Presenters

Rodney Lewis, Senior Solicitor, Elderlaw Legal Services
Rodney Lewis is senior solicitor at Elderlaw. He is author of the text Elder Law in Australia, 2nd ed, Lexis Nexis, Sydney, 2011. He has presented many seminars on Elder Law to his legal colleagues. He sees Elder Abuse through the prism of human rights and the need to promote them for the benefit of vulnerable elders in our community.


Alison Choy Flannigan, Partner, Hall & Wilcox
With over 25 years of corporate, commercial and regulatory experience, Alison has specialised in advising clients in the health, aged care, retirement living, disability, life sciences and community sectors. Alison co-leads the Health & Community Practice at National Law firm, Hall & Wilcox. Alison has been listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia (and the Australian Financial Review) since 2008 for Health & Aged Care and also Retirement Living and Biotechnology. She has been recognised in the Doyle's Guide to the Australian Legal Profession as a Leading Health and Aged Care Lawyer each and every year since 2017. Alison has been a finalist for the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year in Health every year since 2016 and won this prestigious award in 2019, 2020 and 2021. She was a finalist in the Lawyers Weekly, Women in Law Awards, Partner of the Year - Big Law, 2019 and 2021.


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.


Brad Fitzgerald, Director, Clements Fitzgerald Lawyers , Educator, Griffith Law School, Non-Executive Director for Not-for-Profit Organisations
Brad Fitzgerald is a Director of Clements Fitzgerald Lawyers and specialises in Mental Health and Disability Law, Regulatory Compliance and Litigation, and Criminal Defence. Brad's experience has included serving as General Counsel, and at times as the Commissioner, at the Legal Services Commission - the regulatory body for lawyers in Queensland, the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist within Queensland Health, and in private legal practice.


Erin McCarthy, Partner, Piper Alderman
Erin McCarthy is a specialist employment partner based in Adelaide. She has fifteen years' experience in providing advice to employers and employer associations on all aspects of occupational health and safety, employment and industrial relations law as well as delivering essential information seminars and training workshops on key employment issues. Erin has experience providing advice in relation to performance management, misconduct investigations and unfair dismissal claims, bullying, discrimination and harassment matters and occupational health and safety issues including support clients during investigations, defending prosecutions and risk management and policy development. Erin is a co-, author with Professor Andrew Stewart and Elise Jenkin of Parental Leave: A User Friendly Guide published by Thomson Reuters. The book examines the practical interaction between various leave entitlements as well as managing pregnant employees in the workplace and return to work from parental leave. As a part of the Piper Alderman Employment Relations national team, Erin advises clients in all states and territories in Australia. In 2015 she was once again listed in the peer-selected "Best Lawyers, Australia" in the practice area of Labour and Employment.