Just months after the Property Law Act reforms took effect and with only months until the new AML/CTF obligations begin, this symposium brings together leading property law practitioners including barristers, arbitrators and tax experts to enable you to examine the latest legislative changes, key cases and enforcement trends. Gain practical strategies to manage exposure across property transactions, developments and disputes, from duty and GST issues to the use of digital assets, dealing with property law and valuation disputes. Plus, gain your practice management and professional skills specifically tailored to the property lawyer.

Presenters

Bronwyn Clarkson, Partner, Carter Newell Lawyers
Bronwyn Clarkson is a Partner at Carter Newell and leads the Commercial Property team. With over 30 years post-admission experience, Bronwyn acts for a wide variety of participants in the property and development industry, including both public sector and private sector clients. Bronwyn regularly advises clients on a range of property transactions, including property joint ventures, commercial and residential developments, commercial and rental leases and pastoral and crown leases, as well as town planning and environmental matters. Her experience also includes advising on all aspects of property sales, acquisitions, title schemes, easements and compulsory acquisitions/resumptions of land, including preparing associated documents such as option agreements, construction and civil works contracts, and preparing and reviewing high-value leases of commercial, retail, industrial and rural property.

Alistair Byrom, Senior Consulting Surveyor, Land Solution
Alistair commenced his tertiary education in surveying in 1985, culminating in obtaining a Graduate Diploma in Surveying. Alistair gained his Cadastral Endorsement from the Surveyors Board of Qld in 1991 and his Consulting Endorsement in 2007. During his time in the profession he has worked on numerous projects in SE Qld and Far North Qld where he work for few years in the late 90’s. Prior to joining Veris, Alistair was Managing Director of a well-respected Brisbane based firm Goodwin Midson. Which merged with other survey firms around the country to form Veris, in late 2016. Alistair was Qld Property manager until late 2023. Alistair’s affinity with land law, as it relates to surveying, has led him into forensic consulting. He has prepared numerous Expert Reports for the Supreme Court, Land Court and the Planning & Environment Court. The subject of these reports have been: Administrative boundaries, Boundary disputes, Building Heights, Constraint Mapping for highest & best use, Easement rights, responsibilities & restrictions, Flood levels, Land valuations, Mining tenure, Professional indemnity claims, Resumptions under the Acquisition of Land Act & Volume Calculations. During Alistair’s professional career he has volunteered his time to the profession and has played an active role on many advisory committees, been the local Chairman for SIBA and is currently national Deputy Chairman for the Geospatial Council of Australia. His contribution to industry has been recognised with him being awarded 2010 Qld Spatial Professional of the Year, 2015 SIBA Chair Award for Service to Industry and in 2016 being awarded a Fellow of SSSI.

Matthew Egerton-Vernon, Senior Manager. BDO
Matthew works as a manager in the Indirect Tax team at BDO in Brisbane. As part of his role, he provides a combination of both advisory and compliance services for clients in specialised areas of indirect taxes, including stamp duty, GST, payroll tax, land tax and fuel tax credits. Mathew has experience in advising on corporate restructures, stamping of business sales and unit/share acquisitions and preparing applications for exemptions to both the ATO and various State Revenue Offices. He also assists with providing tax due diligence services and preparing voluntary disclosures for clients in various industries.

Erika Williams FCIArb, Independent Arbitrator, Williams Arbitration
Erika Williams is a leading international arbitration practitioner with significant experience acting in some of Australia’s largest disputes resolved through arbitration. Erika is experienced in commercial, construction and investment arbitration and has acted in arbitrations under a variety of arbitral institutions. Erika sits as arbitrator and tribunal secretary and is on the arbitrator panels of leading arbitral institutions including the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration plus many more. Erika has been listed as a leading arbitration lawyer in Australia in Doyles Guide for the last three years and was recognised as the Arbitration Practitioner of the Year at the Australian ADR Awards 2021.

Dr. Adrian McCullagh, Principal, ODMOB Lawyers
Adrian has degrees in Computer Science and Law as well as a Ph.D. in IT Security. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Information Security Research Centre at the Queensland University of Technology. He has been practicing in IT law for more than 30 years being one of the pioneer IT lawyers within Australia. He is a member of the Queensland Law Society and a member of the American Bar Association and participate in the Information Security Forum. In 1999 he was the QUT Faculty of Information Technology Alumnus of the year. Even though in private practice he continues to undertake research matters with academics at the Griffith University and the University of Queensland and has published in a wide variety of academic journals in the USA, UK and Australia. He is a member of the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Committee for the Queensland Law Society. Adrian’s current research interests include Telecoms security, IT security, IT governance, cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and its uses in supply chain management, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and Identity Management. He is also investigating the impact of autonomous vehicles and machine learning and their policy considerations.

Robert Quirk, Barrister, Higgins Chambers
With over 25 years of experience across various legal domains, Robert Quirk has provided counsel to a diverse clientele, including major corporations, government departments, and local governments. His expertise spans contract, property, commercial, public/ administrative law, environmental law, and appellate work. Additionally, Robert has extensive knowledge in criminal and enforcement matters related to these areas. He is also a Defence Force reservist.

Jamie Kaden, Partner, BDO
Jamie is a Partner in BDO’s Indirect Tax team, based in Brisbane. He has over 25 years of experience, including senior roles with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), global accounting firms, and the corporate sector. This diverse background gives him a rare and balanced perspective on the tax system, having worked across policy, advisory and commercial environments. Legally qualified and deeply passionate about GST, Jamie is known for his meticulous approach and ability to translate complex technical matters into practical, commercially sound advice. He began his career with the ATO’s GST implementation team in the late 1990s, contributing to foundational tax technical decision-making. He is also one of the few GST professionals with direct experience in the predecessor Sales Tax regime, the legislative basis for today’s Luxury Car Tax and Wine Equalisation Tax. Jamie’s expertise extends to income tax and tax effect accounting, an especially valuable combination in navigating the ATO’s GST Analytical Tool (GAT), which requires reconciliation of audited financial results with GST outcomes. His clients value his clarity, thoroughness, and ability to solve complex tax problems with confidence and precision.

Warren Denny, Partner, Piper Alderman
Warren is the National Head of Real Estate at Piper Alderman. He has over 30 years’ experience acting for clients on a wide variety of real estate transactions and leads a large team of lawyers in the Brisbane office. Warren is a transaction lawyer highly skilled in the preparation and negotiation of all common real estate transactions, including leasing, acquisition and sales. Warren's capability extends to more complex transactions such as development and fund through agreements, put and call options, large commercial property transactions, strata title residential, commercial and mixed use developments, receiver and mortgagee sales, joint venture agreements, title structures, staged developments and real estate dispute resolution. Warren acts for clients across all sectors of real estate, including property development, real estate investment trusts, funds management, air and sea ports, large format retail centres, commercial office, business parks and community title. Warren also has experience in the sale and purchase of business assets subject to leases, predominately in the health industries such as medical and dental. Warren is a Queensland Law Society accredited specialist in Property Law and has been recognised by The Best Lawyers in Australia in the field of Real Property Law from 2015 to 2020.

Mark Steele KC, Northbank Chambers
Mark Steele has been in private practice at the Queensland Bar since 2005. He practises predominantly in commercial, building, succession and administrative law. Before coming to the Bar, Mark worked for two large national law firms, and before that he worked for the BSE Inquiry in the United Kingdom.

Peter Mills, Director, SmartAML