Sure, it’s a Saturday, but once you are done, you have all your points for the year. This day will be time well spent covering a comprehensive roundup 11 important issues: family law updates, probate and estate planning roundups, contract and employment law disputes, a consideration of property law, plus an examination of insolvency and bankruptcy concerns. Plus, gain your ethics and skills points in a manner that is useful. Take the plunge, wear what you like and get it done in one fell swoop. 243N30

Presenters

Mr. Geoffry Underwood, Barrister, Sixth Floor Selborne Wentworth Chambers
Geoffry Underwood is a Barrister practising from Sixth Floor, Selborne Wentworth Chambers, 174 Phillip Street Sydney. He practises principally in the area of Equity, Estate and Family Provision advising and litigation. He has been involved in Estate Litigation on a regular basis for over 20 years. He has many interests outside the law including family, travel, golf and classical music.


Kim Boettcher, Barrister, Frederick Jordan Chambers
Kim is a Barrister at Frederick Jordan Chambers in Sydney. Kim practises in Equity, Common Law, Protective and Guardianship Law, and in the Probate and Succession List. Prior to coming to the Bar, she practised as a Solicitor in commercial and civil litigation law in England and Wales, New South Wales and Queensland. More recently, she was a Solicitor at the Seniors Rights Service, an independent legal centre and regularly attended the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing in New York as a civil society representative. Kim was appointed to the NSW Minister of Fair Trading's Retirement Villages Advisory Council in 2013 and also to the Minister's Expert Committee on Retirement Villages Standard Contract Terms and Disclosure Documents in 2011. Kim was a Member of the inaugural Legal Services Council in 2014 and reappointed from 2017-2020. She is a past Treasurer of the International Commission of Jurists Australia and was appointed to the NSW Bar Association’s Succession and Protective Law Committee in 2021, 2022 and 2023.


Mr. Neil Jackson, Barrister, Frederick Jordan Chambers
Neil Jackson holds a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University (both obtained in 1986), and a Master of Law from the University of New South Wales (obtained in 1996, majoring in a family law related subjects). He practised as a solicitor in Sydney from July 1986, largely specialising in personal injury litigation, family law and de facto relationships law, before being called to the New South Wales Bar in February 1997. From 1998 he was the National Editor of the CCH De Facto Relationships Service. As a solicitor, he was a member of the New South Wales Law Society Family Law Committee and the Committee of Family Law through the City of Sydney Regional Law Society. Further, he was part of the Sydney Registry of the Family Court of Australia's Duty Solicitor Scheme. He is also an accredited specialist through the Law Society of New South Wales in both family law and personal injury. In 1996 and again in 2003 he obtained a certificate through the Law Council of Australia and National Legal Aid, relating to the representation of children. Currently he practises as a barrister, exclusively in family law and de facto relationships law, at Frederick Jordan Chambers, Sydney. Neil Jackson is also a member of the Conciliators and Arbitrators Association, the Australian Association of Family Lawyers and Conciliators, and the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia. Further, he is currently on the Legal Aid Committee of the Bar Association of New South Wales. From 1998 until 2011 he was also an active Director on the Board of Family Planning Association (NSW). Family Planning NSW is the organisation to go to when it comes to reproductive and sexual health in NSW. They are an independent, not-for-profit organisation focused on the promotion, collection and dissemination of reproductive and sexual health knowledge and information. Currently he is a Board Director of 3 Bridges. 3 Bridges is a community based organisation which develops and provides a range of community and welfare services in the St George and Sutherland Districts. In 2002 he was appointed as an Arbitrator of the New South Wales Compensation Commission. This is a position to which he has actively held for over three years. Many of his judgments can be found on the website of the Workers Compensation Commission, at www.wcc.nsw.gov.au/decisions.asp In 2004 he was appointed a Mediator of the New South Wales Supreme Court. In 2004 he was appointed an Arbitrator of the New South Wales District Court. Since 2007 he has been a Commonwealth Government appointed Family Dispute Resolution mediator. Neil Jackson is presently an Arbitrator of the Local Court of New South Wales. He has, in recent years, regularly contributed by way of lectures and seminars in family law related issues through the New South Wales Young Lawyers Association, a branch of the Law Society of New South Wales; and the New South Wales College of Law.


Kerry Hogan-Ross, Consultant, Kerry Hogan-Ross Mediations
Kerry has been an independent mediator and expert conclave facilitator since 2013. From 1990 to 2013 Kerry was a litigator with a major law firm specialising in medical negligence, professional indemnity and directors’ liability. In 2013 she was named a Best Lawyer in medical negligence. From 2016-2020 she was named a Best Lawyer for her work in Alternative Dispute Resolution and was recognised as a Leading Mediator by Doyles in 2018 and 2019.


Mr. Matthew Shepherd, Special Counsel, Ramsden Lawyers
Matthew Shepherd is a mediator, arbitrator, family dispute resolution practitioner, and accredited family law specialist. Matthew has a Masters of Dispute Resolution (Honours) from the University of Technology Sydney, where he taught Dispute Resolution Advocacy from 2014 to 2020. Matthew has studied advanced negotiation theory at the Harvard Project on Negotiation. He has sat on the NSW Society Dispute Resolution Committee. He works with clients and their lawyers to consider not only the best legal and financial outcomes, but also to consider the best dispute resolution process to achieve those outcomes. The choice of dispute resolution process has a big impact on the quality of agreements reached and how well they are implemented.


Ms. Leah Sewell, Consultant, Glass Goodwin
Leah Sewell was admitted as a solicitor more than 20 years ago, an Accredited Specialist in Wills & Estates and recognised by Doyle’s Guide in 2020, 2021 and 2022 in estate litigation. Leah is also a Trusts & Estates Practitioner with STEP and elected committee member to the Mental Capacity Special Interest Group (SIG) of STEP representing Australia. Leah’s practice covers all areas of wills and estates and elder law, including estate planning, estate disputes, trusts, unconscionable conduct, granny flat agreements/inter family loans and protective list matters.


Paul Lewis, Special Counsel, Ramsden Family Law
Paul Lewis is a Special Counsel of Ramsden Family Law and a nationally accredited Mediator. He is an Accredited Specialist in Family Law and also in Dispute Resolution. Paul has been a practising mediator since 1994. He has been a company director of Interrelate and an Editorial Consultant for the Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal for many years.


Philippe Doyle Gray, Barrister, 8 Wentworth Chambers
Philippe principally practises in commercial law and equity, and is frequently briefed to advise and appear in civil litigation in which allegations are made of criminality, fraud, or other serious misconduct. He usually appears in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, at first instance and on appeal. He also has specialist skills in legal project management and the use of technology in legal practice. Philippe is a Costs Assessor, former member of the statutory Costs Assessment Rules Committee (CARC), and an authority in the law of legal costs and regulation of the profession, regularly acting for barristers, solicitors, and clients in disputes concerning professional fees. Learn more at www.PhilippeDoyleGray.com


Ms. Elizabeth Ticehurst, Principal, Activate Law
Elizabeth Ticehurst is an accredited specialist in Employment and Industrial Law and is an expert in the emerging area of whistleblowing. With two decades of experience working in the legal industry in the Asia Pacific Region, Elizabeth has first-hand knowledge of the complexities of managing a diverse workforce across several jurisdictions. Elizabeth is a sought-after speaker and trainer, and regularly presents at external conferences and seminars. In 2019 she was a “Special Counsel of the Year” finalist in the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards. An expert in Whistleblowing Law, Elizabeth has a special interest in advising managers of in-house whistleblowing programs on both compliance and practical issues. She has conducted whistleblower response training for more than 50 groups, including Boards, executive teams and senior management in industries ranging from finance and banking to resources and retail.


Ms. Diane Skapinker, Principal, Skapinker Law
Diane works on her own account as a principal of Skapinker Law as well as consulting to the Ashurst real estate group where she specialises in property developments, strata and community titling, acquisitions, disposals, leasing and the property aspects of telecommunications and infrastructure projects. Diane was formerly an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Sydney lecturing in Real Property, Conveyancing and Equity and is a member of the NSW Law Society’s Property Law Committee and its subcommittee responsible for drafting the NSW standard form contract for the sale and purchase of land. Diane is recognised as a real estate lawyer by Chambers Asia-Pacific, Doyle's Guide and Best Lawyers Australia.


Mr. Andrew Horne, Barrister, St James Chambers
Andrew was called to the New South Wales bar in 2023. In addition to being admitted as a barrister in New South Wales, Andrew is also admitted as an attorney in New York and as a solicitor in England & Wales and Scotland. He graduated first in his class from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland (LL.B. (Hons. 1st Class)) and holds a LL.M. from Harvard Law School where he was a John F. Kennedy Memorial Scholar (the UK equivalent of a Rhodes Scholar). Prior to relocating to Australia, Andrew practiced for fifteen years in the litigation department of the international law firm, Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He was elected to partnership in 2007, becoming one of the firm’s youngest partners. While at Kirkland, Andrew handled a wide variety of trial and appellate matters including commercial contract disputes, financial services litigations and investigations, class actions, and insolvency proceedings. His clients included numerous Fortune 500 companies such as Morgan Stanley, Verizon, AOL, and News Corp. He also had an active pro bono practice, including representing a Texas death row inmate in his post-conviction litigation, for which he was individually awarded a Thurgood Marshall Award for Death Penalty Representation by the New York Bar Association and his team was awarded the American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project Exceptional Service Award. While at Kirkland, Andrew appeared before courts and arbitration panels across the United States including in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Virginia. He has also practiced before numerous appellate courts, including the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits, the Delaware Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court. Andrew has a particular interest in technology, data security and privacy, accounting, and cross‑border litigation. His cross-border matters include disputes arising in Australia, England & Wales, the European Union, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Argentina, and Germany. In addition to his practice, Andrew has a keen interest in teaching. He taught trial advocacy for ten years while at Kirkland and was previously an instructor and examiner in tort and international private law at the University of Strathclyde. He has published articles on medical ethics and tort and given presentations on international competition law, securities litigation, electronic discovery, and death penalty representation. Between 2006 and 2007, Andrew was the American Bar Association’s International Civil Litigation Sub-Committee Chair.


Mr. Colin Brown, Partner, SLF Lawyers
Colin specialises in the areas of insolvency and reconstruction and commercial litigation. A member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA), Colin acts for secured and unsecured creditors, commercial entities, administrators, liquidators, bankruptcy trustees and other insolvency practitioners across a range of industry sectors, as well as advising individuals, boards and company directors on all aspects of insolvency law. Colin also acts for private and corporate clients involved in a broad range of commercial disputes, particularly in respect of contractual and commercial transaction, resolving a number of large and complex commercial disputes for the firm’s clients.


Ms. Alison Jones, Special Counsel, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Alison Jones Alison is a Special Counsel at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm and practises in IP, competition and consumer law, entertainment law and related areas. Alison has expertise across a broad range of areas, including IP protection and enforcement, commercialisation (including licensing, distribution and sponsorship), advertising collateral, complaints and disputes, industry ethics, competition and consumer law, anti-bribery, anti-counterfeiting, confidential information, cross-border transactions, contract drafting and due diligence. She advises various leading companies on a range of regulatory issues including food law, cosmetics, life sciences and therapeutic goods regulation, trade, customs, administrative action, investigations, product liability and recalls, privacy and data protection. Alison has undertaken various client secondments in global companies at General Counsel level including a US headquartered pharmaceutical and life sciences company, a leading multinational FMCG company and a major global interactive marketing services company. She is a committee member of the IP Society of Australia and New Zealand (NSW), a member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) and the Australian and New Zealand College of Notaries, and is listed on the Register of Lawyers of the Ad Standards Industry Jury. Alison has also completed the Leadership Development Program through the NUS Business School Executive Education in Singapore.


Mr. Trevor Withane, Partner, Ironbridge Legal
Trevor is a highly regarded lawyer you want on your side. He is the founder and principal of Ironbridge Legal and is a specialist commercial litigator and insolvency lawyer with deep experience in his areas of practice. Prior to founding Ironbridge Legal, Trevor was a partner of a successful Sydney based boutique law firm. Clients have described Trevor as extremely insightful, friendly, practical and pragmatic. Trevor founded Ironbridge Legal to provide in-depth specialist and conflict free advice in the disputes space – starting a law firm with true specialism in just two key areas: Commercial Litigation and Insolvency and Bankruptcy. Trevor started his legal career at global top three firm, Allen & Overy LLP, where he trained and spent several years advising a multitude of corporates and high-net-worth individuals in connection with complex disputes and regulatory matters often straddling more than one jurisdiction Before moving to Australia from the UK for family reasons, Trevor was a barrister in London, acting for corporates and high-net-worth individuals in complex commercial litigation and insolvency matters in the High Court. This experience, coupled with Trevor’s accountancy studies and his earlier practice as an accountant, gives him a rare depth and breadth of experience to apply to his clients’ matters.