Gain a best practice overview of the current landscape of governance and compliance in the Australian not-for-profit sector. Benefit from a comprehensive examination of creating the best legal structures and strategic choices for the operation of NFP organisations, a deep dive into their tax obligations, financial reporting and accessing/ leveraging debt financing and, finally, gain much-needed tips for putting employment law into practice.

Presenters

Dr Philip Bender, Barrister and Nationally Accredited Mediator, List A Barristers
Dr Philip Bender is a barrister practising in various areas of commercial and property law, including taxation, superannuation, and trusts. Philip is also a Nationally Accredited Mediator, a Chartered Accountant and a sessional member of an administrative tribunal. In the trusts area, he has acted in matters that involve will/trust deed interpretation, trustee/executor removal applications, breach of trustee/executor duties cases, taxation/duty disputes, and judicial advice. He has also advised and acted in a number of disputes involving charitable trusts, including for the Victorian Attorney-General.


Darren Fittler, Lead Partner, Gilbert + Tobin
Darren specialises in the provision of legal assistance to charities, not-for-profits and social impact organisations. Darren’s combination of sector expertise and corporate and commercial law experience enables him to provide innovative and strategic legal advice and practical guidance on charity mergers, governance, collaborations, charitable fundraising, charity and tax regulation and compliance, and much more. Best Lawyers recognises Darren in Non-Profit/Charities Law, and Chambers Asia Pacific ranks Darren in Band 1 for Charities. Financial Times’ Most Innovative Lawyers (Asia-Pacific) 2024 named Darren as Innovative Individual Practitioner. Darren is a volunteer director of Vision Australia and has previously held roles on the boards of numerous charities. Darren also attended meetings at the United Nations in New York, helping in the development of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.


Spiro Papadolias, Partner, Gilbert + Tobin
Spiro is a partner in the Banking + Projects group. Spiro has a wide range of experience representing borrowers, sponsors and lenders on acquisition, leveraged, property, restructuring and general corporate finance matters. He also specialises in AREIT financing transactions. Prior to joining Gilbert + Tobin, Spiro worked as a consultant at a Big Four professional services firm, and he has also worked as a foreign legal consultant at a top-tier law firm in New York. Spiro holds a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Sydney. He is admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia and has also been admitted as an attorney of the New York State Bar.


Alistair Macpherson, Managing Director, Vocare Law (formerly Corney & Lind Lawyers)
Alistair was admitted as a legal practitioner of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory in 2001 and has experience in the ACT, NSW and QLD jurisdictions. Prior to entering private practice, Alistair was employed as a lawyer in the Government sector, as well as working as a criminal prosecutor. Since entering private practice in 2006, his increasing focus has been on advising the Not-For-Profit sector. Alistair has personally appeared in various Tribunals and Superior Courts for individuals and not-for-profits, and represented a large denominational body in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse. Her has undertaken dispute resolution training, and assists in workplace mediations through the Firm’s workplace mediation practice (Just Redemptive Mediations: https://mediations.corneyandlind.com.au/). Alistair serves as a board member of Calvary Christian College (Townsville), Transform Aid International Ltd and Christian Education Ministries Ltd.


Sue Barker, Director, Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand
Sue Barker is the director of Sue Barker Charities Law, a boutique law firm based in Wellington, specialising in charities law and public tax law. Since its founding in 2012, the firm has won several awards, including Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the New Zealand Law Awards. Sue is recognised by the International Charity Law Network as a Charity Law Scholar. Sue is also a director of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and a co-author of the text The Law and Practice of Charities in New Zealand (LexisNexis, 2013). In 2019, Sue was awarded the New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship Te Karahipi Rangahau ā Taiao, to undertake research into the question “What does a world-leading framework of charities law look like?”. The final report from the Fellowship, entitled Focus on purpose, was released in April 2022 making 70 recommendations for charities law reform in Aotearoa New Zealand. More information about Sue and the research can be found at www.charitieslaw.co and www.charitieslawreform.nz.


Seak-King Huang, Partner, Milner + Huang
Seak-King has been a lawyer for over 30 years. She was a Partner in a major Australian firm, changing to focus on the not-for-profit sector exclusively from 2005. She was General Counsel and Company Secretary of World Vision Australia for over 10 years. Now in private practice with Alex Milner (Partner) and Emma Kostas (Senior Associate), she continues to focus exclusively on advising those engaged in the not-for-profit sector including a broad range of charitable organisations, as well as philanthropists and their organisations. Seak-King is actively engaged outside of her practice on the Board of Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand and as a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Charities and Not-for-profit Committee and advisory groups of the ACNC and the ATO.