With substantial changes to Queensland’s anti-discrimination laws, the rising importance of psychosocial safety, and whistleblower protections, get ready to tackle this year’s most pressing employment law issues. Avoid being blindsided by emerging risks and gain practical strategies to navigate the legal shifts in workplace rights and responsibilities. Don’t risk exposing your client to unexpected claims and liabilities- ensure your practice is across the latest know-how.

Presenters

Mitchell Devine, Principal, Devine Legal
Mitchell Devine is the Principal, Devine Legal and a dual Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law and Workplace Relations. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Masters of Laws and is a member of the Industrial Relations Society of Queensland, Australian Lawyers Alliance and Australian Labour Law Association. Mitchell was previously a member and chair of the Queensland Law Society Workplace Relations Advisory Committee. Mitchell lectures in employment law at the University of the Sunshine Coast and practises exclusively in areas of personal injuries and workplace relations. He is a recommended employment lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide from 2017 to date for both employer and employee representation.


Keisha Currie, Special Counsel, Holding Redlich
Keisha is an experienced work health and safety lawyer and is passionate about helping clients take a preventative approach to safety. Keisha has worked specifically in the work health and safety space for the past 8 years and has experience advising clients within both the public and private sector. Keisha’s practice involves advising on all facets of safety legislation including duties, director’s duties and compliance, incident response, reviews of safety health management systems, legislative compliance and responding to regulatory enforcement action. Keisha has been involved in both defending clients against prosecution and representing a national regulator in the prosecution of a large railway operator.


Pawel Zielinski, Barrister, Callinan Chambers
Pawel (Pav) Zielinski focuses on complex and contentious industrial and general employment disputes. He was called to the bar in 2021. Prior to that, he was a solicitor for a decade employed in a national law firm specialising in the same area. His main interests lie in statutory construction and appellate law but he routinely appears in general protections matters, wage claims and unfair dismissals across the Federal and State systems. He is recognised as a ‘leading’ junior counsel in Queensland (Doyle’s Guide, Leading Employment and WHS Barristers – Queensland 2025).


Emma Treherne, Senior Legal & Compliance Manager, Isuzu UTE Australia Pty Ltd
Emma Treherne was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2011 but has been working in the field of employment law since 2007.  Emma has diverse experience across many areas of employment law both in Australia and a short stint in the Republic of Ireland and has worked in private practice, a community organisation, the government, employer associations, and in-house. For approximately 2.5 years, Emma has been working as an in-house counsel for Isuzu UTE Australia Pty Ltd, an Australian vehicle distributor.  In this position, Emma’s principal practice areas are employment law, data privacy law and commercial law and any other practice areas which aid improvements in corporate governance and compliance of the Company.  Working in the field of compliance has required Emma to not just advise on legal matters but also to educate the Company and build compliance systems and programs consider legal risk along with factoring in reputational and commercial risks.


Alanna Fitzpatrick, Partner, K&L Gates
Alanna is an experienced workplace health and safety lawyer. She is a responsive, pragmatic and empathetic lawyer who assists her clients to navigate the serious safety incidents and accidents. She assists clients respond to and engage with regulators undertaking investigations following safety incidents in a manner that is designed to ensure that the risk of reputational damage and personal/corporate prosecution is minimised. Alanna is also an experienced front end safety lawyer, providing compliance advice to a range of organisations to understand and discharge their obligations under safety legislation and for officers, developing a suite of material to enable those officers to discharge their duty to exercise due diligence. Alanna delivers engaging and informative presentations on safety related topics include crisis management, due diligence and managing the risk of psychosocial harm. She is experienced in dealing with a wide range of employment matters including executive employment issues, performance management, grievances, disciplinary matters, discrimination and termination of employment. Alanna has a particular focus on assisting employers to manage ill and injured employees and restraint of trade matters. Alanna is a commercially focussed and pragmatic litigator. She has assisted clients to litigate individual and collective disputes in the Fair Work Commission as well as disputes and regulatory prosecutions in the Federal Court and Supreme Court of Queensland. Alanna has advised her clients on all types of workplace investigations and undertakes workplace investigations, particularly those relating to bullying allegations and sexual harassment. Alanna has advised companies in various industries including agriculture, aviation, construction, energy and resources, medical and pharmaceutical, retail, higher education, government departments and government owned corporations.


Madeleine Stone, Barrister, George Street Chambers
Madeleine maintains a broad civil practice, focussing predominantly on commercial litigation and employment and industrial law. She is regularly briefed in contentious employment disputes in both state and federal courts and commissions. Madeleine’s focus is on providing strategic and practical advice to employers which reflects the complexities of human nature, and the rights afforded to employees. She has experience across the gamut of employment disputes, including unfair dismissals, general protections, bullying, sexual harassment and psychological injury claims. She has also been involved in a number of workplace investigations, including investigations commissioned under state-based legislation.


Danny Clifford, Director, Clifford Gouldson Lawyers
Danny Clifford is a Director of Clifford Gouldson Lawyers - one of Toowoomba's leading business focussed law firms. Clifford Gouldson advise businesses on workplace, litigation, property & commercial, construction, intellectual property and tax, structures and planning. In recent years Danny has worked closely with leading private schools in the Toowoomba region to manage individual staff issues, develop enterprise agreements and ensure risk minimisation strategies are in place to help schools deal with employee issues both at school and involving external use of social media. With his team, Danny helps clients manage the challenges of large workforces, deal with unfair dismissal issues and maintain compliance with the complex Fair Work requirements. Many large employers come to Danny for both advice on strategic direction and day to day workplace challenges. Working from CGLaw offices across Toowoomba, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, Danny and his team provide solutions across the full spectrum of workplace issues including employee management, discrimination, health & safety, agreements & awards, policy implementation and training.


Edward Shorten, Barrister, Inns of Court
Edward is a Barrister who specialises in industrial/employment law, discrimination/human rights law, administrative law and appeals. He was called to the bar in 2015 after seven years as a solicitor at a leading law firm. He has extensive experience in general protections, unfair dismissal, and discrimination litigation. He has appeared (led and unled) in applications, trials and appeals in the State and Federal courts and tribunals. He also acts as a mediator. Edward is recognised in Doyle's Guide as a leading Junior Counsel in Queensland (Pre-eminent, Leading Employment & WHS Barristers) and Australia (Recommended, Leading Employment Law Junior Counsel). He is a member of the Bar Association of Queensland Industrial Law Committee.


Deacon Johnston, Barrister, George Street Chambers
Deacon is an experienced advocate in a variety of settings, and maintains a broad commercial litigation practice, with a focus on employment and industrial, taxation, and trade practice disputes. Called to the bar in 2024, he advises and appears for employees and employers, both in private and public contexts, in relation to both state and federal disputes. Clients generally appreciate Deacon's no-nonsense and straight-talking style, paired with his dogged determination in pursuit of results. With an insatiable appetite for hard work, and a pragmatic and thoughtful approach to dispute resolution, client goals are always at the forefront of Deacon's litigation strategy.