As regulatory, environmental, and commercial pressures reshape the agribusiness sector, practitioners must navigate increasingly complex compliance, governance, and operational risks. This half-day program provides essential legal and strategic updates across employment law, environmental compliance, and commercial contracting within agribusiness. Gain practical insights into emerging employment and WHS risks, including wage compliance obligations following recent Fair Work decisions. Explore key legal and taxation considerations in structuring and transferring family farms, and understand the growing exposure around greenwashing and misleading environmental claims. The program concludes with guidance on managing contractual risks across rural supply chains and an interactive discussion on influencing regulatory approaches to agriculture.

Presenters

Stefan Manche, Director and Principal, Coulter Legal
Stefan is a Principal Lawyer and Head of the Wills, Estates and Succession Planning team at Coulter Legal. He joined the team in May 2020, bringing with him significant expertise in wills, succession planning and estate disputes from eleven years of practice within legal and multidisciplinary teams in Geelong and Melbourne. His experience also spans powers of attorney, guardianship and administration applications, superannuation planning and disputes, family trust succession and advice and estate administration. Stefan is a trusted advisor, and quickly gets to know his client’s personal, family and business circumstances to provide tailored advice and well-considered solutions to meet the needs and wishes of families today and into the future. Working across both estate planning and estate disputes, Stefan understands what is required to ensure the smooth transition of wealth to the next generation, whilst avoiding unnecessary estate disputes.

Timothy Zahara, Partner, Hamilton Locke
Timothy is a specialist workplace lawyer and has worked for clients across a wide range of industries, ranging from ASX 100 companies to family businesses. He has extensive experience advising clients in relation to various workplace and employment matters, including employment and post-employment obligations, executive employment arrangements and remuneration, workplace investigations, termination and redundancy implementation, and transfer of employment in the context of corporate transaction. Timothy also has considerable experience advising clients in respect of discrimination, general protection, bullying and unfair dismissal claims, work health and safety obligations, and strategic industrial advice. Prior to joining Hamilton Locke, Timothy was a member of the workplace law team at KMPG Law and also previously worked for Arnold Bloch Leibler and Clayton Utz. Timothy also worked for Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal, the Fair Work Commission and Australia’s national workplace regulator, the Fair Work Ombudsman.


Vanessa Gibson, Managing Partner, Gordon Garling Moffitt
Vanessa has been a Solicitor at Gordon Garling Moffitt for 20 years, becoming the Managing Partner in 2020. Whilst Vanessa lives on a farm west of Grenfell, she works with clients across NSW. Vanessa practises in most areas of the law however her passion and specialty is in the area of rural succession planning. In particular she has skills in navigating the complexities of applications to Revenue NSW for stamp duty relief on the basis of intergenerational transfers. Vanessa has identified the increasing value of agricultural land is making it incredibly challenging to address the issue of fair is not necessarily equal and vice versa, when it comes to addressing the intergenerational shift of assets. Balancing the needs of all members of the family is a challenge facing many rural clients and therefore most rural practitioners. Vanessa has lived experience in the area of succession planning having navigated it herself as the “off farm sibling” in a family of four children. Vanessa has vast experience in commercial and property law.

Kenneth Stanton, Principal, Stanton & Stanton
Kenneth Stanton is a principal at Barraket Stanton Lawyers. Previously he was with Herbert Smith Freehills and has also worked in Investment Banking at JP Morgan and Deutsch Bank. Kenneth has practiced in the area of wine law for the past 10 years. He acts for a number of large scale Australian, New Zealand and US wineries both domestically and internationally. He also acts for a number of publicly listed agribusiness funds which have investments in vineyards and water both in Australia, New Zealand and the United Stated. Kenneth sits on a number of government and international government advisory bodies including the Australian Legislative Advisory Committee, FIVS and AIDV. An avid collector of wine, Kenneth, his wife and son regularly holiday in wine regions seeking new additions to their collection.

Georgiena Ryan, Principal Lawyer, Regional Business Lawyers
Principal Georgiena Ryan has experience acting as solicitor to family and farming businesses, initially in her home state of Queensland where she grew up and later in the New South Wales Riverina and Central West NSW. Georgiena has unique commercial and corporate experience having held in-house legal roles with a specialist international rural and agribusiness bank, and with a leading global agricultural asset manager, responsible for a significant irrigation and dryland farming portfolio across Australia. Georgiena is the only female Accredited Specialist in Business Law located in rural NSW and has a Masters in Commercial Law from the University of Melbourne. Georgiena has special expertise in water law and irrigation and has been involved in some of the largest agribusiness transactions in Australia. Georgiena lives in the south west slopes of NSW on her husband’s family farm. She is supported by the following team members who all live regionally in NSW.