With Queensland’s new Criminal Justice Legislation (Sexual Violence and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024 set to take effect in 2025 and youth justice reforms, it is urgent to understand the changes including the admissibility of expert evidence and the need for innovative trial strategies for sex offences. Plus, focus on strangulation and choking offences, the lawfulness of searches and warrants and admissibility, ethical client management and cyber forensic evidence. Described as “unmissable” by your peers, you will learn from some of the profession’s most gifted. Earn your mandatory CPD points while engaging with these critical topics and professionals.

Presenters

Kristy Bell, Director, Bell Criminal Lawyers
Kristy Bell is director at Bell Criminal Lawyers. Kristy is one of a handful of Accredited Criminal Law Specialists in Queensland. She is a member of the Queensland Law Society’s Criminal Law and Specialist Accreditation Committees and has been recognised as one of Queensland’s recommended leading Criminal Defence Lawyers in Doyle’s Guide. Kristy works on all kinds of criminal and quasi-criminal matters including investigative hearings, commissions, coronial inquests, parole applications and criminal confiscations matters.


Calvin Gnech, Legal Practice Director, Gnech and Associates
Calvin is the Legal Practice Director of Gnech & Associates. He gained his early legal experience in the criminal justice system serving the community as a sworn Queensland police officer. He later became a prosecutor in charge of a regional prosecutions’ unit. Calvin quickly became an accomplished prosecutor arguing complex cases before moving to private practice. Since commencing practice as a criminal and professional misconduct defence lawyer, Calvin has gained extensive experience appearing regularly as a solicitor advocate in the Magistrates Court, District Court, Coroner's Court, Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Calvin's experience extends to appearing regularly as instructing solicitor in the Supreme Court, Queensland Court of Appeal and High Court of Australia. Calvin currently sits on the QLS Ethics Committee and is currently the Chairperson of the QLS's Occupational Disciplinary Law Committee. Calvin has a passion for tradition within the law and maintains an active voice for the protection of fundamental legal rights such as self-incrimination privilege, legal professional privilege, the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. Calvin has pursued fundamental rights cases all the way to the High Court.


Patrick Wilson, Barrister, Inns of Court
Patrick Wilson is an experienced criminal barrister based in Brisbane. Patrick routinely conducts trials, sentences and appeals in the Supreme, District and Magistrates courts throughout Queensland, He is a member of the Legal Aid Queensland panel of barristers. He has a broad criminal practice consisting of defending and prosecuting all manner of charges ranging from serious indictable offences in the superior courts to regulatory prosecutions in the summary jurisdiction. Prior to being called to the Bar, Patrick was a solicitor with substantial experience in litigation dealing with commercial, building and construction, and negligence matters.


Emily O’Hagan, Partner, Wallace O’Hagan Lawyers
Emily O'Hagan graduated with Honours in a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Psychology, from Griffith University, completing elective study in Criminal Law and Forensic Mental Health at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Following her admission Emily commenced working at Russo Lawyers and specialised in the practice of criminal defence. Emily was recognised as a Senior Associate at Russo Lawyers in 2014 and became a founding partner of Wallace O'Hagan Lawyers in 2015. Emily appears in all criminal law jurisdictions. Emily has extensive trial experience in the full range of traffic and criminal offence, and has represented clients at every level of the criminal justice system, from pleas of guilty before the Magistrates Court to Supreme Court Appeals.


Dr. Graeme Edwards CFE, Director, CYBER I Pty Ltd
Graeme Edwards is a Detective in the Queensland Police Service Fraud and Cyber Crime Group in Brisbane, Australia. Edwards has been a member of the Queensland Police Service since 1999, having previously been a Detective in the New Zealand Police Service. He has been a specialist investigator of financial and cyber crime for approximately 12 years. He has conducted numerous investigations into financial and cyber crime; its effects on their victims and identifying new methodologies on how criminals are using the internet. Currently, he is in the final stages of completing of Doctorate of Information Technology with a thesis on investigating cybercrime in a multi- jurisdictional environment.


Anna Cappellano, Barrister, Higgins Chambers
Anna has practiced at the private Bar in Queensland since 2008. She is passionate about social justice and providing fearless advocacy for people who find themselves confronting the criminal justice system. Anna’s practice at the Bar focuses primarily on criminal law and regulatory matters. She regularly appears on behalf of both defendants and prosecuting authorities at the State and Commonwealth level in proceedings in the District Courts, Supreme Court of Queensland, the Queensland Court of Appeal and the Norfolk Island Court of Petty Sessions and Supreme Court. In 2022, Anna was one of the Counsel Assisting the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence. Anna is also member of the Bar Association’s Criminal Law Committee.


Adam Mason, Barrister, Briggs Lane
Adam Mason is a barrister at Briggs Lane Chambers practicing in the areas of criminal law, regulatory prosecutions, tribunals and inquiries. Prior to going to the bar, Adam spent 6 and a half years as a Legal Officer in the full-time Australian Army. This included being a prosecutor at the Directorate of Military Prosecutions, conducting administrative inquiries and serving on operations in the Middle East. Adam also previously worked as a prosecutor for the Department of Transport and Main Roads.


Ken MacKenzie, Partner, Mackenzie Mitchell Solicitors
Ken Mackenzie is an accredited specialist in criminal law and principal of Mackenzie Mitchell Solicitors. Ken qualified in Queensland, completing articles of clerkship at crime specialists Ryan & Bosscher before emigrating to England. In London, Ken re-qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and worked in the criminal departments of Fisher Meredith and Hickman & Rose. Ken established Mackenzie Mitchell Solicitors in Brisbane in 2008 specialising in criminal law. Ken represents clients in private (employer) investigations, police investigations, and criminal proceedings in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts, including the Court of Appeal and the High Court. His practice ranges from traffic offences to homicide and includes a substantial case load of serious fraud and drug crime. He also acts for witnesses compelled to attend before secret hearings of the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC). Ken served for 5 years on the Criminal Law Committee of the Queensland Law Society until 2014. He represented the Society on a government committee that reviewed police powers in Queensland. Ken has given evidence on behalf of the Society to Parliamentary Committees in relation to legislation governing police powers and the criminal law.


Tom Gardiner, Principal, Fisher Dore
Tom is a Principal of Fisher Dore Lawyers and an Accredited Criminal Law Specialist (QLS). Tom has over a decade of experience in criminal law and is leading criminal lawyer in the Doyles Guide. Tom has appeared in all Courts throughout Queensland and instructed counsel in the High Court of Australia. Tom’s practice includes a wide range of criminal law matters, domestic violence applications and advice work.


Nicole Murdoch, Principal, EAGLEGATE Lawyers
Nicole is the Principal of EAGLEGATE Lawyers and a recommended Lawyer in the 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2018 listing of Leading Queensland Intellectual Property Lawyers - Doyles Guide. As a qualified Lawyer, Electrical Engineer and Trade Marks Attorney, Nicole's qualifications and practical experience allow her to fully comprehend the nexus of the law, technology and business to provide advice to her clients - which is both commercially sensible and technically practical. Nicole's legal experience includes Intellectual Property litigation including, trade mark, patent, copyright and domain name disputes and associated misleading and deceptive conduct, confidential information and passing off disputes. She also acts in Information Theft cases to prepare clients for data breaches, assists upon a breach, gives advice in respect of mandatory data breach notifications and prosecutes insider threats.


Emma Higgins, Legal Director, Robertson O’Gorman Solicitors
Emma Higgins is a legal director at Robertson O'Gorman Solicitors having joined the firm in 2011. A Queensland Law Society accredited specialist in criminal law, Emma appears in a variety of criminal matters before the Magistrates Court and superior courts. Emma has extensive trial and appellate experience in a range of criminal proceedings. She has appeared as solicitor advocate in superior courts and has a keen interest in the relationship between mental health and criminal proceedings. Emma achieved a Bachelor of Laws with Honours, a Bachelor of Business majoring in Economics from the Queensland University of Technology. In addition to criminal law, Emma has developed a practice in disciplinary law and is a member of the Queensland Law Society Disciplinary Law Committee.