Presenters

Angela Pearsall, Partner, Ashurst Australia
Angela specialises in large-scale commercial litigation and class actions, as well as contentious regulatory litigation and investigations. Angela regularly handles complex financial reporting litigation, having acted for global accounting and auditing firms for more than a decade. She has led litigation including class actions arising out of major corporate collapses, IPOs, capital raisings, complex financial instruments and regulatory obligations. She regularly represents banks, large corporates, preeminent global accounting and auditing firms and directors.


Nathan Rapoport, Practice Group Leader, Class Actions, Slater + Gordon Lawyers
Having worked in the Class Actions team at Slater and Gordon in both the Sydney and Melbourne offices, Nathan’s practice focuses predominantly on securities class actions. Nathan has a keen interest in delivering justice for his clients and enjoys the challenge of finding solutions to difficult problems that often arise during complex litigation. Since he began his career in 2012, Nathan has had the opportunity to work on a wide range of cases on behalf of individuals, and small and medium enterprises. Notable class actions Nathan has been involved with during his time at Slater and Gordon include cases against Spotless Group, Vocation and Billabong as well as proceedings against former directors of Trio Capital Limited and proceedings against a collapsed financial planning business and its insurer on behalf of 60 individuals who suffered loss from poor financial advice.


Kione Johnson, Practice Leader, Class Actions, Shine Lawyers
Kione Johnson is a Practice Leader in Shine Lawyers’ Class Actions team. Kione has a passion for justice and an unwavering commitment to advocating for the rights of individuals and groups affected by corporate wrongdoing.  Prior to joining Shine Lawyers, Kione spent 13 years at a top tier international law firm. Most recently, Kione was a Special Counsel leading a Dispute Resolution team and major, complex disputes focusing on multi-million dollar class actions. Notably, Kione successfully defended the Queensland Government dam authority Seqwater in $1 billion class action proceedings arising from the 2011 Brisbane floods. This included a lengthy trial that spanned more than 130 hearing days, an appeal to the NSW Court of Appeal and a High Court special leave application – one of Australia's largest ever class actions.  Kione was recognised as one of Lawyerly’s Litigation Rising Stars in 2021, and in Doyle’s Guide Rising Stars for Litigation and Dispute Resolution in 2015, 2016 and 2020.  In addition, Kione has been a Graduate Development Coach since 2015, and has excelled in legal project management, rolling out many projects to streamline the way her teams have provided legal advice.


Jeremy Zimet, Principal Lawyer, Phi Finney McDonald
Jeremy is a highly experienced litigator, with a significant track record in commercial litigation and class actions. Jeremy specialises in shareholder and consumer law class actions and has had care and conduct of more than a dozen class actions across the Federal Court and Supreme Court jurisdictions, acting for thousands of claimants in complex, multi-party disputes. Jeremy is also a media and communications law expert, who has advised and acted for high profile individuals, government ministers, directors and companies throughout Australia, on matters relating to defamation/libel, reputational risk management, pre-publication advice and privacy law.

Presenters

Angela Pearsall, Partner, Ashurst Australia
Angela specialises in large-scale commercial litigation and class actions, as well as contentious regulatory litigation and investigations. Angela regularly handles complex financial reporting litigation, having acted for global accounting and auditing firms for more than a decade. She has led litigation including class actions arising out of major corporate collapses, IPOs, capital raisings, complex financial instruments and regulatory obligations. She regularly represents banks, large corporates, preeminent global accounting and auditing firms and directors.


Nathan Rapoport, Practice Group Leader, Class Actions, Slater + Gordon Lawyers
Having worked in the Class Actions team at Slater and Gordon in both the Sydney and Melbourne offices, Nathan’s practice focuses predominantly on securities class actions. Nathan has a keen interest in delivering justice for his clients and enjoys the challenge of finding solutions to difficult problems that often arise during complex litigation. Since he began his career in 2012, Nathan has had the opportunity to work on a wide range of cases on behalf of individuals, and small and medium enterprises. Notable class actions Nathan has been involved with during his time at Slater and Gordon include cases against Spotless Group, Vocation and Billabong as well as proceedings against former directors of Trio Capital Limited and proceedings against a collapsed financial planning business and its insurer on behalf of 60 individuals who suffered loss from poor financial advice.


Kione Johnson, Practice Leader, Class Actions, Shine Lawyers
Kione Johnson is a Practice Leader in Shine Lawyers’ Class Actions team. Kione has a passion for justice and an unwavering commitment to advocating for the rights of individuals and groups affected by corporate wrongdoing.  Prior to joining Shine Lawyers, Kione spent 13 years at a top tier international law firm. Most recently, Kione was a Special Counsel leading a Dispute Resolution team and major, complex disputes focusing on multi-million dollar class actions. Notably, Kione successfully defended the Queensland Government dam authority Seqwater in $1 billion class action proceedings arising from the 2011 Brisbane floods. This included a lengthy trial that spanned more than 130 hearing days, an appeal to the NSW Court of Appeal and a High Court special leave application – one of Australia's largest ever class actions.  Kione was recognised as one of Lawyerly’s Litigation Rising Stars in 2021, and in Doyle’s Guide Rising Stars for Litigation and Dispute Resolution in 2015, 2016 and 2020.  In addition, Kione has been a Graduate Development Coach since 2015, and has excelled in legal project management, rolling out many projects to streamline the way her teams have provided legal advice.


Jeremy Zimet, Principal Lawyer, Phi Finney McDonald
Jeremy is a highly experienced litigator, with a significant track record in commercial litigation and class actions. Jeremy specialises in shareholder and consumer law class actions and has had care and conduct of more than a dozen class actions across the Federal Court and Supreme Court jurisdictions, acting for thousands of claimants in complex, multi-party disputes. Jeremy is also a media and communications law expert, who has advised and acted for high profile individuals, government ministers, directors and companies throughout Australia, on matters relating to defamation/libel, reputational risk management, pre-publication advice and privacy law.