Women in Public Law
Enhance your career and be guided by these notable women in law. Join accomplished & innovative women in the public sector who will explain how to navigate your career while achieving your professional goals. Work through how to approach perennial workplace issues such as harassment, bullying & gender bias. Hear about creating an inclusive & supportive public sector workplace. Engage in enlightening case studies to consider some of the different & varied roles the public sector can offer you.
Description
Attend and earn 3 CPD units in Practice Management and Business Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: Kim Lackenby, Judicial Registrar, Federal Court of Australia and Conference Registrar, Administrative Appeals Tribunal
1.45pm to 3.25pm
SEXUAL HARASSMENT, BULLYING AND GENDER BIAS
Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession
- Do lawyers practice what they preach?
- What are the boundaries here?
- Are there good complaints handling mechanisms in place?
Presented by Pauline Wright, Solicitor Principal, P J Donnellan & Co Solicitors; Accredited Specialist in Environmental Planning & Development Law; Immediate Past President, Law Council of Australia
Dealing with Bullying and Harassment in the Public Sector
- Legal regime refresher
- APS Code of Conduct
- Legal and non-legal ramifications of claims
- Prevention: addressing culture, as well as the law
- Incident management: best practice investigation and reporting
Presented by Rebecca Richardson, Associate – Employment Law & Investigations, Bradley Allen Love Lawyers
Implicit Gender Bias
- What implicit gender bias is
- What it looks like in the work-place
- How to counter it
Presented by Lauren Williams, Legal Officer, Sea Law and Antarctica Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
3.25pm to 3.45pm Afternoon Tea
3.45pm to 5.10pm
THE GOVERNMENT SECTOR: WHAT IT CAN OFFER YOU
Cultivating an Inclusive and Supportive Workplace in the Public Sector
Presented by Rorisang Moyo, Assistant Director – Legal, Investment and Services Law Section Trade and Investment Law Branch, Office of Trade Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Legal Service in the Australian Defence Force Case Study: Operation Bushfire Assist and Operation COVID-19 Assist
Examine legal challenges faced by ADF Legal Officers in domestic support operations.
Presented by Colonel Penny Saultry CSC, Senior Lawyer, Australian Defence Force
5.10pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Presenters
Kim Lackenby
Kim Lackenby is a Registrar of the Federal Court and a Conference Registrar at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. A Nationally Accredited Mediator, Kim has conducted hundreds of mediations since 1994 for the Industrial Relations Court of Australia, the Federal Court, the Federal Magistrates Court, the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She also practices other forms of ADR, including conciliations, case management conferences, preliminary conferences and expert conferences.
Pauline Wright
Pauline was the President of the Law Council of Australia in 2020 and is a past President of both the Law Society of NSW and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, only the second woman to have held that role. She is an accredited specialist in Environmental Planning & Development Law and partner of environmental and planning law firm, PJ Donnellan & Co, on the NSW Central Coast. Pauline is a past Vice President of NSW Women Lawyers and Executive member of NSW Young Lawyers and was the long-term chair of the Environmental Planning and Development Law Committee of the Law Society of NSW. She is a member of the Executive Committee of LAWASIA and is the Australian representative on the Board of the Union Internationale des Avocats and was President of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (NSW) Central Coast Chapter from 2010 until 2016. She is also a keen ocean swimmer and has been active in surf lifesaving. Pauline is a singer, actor, playwright and director/producer and is President and co-founder of the 5 Lands Walk, an annual collaborative cultural and arts festival between Aboriginal and the broader communities of the Central Coast, founded in 2005.
Rebecca Richardson
Rebecca is an associate in the Employment Law & Investigations team at BAL Lawyers. She advises and represents both employers and employees on a wide range of employment matters including sexual harassment, bullying, underpayment, unfair dismissal, adverse action, and discrimination. She also specialises in matters relating specifically to APS employees, including public service misconduct proceedings.
Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the Australian National University and is a member of the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association – ACT Inc.
Lauren Williams
Lauren is a legal officer in the Sea Law and Antarctica Section at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Prior to joining DFAT, Lauren worked as a cultural journalist and in the museum/cultural sector, and spent a decade in the entertainment industry as an actor.
Rorisang Moyo
Rori is an in-house lawyer in the Trade and Investment Law Branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), providing legal advice on Australia’s investment and services obligations under international trade and investment agreements. Before joining DFAT, Rori worked as an Associate in the Sydney Registry of the Federal Circuit Court. Rori is currently the Chair of the Policy Subcommittee of the Women Lawyers Association of the ACT, and the Co-Convener of the DFAT Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Network.
Colonel Penny Saultry
Colonel Saultry joined the Australian Army Legal Corps in 1994. She has served in a variety of postings both within the Army and the Joint Services environment at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Department of Defence. She has undertaken operational deployments to Timor Leste, Iraq and Afghanistan and worked on both national as well as coalition headquarters. Most recently she has served as the Chief Legal Officer to Chief of the Australian Army and as the Senior Legal Advisor for the ADF’s Joint Operations Command. She was admitted as a legal practitioner to the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia in 1991. She is a graduate of the ADF’s Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies and holds a Master of Laws and a Master of Strategic Studies.