Presenters

Tony Kerin, Partner, Grope Hamilton Lawyers
Tony is a partner at Grope Hamilton Lawyers and has been a lawyer since 1985. Tony has practiced over broad areas of law until the later 1990's when he began to specialise in personal injuries litigation, WorkCover, criminal and employment law. He has worked as a managing partner of leading plaintiff law firms Johnston Withers in the past for the best part of 30 years and also helped Maurice Blackburn set up its office in Adelaide, in recent times. With management behind him, Tony has returned to practice as a solicitor and barrister and has held the position of State President of the Australian Lawyers Alliance SA Branch for 9 years, National Director for a similar period and National President in the years 2012 and 2013. Tony has acted for a number of institutional and sexual abuse clients and continues to be passionate about the practice of the law for individuals in particular.


Alexander Ward AM, Barrister, Edmund Barton Chambers
President of the Law Council of Australia in 2011 and current Part time Member of the AAT General Diviusion, Alexander Ward has 35 years' experience as a solicitor and barrister. He has been the Australian representative on the Commonwealth Lawyers Association since 2008, and was its President (2015 – 2017). He has practised as a barrister at Edmund Barton Chambers in Adelaide since 2002. He practises in civil litigation, with an emphasis on accident cases, fraud cases and cases involving complicated liability issues. Mr Ward commenced his career at Ward and Partners with his father Kevin Ward prior to establishing his own firm Ward and Ward with his wife Amanda in 1993. Mr Ward was President of the Law Society of South Australia in 2004-05 and during this time was a member of several Law Society Committees including those mentoring indigenous law students, and those addressing community relations and professional standards. He is currently a member of the Law Society's Ethics and Practice Committee. He is a legal officer in the Royal Australian Navy and practices in Military and Discipline law, and is chair of the ADF Defence Legal Ethics Advisory Committee.