Lawyer for Architects
A Lawyer for Architects, from an Architect
Legal advice for architects and architecture practices from a solicitor who spent more than 30 years as a registered architect and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects
Most lawyers learn architecture from the brief. Christopher Larcos learned it from the drawing board, the site, and three decades of running architectural projects.
He is a dual-qualified solicitor and registered architect with more than 40 years in the construction industry. Before and alongside his legal career, he practised as an architect for over 30 years and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects (FRAIA). For an architect looking for a lawyer, that means an adviser who already understands your scope, your fees, your role administering building contracts, and the value of your copyright, before you have to explain any of it.
His career spans work alongside leading and prestigious architectural practices in Australia and internationally, on projects where design quality and contractual precision both had to hold. He brings that same understanding to advising architects on the agreements, appointments, and disputes that decide whether a commission protects a practice or exposes it.
Whether you are a sole practitioner setting up, a growing firm standardising your terms, or an overseas practice entering the Australian market, you are dealing with a peer who is embedded in the profession, not an outsider learning it from your file.
Why Christopher is the right lawyer for architects
Christopher has run architectural projects
More than 30 years as a registered architect means Christopher understands scope, fees, coordination, contract administration and design risk from having done the work, not from reading about it.
A Fellow embedded in the profession
As a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, and through teaching and Practice Committee service, Christopher is a peer within the profession, so you are advised by someone who speaks your language.
Experience across leading practices
His career spans work alongside leading and prestigious architectural practices, in Australia and internationally, on projects where design quality and contractual precision both mattered.
Agreements that protect your practice
From Client Architect Agreements to copyright, liability and novation, Christopher drafts and reviews the instruments that decide whether a commission protects your practice or exposes it.
Legal support across the life of your practice
Expert advice for architects at each stage, from setting up through to the day-to-day work of running commissions.
Starting a practice
Registration-ready terms of engagement and your first Client Architect Agreement, with the risks worth closing before your first commission.
Learn moreClient Architect Agreements
Reviewing, tailoring and drafting the agreement that governs every engagement between your practice and its clients.
Learn moreTender and appointment review
Checking client-side and developer consultant agreements before you sign, so you know what you are committing to.
Learn moreNovation
Advice on design and construct novation, so your position is protected when your appointment moves across to the builder.
Learn moreSubconsultant agreements
Back-to-back agreements with the consultants you engage, so scope, obligations and liability flow through cleanly.
Learn moreCopyright and moral rights
Keeping control of your drawings and design, and licensing them on terms that suit your practice rather than the client's.
Learn moreContract administration
Support for your role administering the building contract, from progress certificates to variations and extensions of time.
Learn moreSecurity of payment
Advice on payment claims, schedules and adjudication under the security of payment legislation that applies where you practise.
Learn moreAdvising practices in Australia’s prime markets
Christopher advises architects across Australia, with particular experience of the premium residential markets where design and contractual precision both have to hold.
Sydney
Design-led practices work across the eastern suburbs, the North Shore and the Northern Beaches, where premium clients and developers issue appointments that reward close reading before signing, and produce designs worth protecting.
Melbourne
On Toorak, Bayside and Mornington Peninsula projects, the appointment and its novation terms often matter as much as the design. Getting the agreement right protects the practice across the life of the commission.
Brisbane
Prestige riverfront and hinterland work brings developer consultant agreements and design-and-construct novation that repay careful review before you commit to them.
Perth
Western-suburbs and coastal projects put a premium on clear scope, fees and copyright, particularly where a practice is engaged by developers or novated to a builder.
Adelaide
Considered, high-end residential work, from Toorak Gardens to the Adelaide Hills, rewards agreements that fix scope, fees and liability before the first drawing is issued.
Common questions
What should an architecture practice look for in a lawyer?
A lawyer for architects is most useful when they understand your work from the inside. Christopher Larcos practised as a registered architect for more than 30 years before and alongside his legal career, so he already understands scope of services, fee structures, the architect's role as contract administrator, copyright in drawings, and how design decisions create or avoid risk. That means advice framed in the language of your practice, not just the language of the law, and fewer things lost in translation between the two.
What legal issues does a lawyer for architects deal with?
The most common are Client Architect Agreements and terms of engagement, scope and fee disputes, limitation of liability set against professional indemnity cover, copyright and moral rights in designs, novation on design and construct projects, the architect's role administering building contracts, and disputes with clients, builders or consultants. Christopher advises architectural practices on each of these, drawing on both his legal qualification and his years in practice.
Do you advise both individual architects and larger practices?
Yes. Christopher advises sole practitioners setting up their first practice, growing firms standardising their agreements and handling sub-consultants and novation, and established and overseas practices entering the Australian market. The right advice differs at each stage, but the value of an adviser who has run architectural projects is constant across all of them.
Is Christopher Larcos a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects?
Yes. Christopher is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects (FRAIA), a distinction recognising sustained contribution to the profession. He has also contributed through teaching in the Practice of Architecture Learning Series (PALS) and service on the Institute's Practice Committee. For an architect choosing a lawyer, that standing means you are dealing with a peer who is embedded in the profession, not an outsider learning it from the brief.
Can you help review a client's or developer's agreement before I sign?
Yes. Reviewing a client-side or developer consultant agreement before you sign is one of the most valuable things a lawyer for architects can do. These agreements are usually drafted in the client's favour and can shift liability, payment risk and copyright away from your practice. A review identifies the terms worth negotiating and the exposures worth avoiding, before you are bound by them.
Do you advise architects outside New South Wales?
Yes. Christopher advises architects and practices across Australia. Architect registration and some statutory regimes are administered state by state, so where you practise matters, and that is factored into the advice. He also advises overseas practices adapting their engagement terms to Australian law as they enter the market here.
Keep reading
Client Architect Agreements
Review, tailoring and drafting of the agreements you use with your own clients.
ContinueWhy a dual-qualified architect and lawyer
Why an architect who is also a solicitor offers a perspective most construction lawyers cannot.
ContinueAbout Christopher Larcos
The background behind the dual qualification, from architecture to construction law.
ContinueCredentials
- Registered architect for over 30 years
- Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects (FRAIA)
- Dual-qualified solicitor and registered architect
- Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours (LLB, Hons I)
- Bachelor of Architecture (BArch)
- 40+ years in the construction industry
- Former NSW & Queensland Editor, Building & Construction Law Journal
