In-House Counsel Conference 2021
213Q06: Examine the many new risks facing in-house counsel and arm yourself with timely updates & strategies. Catch up on new health & safety risks & obligations. Examine significant defamation reforms. Examine the legal minefield of fiduciary and best interest duties. Enhance your skills & strategies related to technology, smart contracts & biometrics. Gain your core CPD points while examining ethics and harassment, bullying & wellbeing, collaborative contracts, and data issues.
Description
Attend and earn 7 CPD units including:
4 CPD units in Legal Knowledge
1 CPD unit in Practical Legal Ethics
1 CPD unit in Practice Management & Business Skills
1 CPD unit in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Session 1
The 5 Key Legal Issues for In-House Counsel in 2021
Chair: Daniel Gosewisch, EGM Legal and Regulatory Services, Racing Queensland
9.00am to 9.55am Work Health and Safety Update for In-house Counsel
- Industrial manslaughter: practical takeaways from the first cases
- What’s on the Regulator’s radar and how is the Regulator behaving these days?
- Interesting recent decisions in-house counsel need to know
Presented by Deanna McMaster, Partner, MinterEllison; Leading Workplace Health & Safety Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2020
9.55am to 10.50am Defamation Law Reforms: Australia to Grow a ‘Thicker Skin’ for the Digital Age
- Key changes to the law that in-house counsel need to know about
- Changes to the process for concerns notices and offers to make amends
- What is ‘serious harm’?
- ‘Fixes’ to the current law in relation to contextual truth and damages
- The latest cases and trends to have on your radar
Presented by Edmund Burke, Partner, Holding Redlich
10.50am to 11.05am Morning Tea
11.05am to 11.55am Directors and Officers Fiduciary and Best Interest Duties: Navigating a Legal Minefield
- The evolution and meaning of ‘Best Interest’ duties: multiple statutory interpretations in Australian law
- The evolution and meaning of fiduciary duty: Is it now relegated to ‘legal polyfilla’?
- Are best interest duties fiduciary duties?
- The impact of international law on the fiduciary duties of Australian directors
- The evolving nature of corporate governance and the ramifications for in-house counsel
Presented by Dr David Millhouse, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, Bond University
11.55am to 1.15pm
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: LEGAL & PRACTICAL RISKS FOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
Blockchain, Smart Contracts, & What In-House Counsel Need to Know Right Now
- Legal issues arising from the use of new technology in transactions and contracts
- Analysis of how technology interacts with key legal obligations
- An overview of smart contracts and blockchain and an update on these tools in the marketplace
- A review of other emerging issues in this space
Biometric Technology in the Workplace: New Cases & Privacy Issues Regarding Fingerprints, Eye Scanners and Face & Voice Authentication
- The evolving use of technology in the workplace
- What is reasonable and lawful?
- The Fair Work Commission decision in Jeremy Lee v Superior Wood Pty Ltd [2019] and other recent cases
- Essential guidelines for employers implementing biometric technology
Presented by Dr Adrian McCullagh, ODMOB Lawyers
Session 2
CPD Mandatory Core Areas for In-House Counsel
Chair: Kirsten Kiel-Chisholm, Director – Legal Services, Translational Research Institute
Practical Legal Ethics
2.00pm to 3.00pm Your Obligations as In-House Counsel: Wellbeing, Harassment & Bullying
- How do you navigate through these situations as they arise, taking into consideration key ethical issues?
- Working through the division of playing the role of 'investigator' making factual findings and playing the part of a legal adviser with legal professional privilege considerations
- Practical tips to identify and manage issues or complaints
- What obligations do you owe to your company and your employees regarding wellbeing?
- Navigating the rise of sexual harassment claims in the current climate
- Tips for handling bullying claims and your duties to make the office safe
Presented by Stephen Hughes, Principal Lawyer, Franklin Athanasellis Cullen Lawyers
Professional Skills
3.00pm to 4.00pm Building Collaboration into Contracts
- Explore how collaboration can be built into contracts
- Identify common barriers in contracts that impact parties collaborating and problem solving
- Understanding why this approach achieves your business goals and is in your best interest
Presented by Kiri Parr, Director, Kiri Parr Pty Ltd; Leading Construction and Infrastructure Consultant
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Practice Management & Business Skills
4.15pm to 5.15pm Dealing with Data: In-house Counsel's Guide to Data Transactions
- Managing privacy and security risks
- IP rights in data
- Contracting for data: buying, selling, using, sharing
- Regulatory developments including the new Consumer Data Right Compliance and Enforcement Policy, and the new Data Availability and Transparency Bill
Presented by Patrick Sefton, Principal, Brightline Lawyers
Venue
Hilton Brisbane
190 Elizabeth St
Brisbane City
Brisbane 4000
QLD
Australia
Directions
Due to one way road systems, please note that car access is via Elizabeth Street only. Please programme 190 Elizabeth Street if using a car navigational device.
Nearby Public Transport:Train Stations - Central Station
Bus Interchange - George Square Bus Station
Parking
Parking is not included in your registration. There is valet parking available for AU$58.00
Presenters
Daniel Gosewisch, EGM Legal and Regulatory Services, Racing Queensland
Daniel Gosewisch, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Minor DKL Food Group, Daniel has spent nearly 20 years in in-house legal practice in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, and has worked across retail, government, oil and gas, banking and general corporate sectors. He holds degrees in Law and Environmental Science from Griffith University, a Master of Laws from Queensland University of Technology, and is also an experienced Company Secretary with formal corporate governance qualifications. Since 2015 he has been General Counsel of Minor DKL Food Group, the parent company for brands including The Coffee Club, Coffee Hit, Veneziano Coffee Roasters and Black Bag Roasters.
Deanna McMaster, Partner, MinterEllison
Deanna McMaster is a Special Counsel in Minter Ellison's Human Resources and Industrial relations division with a particular expertise in health and safety, industrial relations, corporate transactions and general employment. Deanna has worked with a number of clients in what can be the stressful aftermath of a crisis to ensure that the interests of both the company and individuals are protected.
Edmund Burke, Partner, Holding Redlich
Edmund Burke is a partner in the firm’s Workplace Relations & Safety group. Edmund holds a UK Bachelor of Laws degree from Queens University Belfast and was admitted to as a legal practitioner in Australia in January 2013. Edmund specialises in providing advice in relation to employee management and entitlements with expertise covering industrial relations, employee entitlements and award coverage, with particular specialty in the areas of workers’ health and safety legislation, professional regulation and disciplinary structures, discrimination, managing discipline and dismissal and assessing workplace health and safety compliance. Edmund also specialises in conducting workplace investigations and has experience in criminal defence and defamation matters.
Dr David Millhouse, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, Bond University
David Millhouse has been a serial entrepreneur in international private equity, venture capital and funds management sectors in Chief Executive and board roles since 1983. David has been awarded a Ph.D in Law from Bond University entitled “Systemic and Cyclical Failure in the Australian Financial Products and Financial Services Sectors: Have weaknesses in corporate law contributed to these failures?” His PhD has been publicly recognised by the Australian Financial Review (AFR Chanticleer 16th January 2019), television (7th March 2019, ch 601), with three scholarly articles published in the Law and Financial Markets Review. His book “Corporate Governance in Non-Bank Financial Entities” is published by LexisNexisButterworths (October 2019). He is a regular speaker at conferences.
Dr Adrian McCullagh, ODMOB Lawyers
Adrian McCullagh has degrees in Computer Science and Law as well as a Ph.D. in IT Security. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Information Security Research Centre at the Queensland University of Technology. He has been practicing in IT law for more than 30 years being one of the pioneer IT lawyers within Australia. He is a member of the Queensland Law Society and a member of the American Bar Association and participate in the Information Security Forum. In 1999 he was the QUT Faculty of Information Technology Alumnus of the year.
Kirsten Kiel-Chisholm, Director – Legal Services, Translational Research Institute
Kirsten Kiel-Chisholm has extensive experience as both a General Counsel and Company Secretary. Kirsten is currently Director, Legal Services for the Translational Research Institute. In this role Kirsten is responsible for managing the Institute's legal requirements and providing legal advice to the Board and management across a range of areas including intellectual property, commercialisation, employment law, commercial contract, construction, property and acquisitions. She also oversees human resources and internal audit for the Institute. Kirsten previously worked as a corporate lawyer in private practice in both Australia and the United States and has co-authored three publications on compliance with ASX and APRA corporate governance requirements.
Stephen Hughes, Principal Lawyer, Franklin Athanasellis Cullen Lawyers
Stephen Hughes is a workplace relations lawyer with over 20 years' experience acting for a wide variety of organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors across Australia as well as internationally. Providing high level strategic and operational advice to clients, Stephen's practice has a substantial litigation focus advising on industrial relations issues, dispute resolution in the courts and Fair Work Commission, work health and safety legislation, workers' compensation insurance exposures, discrimination and bullying/harassment, Directors and Officers and Employment Practices Liability insurance, post-employment restraints and confidentiality issues. Stephen is regularly invited to speak and chair at numerous specialist conferences on work health and safety, employment law, discrimination, bullying, harassment, social media and employment law.
Kiri Parr, Director, Kiri Parr Pty Ltd
Kiri Parr is passionate about improving outcomes in the construction industry and has established her own consultancy practice to work with clients, industry and its participants to do just that. Kiri is a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne law school lecturing in the master’s course ?Major Projects ? the Legal Interfaces? and is actively involved in the Queensland Law Society Ethics Committee and the FIDIC Contracts Committee. Prior to establishing her own company, Kiri spent more than 20 years? as a construction lawyer, initially in private practice and followed by 15 years as the Regional General Counsel for Arup, a large international professional consulting company.
Patrick Sefton, Principal, Brightline Lawyers
Patrick Sefton is the principal of Brightline Lawyers: a specialist law firm which advises government and the private sector in the areas of technology and IP. Before founding Brightline, Patrick was a partner in the TMT group at a national firm. Prior to his legal career, Patrick developed expert systems software for a Canberra-based startup later acquired by Oracle. Patrick received his law degree (first class honours) at ANU where his thesis was on liability associated with AIs.