.
Send An EnquiryEngagements with Mark begin with a consultation through Lazarus Legal. For ongoing work, the firm can act as a business’s external in-house counsel, on a fixed scope where possible.
Yes. Mark speaks to universities, industry associations, startup events and professional bodies on commercial law, IP, FMCG regulation and AI. Speaking enquiries can be made through Lazarus Legal directly.
