Presenters

Bronwyn Weir, Director, Weir Legal & Consulting
Bronwyn Weir is Managing Director of Weir Legal & Consulting – Bronwyn specialises in advising governments as regulators. Her expertise spans all areas of regulatory law including advising on complaints, prosecutions, investigative powers, notices or orders, registration/licensing and administrative law. Bronwyn is frequently engaged to conduct reviews and to assist clients to develop risk based regulatory decision making frameworks, policies and procedures. In 2017 Bronwyn co-authored the Building Confidence Report with Professor Peter Shergold which remains an influential report in policy development for the building industry. She is currently advising the NSW Government on the Home Building Compensation Fund. In addition to being known for expertise in building regulation, Bronwyn advises regulators in sectors including education, health, water and climate law. Bronwyn acts for all levels of government and whilst based in Victoria, frequently advises governments across Australia.


Vanessa Twigg, Principal Legal Adviser, Victorian Ombudsman
Vanessa is a criminal lawyer with extensive experience providing legal services in Commonwealth and Victorian Government law enforcement and integrity agencies. In her work she has particularly focused on the responsible exercise of both discretionary coercive investigative powers used to compulsorily acquire oral and written evidence, and electronic surveillance powers. Vanessa has highly developed skills in legal analysis and the application of public interest tests to establish and implement electronic and manual case management processes that are legally competent and ensures the appropriate and proportionate exercise of intrusive investigative powers.


Alison Smith, Principal Decision Maker, Victorian Building Authority
Before joining the VBA’s Practitioner Discipline Unit, Alison was an appointed member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (and formerly the Social Security Appeals Tribunal) for 12 years. Alison joined the VBA in 2019 and acts as a delegate in disciplinary proceedings against building practitioners. Alison has taken a lead role in developing and maintaining the VBA’s regulatory and disciplinary strategy in relation to the non-compliant use of combustible cladding in a cross-divisional team of lawyers, technical experts, and investigators.


Brad Powell, Compliance and Investigating Manager, Harness Racing Victoria
Brad is a professional and approachable investigator with over 20 years experience conducting, managing and contributing to complex investigations within law enforcement, public sector and private sector contexts. He has extensive experience as an investigator and manager, establishing and leading teams, coordinating policy development and implementation, and leading compliance operations.


Shail Singh, Lead Ombudsman Investments and Advice, Financial Ombudsman Service
Shail completed a law/science degree at the University of Melbourne in 1996 and commenced his legal career in 1997 at a top-tier Australian Law Firm Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashursts). Since that time, Shail has worked both in-house, and as legal counsel for various regulators including Worksafe Victoria and the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria. Shail completed his Masters in Law at the University of Melbourne in 2005, and in 2008 he left the law to train and work as a financial planner, completing his Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning in 2009 at Kaplan, before joining AFCA’s predecessor scheme, FOS, as a case manager in 2010. Shail was appointed as an Ombudsman at the commencement of AFCA in 2018, and then the Senior Ombudsman (Investments and Advice) in 2021. From January 2022 he was the Acting Lead Ombudsman Investments and Advice until he was officially appointed to the role in May 2023. Shail has now worked in dispute resolution for over a decade and is a specialist in Investments and Advice complaints. This includes financial planning, derivatives, managed funds, timeshare, cryptocurrency and stockbroking disputes.