Personal Injury Law Conference
213V18: Obtain a comprehensive roundup of developments in personal injury law covering damages for work injuries, medical panels, psychological injuries, head injury claims, TAC cases and more. In the afternoon, gain your CPD compulsory units through sessions tailor made for personal injury practitioners. Examine critical issues including pain conditions, managing your practice and ethics.
Description
Attend the full day and earn 7 CPD units including:
4 units in Substantive Law
1 unit in Ethics & Professional Responsibility
1 unit in Practice Management & Business Skills
1 unit in Professional Skills
This program is based on VIC legislation
*We are currently offering in person registrations to 2021 Victorian events, however should Victorian government regulations not allow for this at the time of the event, your registration will automatically be transferred to live online.
Session 1
Personal Injury Law Roundup
Chair: Oliver Lesage, Barrister, Greens List
9.00am to 9.05am Opening Comments by the Chair
9.05am to 9.50am Damages for Work Injury When You are Employed by Your 'Own Company'
- Damages in a claim against a company of which the worker is a director
- Contribution from the injured worker's alter ego - "own company"
Presented by Andrew Johnston, Associate, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers
9.50am to 11.05am Concussion in Sport: Is it an Obvious Risk?
- Prospects of individual claims and class action in Australia
- Types of claims
- How the obvious risk provisions of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) and the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) might impact claims
Presented by Richard Johnson, Principal, McCabe Curwood
11.05am to 11.20am Morning Tea
1.20am to 12.15am Medical Panels Update
- Reviewing a Panel Opinion under the WIRC Act and the Wrongs Act
- Hot topics
- Duty to inquire
- Legal unreasonableness
- Factual errors
Presented by Fiona Spencer, Barrister, Green’s List; Recommended Professional Indemnity Junior Counsel, Doyle’s Guide 2020
12.15pm to 1.15pm TAC Developments
- An update on the Protocols and data
- Recent case law
Presented by Geraldine Collins, Principal, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law
Session 2
CPD Compulsory Units for Personal Injury Lawyers
Chair: Bree Knoester, Principal Lawyer, Brave Legal; Leading Work Injury Compensation Lawyers (Plaintiff), Leading Asbestos & Dust Diseases Compensation Lawyers (Plaintiff), Leading Public Liability Compensation Lawyers (Plaintiff) VIC and Leading Medical Negligence Compensation Lawyers (Plaintiff) VIC Doyle’s Guide, 2020; Best Lawyers Medical Negligence Personal Injury Litigation since 2018
Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm Understanding Pain Conditions
- What is pain?
- Evolution of our understanding of pain
- Different pain types and their implication
- Discussion of the classification of pain conditions and their implication for management and outcome
- Pain management options and what they achieve
- Pharmacological agents
- Hands on treatments
- Exercise
- Psychological approaches
- Pain management programs
- Interventional pain management techniques
- Surgery
- The relationship between pain and disability
Presented by Dr Robert Gassin, Consultant in Musculoskeletal Pain Management, Precision Brain, Spine & Pain
Practice Management and Business Skills
3.00pm to 4.00pm Managing Your Personal Injury Practice Effectively
- Juggling competing obligations
- File velocity
- Managing paralegal, your portfolio and client expectations
- Portfolio planning
- Managing the technology
- Financial literacy: making your file management cost effective
- Positive mentoring
Presented by Sha Hotchkin, Partner, Shine Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon tea
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
4.15pm to 5.15pm Applied Ethics in a Personal Injury Practice
As a member of the legal profession, reputation, ethics and standing in the community should be impeccable. Examine the issues of:
- Professionalism
- Dealing with difficult cases
- Managing difficult clients
- Handling negotiations
- eCourtroom ethics
Presented by Ray Ternes, Barrister, Lennon’s List
Presenters
Oliver Lesage
Oliver practises in personal injury, insurance, and occupational health and safety. Oliver's areas of expertise include: public/product liability; industrial accident claims; intentional torts; TAC; VWA s138/369 statutory recoveries; and, WorkSafe prosecutions / investigations. Oliver is a Nationally Accredited Mediator, and a member of the common law and compensation law associations.
Bree Knoester
Bree Knoester is the founder of Brave Legal and one of Australia’s leading personal injury lawyers. Bree has practiced for over 18 years as both a barrister and solicitor; and has represented clients in some of Victoria’s largest compensation settlements. In recognition of her experience and exceptional client results, Bree has won numerous industry awards including ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in Personal Injury Litigation (Best Lawyers® in Australia 2020), Preeminent practitioner – Asbestos & Dust Diseases Compensation (Doyle’s Guide 2020), Preeminent practitioner - Work Injury Compensation (2020), and Partner of the Year Finalist - Litigation (Lawyer's Weekly 2019). As one of Victoria’s most experienced personal injury lawyers, Bree is regularly approached by the media for commentary on high-profile cases and as a spokesperson for the most seriously injured.
Fiona Spencer
Fiona practises in administrative, commercial and personal injuries law. Her administrative law and appellate practice includes judicial review of medical panel opinions, appeals from decisions of the Magistrates’, County and Supreme Courts and appeals from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to the Federal Court. She also advises and appears in discrimination, sexual harassment, immigration and privacy disputes. Fiona’s personal injuries practice spans the gamut of disputes in the area including statutory compensation disputes (under State and Commonwealth legislation including Comcare and veterans’ claims), serious injury applications and jury trials. She has a particular interest and focus on claims involving intentional torts including police torts cases.
Richard Johnson
Richard practises solely in insurance law for over 15 years. With specialities in personal injury, workers liability and property damage, Richard regularly provides advice to insurers relating to complex indemnity issues. He has a special interest in Sports related injury claims and is a committee member of the Law Institute of Victoria Sports Law Committee. He has had many years’ experience representing Transport companies in large scale vehicle claims. Richard holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor or Science (Hons) majoring in Genetics from Monash University, which allows him to provide a unique perspective when dealing with engineering, science and technology based claims.
Geraldine Collins
Geraldine Collins is a Principal at Maurice Blackburn. She has more than 20 years’ legal experience in personal injury compensation claims. She is a LIV accredited specialist in personal injuries law. She has been both the Victorian and National President of the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA). Geraldine was a member of the working group which undertook a complete re-write of the TAC Protocols during 2014 - 16. She sits on the TAC Legal Liaison Committee, LIV TAC Committee, TAC Protocols Review Forum, TAC legislative review committee, the LIV Specialisation Committee and is a former chair of the LIV's Litigation Lawyers' Executive.
Dr Robert Gassin
Dr Robert Gassin is a registered General Practitioner who has practiced full time in Musculoskeletal and Interventional Pain Management for the past 20 years. He consults in Frankston and Cranbourne. Dr Gassin is a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Musculoskeletal Medicine. He has completed Graduate Diplomas in Musculoskeletal Medicine, at the University of Otago and in Pain Medicine, at Sydney University. He is an AMA accredited impairment assessor using the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (4th Edition), for: Core, Spine, Hand & Upper Extremity, Lower Extremity and Dermatology - Skin & Scarring. He has had a number of papers and articles published on pain related topics, in medical publications. He has previously been a member of the Medical Review Panel of the Victorian WorkCover Authority.
Sha Hotchkin
Sha Hotchin is the Legal Practice Manager of Shine Lawyers' Epping branch. She is an accredited specialist in Personal Injury Law. Upon graduating, Sha worked as a WorkCover Claims Officer for the Victorian Fire Brigade. Sha moved to a small city firm followed by 5 years running large, complex court cases for an international plaintiff litigation firm before joining the team at Shine in 2016. In her role as Legal Practice Manager, Sha combines her passion and dedication for standing up for the little guy with her legal acumen to ensure each client's case is run with the utmost care and skill.
Ray Ternes
Ray works primarily in personal injury law. Ray has an interest in claims for psychiatric injury, and acts for clients in statutory entitlement schemes and the common law area. He has particular expertise in handling all types of claims under the Commonwealth workers’ compensation system. Ray completed degrees in Arts and Law (with Honours) at Monash University and then undertook articles at Sparke Helmore Lawyers. He practised at that firm for a number of years until he took up a position at one of Australia’s best-known companies, where he worked for several years before coming to the Bar.
Venue
RACV City Club
Level 2, 501 Bourke St
Melbourne 3000
VIC
Australia
Parking Information
Parking is not included in your registration. Here are some options below.
RACV City Club Car Park. Click here to view rates
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:Tram Stations - William/Bourke St or Queen/Bourke StBus Interchange - Little Collins St or Supreme Court