Public Sector Law Conference
Issues covered include: procurement contracts, cancelled programs or schemes, information requests, sexual harassment, statutory interpretation, data breach, model litigant
Description
It’s an interesting time for public sector lawyers. With new developments in public procurement, the continuing impact of still-evolving privacy and data security legislation, ripples from recent Royal Commissions still being felt in the sector and important trends in employment law, the model litigant principle and more, there’s a lot to take in. Whether these developments throw your practice into chaos or prove to be exciting challenges to face head on will depend on how prepared you are to deal with them.
Attend 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 conference was recorded in NSW on 13 March 2019
Session 1
Public Law Essentials
Chair: Pamela Soon, Executive Director and former General Counsel, IPART
9.00am to 10.00am: Public Procurement Contracts
- Examine the tender process
- Understanding compliance issues
- Avoiding the risks of a poorly run tender process
- The process contract
- Misleading and deceptive conduct in the procurement process
Presented by José de Ponte, Special Counsel, DLA Piper
10.00am to 11.00: The Impact of Pulling the Plug: Liability Issues that Arise when Government Cancels Programs or Schemes
- The liability and administrative law issues associated with government decisions to end a government program or scheme or effect a key policy change that has both financial and non-financial consequences for individuals and the private sector generally
- Case studies and discussion about the various lessons learnt, including the Home Insulation Program
Presented by Dr Ashley Tsacalos, Partner, Clayton Utz
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am to 12.15pm: To Produce or Not to Produce: What are Your Obligations?
- Obligations with respect to production of documents by government departments pursuant to court and statutory orders
- Reasons not to produce: privilege, cabinet in confidence and privacy
- Case examples: Responding to orders under section 58 of the Terrorism (High Risk Offenders) Act 2017, s. 25 of the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006, and Schedule 1 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provision) Act 1990
Presented by Sarah A McCarthy, Barrister, 5 Wentworth Chambers
12.15pm to 1.15pm: The Weinstein Effect: Sexual Harassment in Government Departments
- Recent cases
- Which laws apply in government agencies
- Methods of managing misconduct and other workplace conflict
Presented by Ian Latham, Barrister, Denman Chambers
Session 2
CPD Compulsory Units for Government Lawyers
Chair: Kate Madgwick, Barrister, Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers
Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm: Interpreting Statutes and Understanding Regulations
Gain an understanding of recent High Court decisions concerning the principles of statutory construction and apply those principles using hypothetical scenarios.
Presented by Douglas McDonald-Norman, Barrister, Eight Selborne Chambers
Practice Management
3.00pm to 4.00pm: Data Breach: What NSW Government Departments and Agencies Must Do
- Obligations which apply to NSW Government departments and agencies in relation to security of personal information and responding to data breaches
- Analysis of NSW Information Protection Principles, NSW Privacy Commissioner’s voluntary Data Breach Notification scheme and NSW Government Cyber Security Strategy
- Case studies from recent NSW Audit Office findings into cyber security incidents
- Best practice for NSW Government departments and agencies in preventing, responding to and mitigating data breaches
Presented by Peter Mulligan, Partner and Michael Sullivan, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
4.15pm to 5.15pm: The Model of a Modern Government Litigant
Recommendations out of the recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have drawn renewed attention to the justification and scope of model litigant principles and the consequences of their breach. Examine these issues in light of the challenges facing government litigants in striving to be the ‘model’, especially when human rights are at stake.
- What justifies a requirement for government to litigate differently?
- What does being a modern model litigant require?
- Why does it matter?
Presented by Dan Fuller, Barrister, 5 Wentworth Chambers