Presenters

Amanda Junkeer, Partner, Gadens
Amanda specialises in industrial and employee relations with over 20 years’ experience. Amanda is a Partner in the Workplace Advisory and Disputes team at Gadens and based in the Melbourn office. Prior to joining Gadens, Amanda worked in private practice at a top tier national firm in the Workplace Relations and Safety team and a boutique law firm where she specialised in Workplace Relations. Her experience includes senior in-house employment counsel roles in an ASX listed top 100 company with over 25,000 employees and national healthcare essential service provider with over 3,500 employees. Acting for employers including corporations and not for profit organisations, her key practice areas range from enterprise bargaining strategy, industrial disputation, payroll compliance and remediation, complex award and enterprise agreement matters, managing disciplinary and termination processes, wage audits, and employment litigation. Amanda’s sector specialisation includes independent education, higher education, not for profit and manufacturing. Significant matters include acting in a successful litigation on behalf of a large media company in relation to breach of employee privacy in the context of enterprise bargaining, leading a Federal Court appeal of an adverse action matter involving union activity during an industrial dispute, instructing and advising on unfair dismissal matters in the Fair Work Commission including a Full Bench decision about dishonesty in the use of medical certificates. Amanda also advises and acts on behalf of clients in respect of employment contract drafting and disputation, representing clients with the workplace relations regulator and in anti-discrimination claims.


Jim McKenna, Barrister, Greens List
Jim practises generally in the areas of industrial, employment, discrimination and administrative law. His industrial and employment law practice involves regularly appearing and advising in disputes in the Federal courts and the Fair Work Commission. His particular experience in the Federal jurisdiction includes general protections claims, bargaining disputes, unfair dismissals, discrimination, breach of award and workplace agreement proceedings. Jim also regularly appears in contractual disputes and discrimination claims in the State jurisdictions. In his administrative law practice he appears and advises in judicial review proceedings in the State and Federal jurisdictions. Jim also appears in merits review proceedings in VCAT and the AAT. Prior to signing the Bar Roll Jim was the Associate to the Honourable Justice Marshall in the Federal Court of Australia and was a solicitor with Minter Ellison in Melbourne. Jim read with Rachel Doyle SC and Melinda Richards SC. He has a Master of Laws from Monash University.

Presenters

Amanda Junkeer, Partner, Gadens
Amanda specialises in industrial and employee relations with over 20 years’ experience. Amanda is a Partner in the Workplace Advisory and Disputes team at Gadens and based in the Melbourn office. Prior to joining Gadens, Amanda worked in private practice at a top tier national firm in the Workplace Relations and Safety team and a boutique law firm where she specialised in Workplace Relations. Her experience includes senior in-house employment counsel roles in an ASX listed top 100 company with over 25,000 employees and national healthcare essential service provider with over 3,500 employees. Acting for employers including corporations and not for profit organisations, her key practice areas range from enterprise bargaining strategy, industrial disputation, payroll compliance and remediation, complex award and enterprise agreement matters, managing disciplinary and termination processes, wage audits, and employment litigation. Amanda’s sector specialisation includes independent education, higher education, not for profit and manufacturing. Significant matters include acting in a successful litigation on behalf of a large media company in relation to breach of employee privacy in the context of enterprise bargaining, leading a Federal Court appeal of an adverse action matter involving union activity during an industrial dispute, instructing and advising on unfair dismissal matters in the Fair Work Commission including a Full Bench decision about dishonesty in the use of medical certificates. Amanda also advises and acts on behalf of clients in respect of employment contract drafting and disputation, representing clients with the workplace relations regulator and in anti-discrimination claims.


Jim McKenna, Barrister, Greens List
Jim practises generally in the areas of industrial, employment, discrimination and administrative law. His industrial and employment law practice involves regularly appearing and advising in disputes in the Federal courts and the Fair Work Commission. His particular experience in the Federal jurisdiction includes general protections claims, bargaining disputes, unfair dismissals, discrimination, breach of award and workplace agreement proceedings. Jim also regularly appears in contractual disputes and discrimination claims in the State jurisdictions. In his administrative law practice he appears and advises in judicial review proceedings in the State and Federal jurisdictions. Jim also appears in merits review proceedings in VCAT and the AAT. Prior to signing the Bar Roll Jim was the Associate to the Honourable Justice Marshall in the Federal Court of Australia and was a solicitor with Minter Ellison in Melbourne. Jim read with Rachel Doyle SC and Melinda Richards SC. He has a Master of Laws from Monash University.