Company Secretaries: Governance and Best Practice
There is increasing regulation for corporate governance and best practice in the role of a company secretary. If you act in this capacity or you are thinking of taking on the role, this is a must-attend event. Learn your legal duties & core obligations, master writing board papers with impact & master how to manage relationships between management and the Board. Perfect the art of balancing the many roles of a company secretary effectively to ensure you deliver the best results to your Board. WEB226N32
Description
Attend and earn 3 CPD units including:
1.5 units in Ethics & Professional Responsibility
1.5 units in Practice Management & Business Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: Juan Perez, Founder and Principal Lawyer, Quest Legal
2.00pm to 2.05pm Opening Comments by the Chair
2.05pm to 2.50pm The Write Stuff: Board Papers with Impact
- The What: what you are asking from the Board
- The When: How much time is too much?
- The How: using plain English to create impactful board submissions and reports
Presented by John Pease, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Power and Water Corporation
2.50pm to 3.20pm Managing Relationships Between Management and the Board
- Board and management
- Committees and management
- Regular communications: snapshots, stakeholder feedback, urgent and hot topics, crisis management
- Communication protocols and cultural style
Presented by Alison Gaines, Managing Director, Gaines Advisory
3.20pm to 3.35pm Break
3.35pm to 4.20pm Good Corporate Governance when Responding to Fraud
- What if the company is accused of fraud?
- First response considerations
- Corporate criminal responsibility & personal liability of company directors/officers/employees
- Insurance considerations
- What if the company is a victim of fraud?
- Asset recovery options
- Investigation considerations
- Whether to report to police
- Insurance considerations
Presented by Andrew Tragardh, Managing Director and Founder, Duxton Hill
4.20pm to 5.05pm Challenges for the Company Secretary
- How to manage wearing two hats: both as In-house counsel and internal Company Secretary
- Sharing the role internally as Assistant Company Secretary: blurred lines
- Acting as a company secretary in the age of COVID
- Keeping up with the business and internal changes and adapting to change
- Dealing with different personalities
- Whistleblowing responsibilities
Presented by Sabina Schlink, Principal, Thomas Legal; Board Member & Deputy Chair, Legal Practice Board of Western Australia
5.05pm to 5.15pm Final Questions and Closing Comments by the Chair
Presenters
Juan Perez
Juan is the Founder and Principal Lawyer of Quest Legal with offices in Sydney and Perth. He has been a lawyer and run businesses for over 22 years. Juan is a highly regarded expert in the areas of commercial, intellectual property, franchising, finance and employment law. He also has more than 15 years of experience in executive leadership roles and regularly advises financial institutions on regulatory engagement. He managed the consolidation of the banking licenses of two of Australia’s largest banks and headed up two significant product remediation and anti-money laundering / counter-terrorist financing programs. He also held a senior role in the Royal Commission response team for a large regional bank.
John Pease
John is Power and Water Corporation’s General Counsel and Executive General Manager Organisational Governance. He over 15 years executive-level experience with iconic organisations in the banking and finance, healthcare, electricity networks and infrastructure and higher education sectors. John’s experience covers all aspects of in-house legal services, risk management and insurance, compliance, internal audit and assurance, business continuity and crisis management. He also has substantial experience as a lawyer, including working as a barrister at Perth’s Francis Burt Chambers, a solicitor in private practice and a Deputy Registrar of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. A former WA President of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (and serving four years on its national board), John is a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and served on the WA State Council of Chartered Secretaries Australia.
Alison Gaines
Alison Gaines leads Gaines Advisory and is the former global CEO of Gerard Daniels and leader of its international board practice, CEO of the Law Society of WA and Director of the Public Sector Management Office (WA Government) responsible for the Senior Executive Service. She is also an active NED and chair of boards and remuneration, nomination and governance committees, and finance audit and risk committee member, for over 25 years. She has been Deputy Chair and member of Council of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (WA Division) and is now co-opted to its Nomination Committee. She is a graduate of the INSEAD Certificate in Corporate Governance and Fellow of the AICD and completed the AICD Company Directors Course Update 2020.
Andrew Tragardh
Andrew Tragardh has 30 years of experience specialising in fraud, corruption and financial crime. After working in law enforcement, he started his legal career at the firm now named Allens Linklaters and then after 11 years as a solicitor, he transitioned to the Victorian Bar where for the next 14 years he was a recognised expert barrister pursuing civil asset recovery claims including freezing and search orders and defending professionals and corporations accused of professional wrongdoing. He has also appeared in multiple Royal Commissions.
Andrew founded Duxton Hill in 2019, Australia's only multidisciplinary national team of lawyers and investigators solely dedicated to pursuing and defending allegations of fraud, corruption and financial crime.
Sabina Schlink
Sabina Schlink is a Special Counsel at Thomas Legal and a Director of the corporate advisory company One Stop Corporate Solutions. She is also the Deputy Chair of the Legal Practice Board and Convenor of the Admissions and Registrations Committee of the Board and sits on its Management Committee. Sabina is also an honorary lifetime member of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and a former member of the Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee and the Supreme Court of Western Australia Library Committee. She was also a long-term member of the Attorney Generals Working Party on changes to the laws of Succession in Western Australia and has sat on a number of Boards in the charitable sector.