Presenters

Joanna Lawrence, Partner, Ashurst Australia
Joanna Lawrence is a Partner in the intellectual property team at Ashurst. Joanna's practice encompasses both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law, with a particular focus on trade marks, domain names, consumer protection law, copyright, design and food law. Joanna also has a strong interest in pro bono. In addition to assisting many of Ashurst's pro bono clients with trade mark and other IP matters, she is a member of the INTA Pro Bono Committee. Joanna is a regular presenter and chair at Legalwise intellectual property and food law seminars.


Dr Steven Stern, Barrister, Svenson’s List
Dr Steven Stern FIPTA CTA ICC BEc LLB (Mon) LLM PhD (Melb) practises at the Victorian Bar specialising in litigation and other disputes relating to trade marks. Dr Stern is a Registered Trade Mark Attorney and a Fellow of The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia. From 2017 to 2023 Dr Stern was the Honorary Secretary of List S Svenson Barristers. Dr Stern presently is the Honorary Secretary of the Victorian Bar Council's Library Committee. As Corporation Secretary/Principal Legal Officer at the Australian Wool Corporation and as University Secretary/University General Counsel at Victoria University, Dr Stern oversaw the patent and trade mark activities of these two corporate bodies. Dr Stern's Master of Laws degree at The University of Melbourne involved a major thesis on the protection of computer software which won the praise of Professor James Lahore and an abridgement of which was published as a major article in the Australian Law Journal. As University General Counsel, Dr Stern was responsible to the University Council and the Vice-Chancellor for providing overall professional direction of the University's legal affairs focusing on: the more complex issues involving legal policy, interpretation or strategy, and matters with other significant ramifications. He has a wide background in the provision of legal services in government, universities, the corporate sector and in private practice. In his role to the National Companies and Securities Commission/Australian Securities Commission, Dr Stern was responsible for all the non-enforcement legal work of the Commission. From the Commission, Dr Stern spent approximately two years as a Senior Associate of Mallesons Stephen Jaques working principally on securities issues. Whilst there he was credited with having a major role in designing the legal structure of a due diligence exercise for the prospectus of a bank's rights issue - that to a degree was said to have set a pattern for subsequent issues.