Women in Law: Key Skills to Success
Being a woman in law can have it challenges and knowing the skills to success are key to forwarding your career. Join this line-up of passionate, highly skilled and trained women lawyers as they share their insights on three major areas aimed at boosting your career and practice. WEB236V11Z
Description
Attend the full series and earn 3 CPD units in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
If you register for the full series as a live online product after the date of an individual session, you will be sent the recording for the sessions that have passed. Alternatively, you can register for individual sessions by following the links below.
Session 1
Thursday, 8 June 2023
To succeed in law, networking and establishing a future client base are crucial. This involves building relationships within your industry to gain insights, access opportunities, and establish a solid industry reputation. You’ll hear from a panel of senior female practitioners who’ll offer valuable tips on what has worked for them in their successful careers. WEB236V11AZ
Chair: Alex Hammerton, Senior Associate, MinterEllison
Professional Skills
1.00pm to 2.15pm The Importance of Networking and Building your Future Client Base
Get insights from top practitioners who have firsthand experience and learn practical strategies that you can implement in your own practice.
Panellists:
Suzy Cairney, Partner, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
Elly Manoe, Senior Lawyer, Coutts Lawyers & Conveyances
Justine Anderson, Associate, Carroll & O’Dea; President of the Women Lawyers Association of NSW
Register here for Session 1 only
Session 2
Thursday, 15 June 2023
Effectively managing client expectations and understanding how to nurture internal and external relationships is key to your success. WEB236V11BZ
Chair: Shirli Kirschner, Cofounder, Elker; Resolve Advisors; former Federal Circuit Court Seasonal Registrar
Professional Skills
1.00pm to 2.15pm Managing Client Expectations and Maintaining Internal and External Relationships
Hear from an experienced line-up of practitioners, as they explore how they have learnt to set clear client expectations by providing timely updates and addressing any concerns or issues that arise. Learning how to maintain strong internal relationships among team members and departments can enhance collaboration, communication, and efficiency.
Presented by Cilla Robinson, Partner, Clayton Utz and Jacqui Barrett, Partner, Hall & Wilcox
Register here for Session 2 only
Session 3
Thursday, 22 June 2023
Chair: Hazal Gacka, Senior Associate, MinterEllison
Professional Skills
1.00pm to 2.15pm Managing the Stress of the Job: Dealing with Mental Health Challenges in the Workplace
Gain valuable insights from a Psychologist and Special counsel as they delve into effective approaches to tackling mental health issues in the workplace and how to manage the stress of the job.
Presented by Nichola Di Muzio, Special Counsel, Thynne + Macartney, Vice-president, Women Lawyers Association of Queensland and Dr Megan Morris, Psychologist, Megan Morris Psychology
Register here for Session 3 only
Presenters
Alexandria Hammerton
Alexandria is a lawyer in the Projects, Infrastructure and Construction group at MinterEllison, where she has broad experience in both front end (including contract drafting and legislative review) and back end matters (including litigation, expert determinations and security of payment adjudications). Alexandria commenced as a graduate lawyer with top tier commercial firm MinterEllison in 2015, and completed rotations in the Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions, Tax and Projects, Infrastructure and Construction teams as part of the graduate program. Alexandria was admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland in October 2015 and to the High Court of Australia in November 2015.
Suzy Cairney
Suzy Cairney is a projects and commercial lawyer with particular experience in project development and operational contracts in the ports, civil construction and resources sectors. She has experience both in Australia and overseas, and has advised government clients, principals, developers, contractors and operators on a wide range of major infrastructure projects. Suzy has previously worked in-house as a European Counsel for an international port operator in Belgium, as Corporate Counsel for a Queensland water GOC and as in-house counsel to support the feasibility stage of a major new coal project for one of Australia's largest miners. Known for her practical common sense approach and commerciality, Suzy understands the drivers behind getting the deal done.
Elly Manoe
Elly joined the Coutts team in August 2021 working as a Lawyer within our Personal Injury & Criminal Law teams, based in our Wollongong office. Her commitment to client services saw her progress into the role of a Senior Lawyer in July 2022. Elly brings with her a wealth of knowledge and is passionate about the areas of law in which she practices. She prides herself on providing a high level of service to all of her clients. From entering the workforce at a young age in a family-owned business, Elly’s strength is customer service. Elly has a strong work ethic and has always progressed through to management roles; excelling when working to deadlines in a high paced environment. Ensuring clear and appropriate advice is provided to her clients is a main focus for Elly. She advocates for her client both inside and outside of the courtroom. Her attention to detail and remarkable ability to multi-task across all matters within the firm results in her continually achieving outstanding results for her clients. Elly is a member of the Rotary Club in Wollongong, Golden Key International Honour Society, and is also Vice President of the Wollongong Law Society. She was a finalist in the 2023 Lawyers Weekly: 30 Under 30 Awards and was awarded winner for the 2022 IWIB Young Businesswoman of the year award. Outside the office, Elly is interested in health and fitness and is an ambassador for a fitness business, spreading positivity around health & wellbeing and encouraging people on their own journeys. She is also musically talented and plays guitar & piano.
Justine Anderson
Justine Anderson is a civil litigation lawyer focusing on medical litigation and her practice includes gynaecological and obstetric cases, wrongful birth, cases involving pulmonary embolism, sepsis, adverse surgical outcomes and coronial inquires. Justine is the President of the Women Lawyers Association of NSW. Involved since 2016, by 2019, she led a sub-committee called ‘Welcome to the Law’ aimed at law students and early career lawyers. She ran a suite of seminars on written and oral advocacy, court appearances, emotional resilience, mentoring, networking and business development to name a few. Justine is the outgoing Chair of the Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers Diversity Group which aims to advance diversity and inclusion within the firm. Prior to joining Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers she worked in a number pathology laboratories and private hospitals, providing her with a unique set of problem solving skills when approaching medical and other legal matters.
Shirli Kirschner
Shirli is the co-founder of Elker a platform for speaking up. Software and Resolve Advisors, a consultancy practice. Her professional expertise includes facilitation (including mediation) and dispute system design.. Prior to founding Resolve Advisors, she worked as a lawyer at Gilbert + Tobin before which she a Senior Associate with Allens-Allen and Hemsley (as it was then). Shirli’s ongoing consultancy roles include Dispute Resolution Advisor for the Wholesales Energy Market (gas and electricity) reporting to the Australian Energy Regulator. She is also the Resolution Facilitator for APRA-AMCOS.
Cilla Robinson
Cilla Robinson has over 18 years' experience as an employment lawyer, specialising in discrimination and industrial relations, but works with her clients on all aspects of the employee life cycle. She has deep expertise in workforce transformation and industrial strategy, frequently helping clients during volatile and unpredictable times to best leverage growth and opportunities for enacting people and business objectives. Cilla often helps clients navigate the complexity of dealing with ill and injured employees, and in particular the challenges inherent within organisations with low levels of psychosocial safety or high incidents of staff with mental illness or mental health problems is a focus of her practice. Whether they are HR business partners, legal counsel, executives, or company boards, Cilla's clients particularly appreciate her consistently commercial approach and ability to understand their business strategy, navigate complex legal issues and then explain them in an accessible and concise manner. Cilla has broad industry experience and works with both private sector clients and government (Commonwealth and NSW) clients.
Hazal Gacka
Hazal is a Senior Associate in the MinterEllison Brisbane Projects, Infrastructure and Construction team. She works primarily in a front end role and is a leading senior procurement specialist across a wide range of industries including government, energy & resources, and health, and also assists various clients as part of the firm's modern slavery practice. Hazal values the opportunities provided by the firm to give back to communities through involvement in pro bono work including both legal work and mentoring programs with high school students. Hazal champions psychologically safe and sustainable ways of working, and leads by example with her commitment to wellbeing and mental health (both personal and through firm initiated programs).
Nichola di Muzio
As head of Thynne + Macartney's Family law group, Nichola supports clients through the decision-making process around relationships and family issues. She has over 30 years' legal experience, both Master of Laws and Bachelor of Laws, and is Vice-President of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland. Nichola helps clients to navigate the often difficult territory of family law to discover the best result possible for them and their loved ones. This includes finding a course through parenting matters including complex situations such as relocation disputes, child protection and child abduction in Queensland, interstate and overseas. She also assists with matrimonial and de facto property settlements, pre-nuptial and post-nuptial financial agreements, spousal maintenance, paternity issues, family and surrogacy, domestic violence matters, divorce, spousal maintenance and child support. Nichola has undergone advanced training in collaborative law and mediation. With her training, she explores and encourages clients to pursue non-adversarial and more cost-effective methods of dispute resolution. If matters escalate, Nichola also has extensive experience in court proceedings to represent her clients. Sharing her knowledge and experience with others is important to Nichola. For many years, she has been heavily involved with the mentoring programs for law students at Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University.
Dr Megan Morris
Dr Megan Morris is a registered psychologist (MAPS), originally from Brisbane and has spent more than 10 years residing overseas in Thailand and Vanuatu where she worked in voluntary and non- voluntary roles in psychological support and education. On her return to Australia in 2006, Megan became an accredited Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, and worked with separated families providing family mediation for resolving separated parents disputes in parenting and financial matters. She also worked for the federal government funded Family Relationship Centers, Relationships Australia Queensland (RAQ) and the National Telephone Dispute Resolution Service providing mediation. From 2010, Megan was the coordinator/manager of the Australian research project, “Outcomes for Separated Families” a collaborative project conducted by The University of Queensland (School of Psychology) in collaboration with RAQ, and funded by the Australian Research Council. In 2016 Megan completed her PhD from the University of Queensland with her research focused on understanding separated families in conflict and measuring their mediation outcomes. In 2010, she began writing family reports and providing social assessments for families involved in family court, children’s court and federal circuit court matters. She is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Queensland, a full member of the Australian Psychological Society, the Queensland Child Protection Practitioners Association, and the Family Law Practitioners Association and is interested in improving the lifestyle of members of high conflict families and in particular the children of high conflict parenting disputes. Megan is a private consultant based in Brisbane who provides psychological support to individuals and families, mediation for family issues, and family reports and assessments for family law matters.