Attend and earn 1 CPD hour in Practice Management & Business Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Lauren Townsend, Partner, Thomson Greer
Join seasoned in-house counsel who will share their practical tips and strategies from the front line for effectively navigating employment law matters.
- Practical tips on aligning employment law compliance with company objectives, including how you can assess risk levels and prioritise issues within business contexts
- Strategies for keeping up to date with employment law developments and implementing proactive measures, including effective ways to work with HR and other departments on policy updates
- How to manage sensitive workplace investigations, from planning to documentation
Panellists:
Jason Goyal, Managing Principal, Resolve Employment Lawyers; Leading In-House Employment & WHS Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2023
Andy Lynch, Group Manager - Industrial Relations Legal at Downer EDI Limited
Lachlan Carr, Managing Principal, Angus & Carr
Fiona Mullins, Group Counsel, HSE, People & Transition, AGL
Natasha Hannah, Principal, Employment Law and Workplace Relations, Legalite
Presenters
Lauren Townsend, Partner, Thomson Greer
With over 15 years' experience advising and acting for Australian and international employers in relation to the full range of Australian employment law issues across the employee lifecycle, Lauren is well regarded by her clients for being able to explain complex legal issues in a digestible manner and for her pragmatic and timely advice. Lauren's practise encompasses all aspects of employment law, industrial relations, work health and safety, discrimination law and workplace investigations. This includes employment/executive contracts, enterprise bargaining, industrial action and other industrial disputes, enterprise agreement and modern award compliance, management of ill and injured workers, management of employee misconduct and underperformance (including termination of employment), transfer of business, employee/contractor distinction, workplace bullying and employment related litigation. Lauren's legal expertise is complemented by her experience as an independent workplace investigator, having conducted external misconduct investigations for a range of private and public sector clients. For example, Lauren has conducted workplace investigations for a major public hospital in Melbourne, Universities, Victorian Government Departments, Victorian Government emergency services (police and ambulance), and the APS. Lauren regularly provides presentations and training to in house counsel and HR professionals.
Jason Goyal, Managing Principal, Resolve Employment Lawyers
Jason has over a decade of experience in all aspects of workplace relations and employment law having worked as a senior employment lawyer, workplace relations specialist, workplace investigator, and workplace mediator across a range of sectors – private, professional legal services, public, and tertiary education. He appears regularly for employers and workers in matters before the Fair Work Commission, and has extensive advocacy experience in other industrial and human rights tribunals, as well as courts at both the State and Federal levels. Recent workplace disputes in which Jason has acted for and advised employer and worker clients, include but are not limited to unfair dismissal and general protections applications, unlawful discrimination disputes, workplace bullying disputes, workplace sexual harassment disputes, and contract of employment disputes. Jason has a special interest in advising and representing both employers and workers in respect of disputes that concern the investigation and management of workplace misconduct and unsatisfactory work performance. He relishes the opportunity to guide employers on how to effectively carry out legally defensible investigation and disciplinary processes that lead to sensible workplace outcomes, and support workers to ensure that they are being treated with dignity and are subject to procedurally fair processes. Prior to establishing Resolve Employment Lawyers, Jason was most recently employed as In-House Legal Counsel for the Coles Group, where he was responsible for managing its national general employment litigation practice, and advising its workforce of over 130,000 team members on a wide array of workplace relations matters. Jason was recognised across the business for his ability to consistently convey complex employment law advice in a concise, responsive, and commercial manner to various stakeholders, ranging from frontline retail managers to specialists in the workplace relations advisory team, and also senior members of the Coles leadership team. For his work as Legal Counsel for Coles, Jason was recognised by the prestigious Doyle’s Guide as one of the ‘Leading In-House Employment & WHS Lawyers in Australia’.
Fiona Mullins, Group Counsel, HSE, People & Transition, AGL
Fiona Mullins is a specialist in employment, industrial relations, discrimination and safety law with over 18 years experience in private practice and legal inhouse roles. As Group Counsel, she is responsible for the legal advice across a diverse workforce, advising on all employment matters, industrial relations, contentious employee litigation, conduct matters, restructures, change management, corporate transactions, whistle-blower complaints, workers’ compensation, payroll compliance and health and safety. She appears before the Fair Work Commission, tribunals and courts. Fiona is a representative on the Business Council of Australia and has been recognised as a leading Employment & Work, Health & Safety lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide.
Natasha Hannah, Principal, Employment Law and Workplace Relations, Legalite
Natasha helps founders, leaders, and in-house lawyers reduce the time theyspend reacting to HR spot fires through proactive and strategic support. Natasha works with medium to large businesses to help improve performance and empower staff to bring their best selves to work. Her clients include businesses across the franchising, fitness and health, tech,and professional services spaces.With diverse experience across private practice and in-house roles,Natasha's advice is technical, strategic, and operational. Having also runbusinesses herself, Natasha understands what it's like to juggle competing business priorities. As the Head of Employment Law and Workplace Relations at Legalite, Natasha acts as a trusted partner for her clients while they navigate day-to-day HR queries, such as award interpretation, casual conversion, and drafting employment documents. She also guides them through complex processes like performance management, dismissal claims, redundancies, and wage compliance.
Andy Lynch, Group Manager - Industrial Relations Legal, Downer EDI Limited
Andy is an in-house lawyer at Downer Group advising on all aspects of industrial relations and employment law recognised as a leading in-house employment lawyer in Doyles Guide for 2024 and 2025. Prior to working at Downer, Andy was an associate in the Employment and Labour team at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Lachlan Carr, Managing Principal, Angus & Carr
With over a decade of experience in top tier and global law firms, in house, and with the peak member organisation for Australia’s university sector, Lachlan is well placed to provide commercially sound, practically useful legal advice. Lachlan is known for making complex legal concepts easy to understand, and for helping clients to confidently navigate difficult legal processes. His approach is methodical and meticulous. Lachlan takes the time to ensure his clients understand their options, and feel empowered to make well informed, risk-based decisions that suit their context and goals. Outside of the law, Lachlan enjoys swimming, reading, and spending time with his friends and family. He also reads judgments for fun, which his friends and colleagues tease him for.