The Canberra Legal 10 Unit Symposium is here! Created exactly the way you asked for it, this dynamic program brings you all the legislative updates, landmark decisions, compliance insights and essential skills you need for the year ahead, all in one day. You will hear from the best of the best, leading barristers, top partners and recognised experts delivering the updates, risks and strategies that matter most right now. Everything from property and business law to AI, family law, succession, employment, privacy, and litigation skills essentials. Designed to deliver essential updates and help you secure all your mandatory CPD including ethics, professional skills and practice management units in just one day, this is your all-in-one solution to wrap up the CPD year with confidence.

Presenters

Richard McGilvray, Partner, McGilvray
Richard is a Partner of McGilvray. Richard's one goal is to meet his clients' legal and commercial needs. He invests time listening to his clients’ needs to build long term relationships and help with all matters of business. His expertise is in commercial disputes and litigation, property law, commercial law as well as building and construction law. Richard regularly appears in the Magistrates Court, the Supreme Court and the Federal Court. He also has experience at appellate level. Richard has a Masters of Commercial Law from the University of Melbourne, where he achieved the second highest grade point average possible.

Gabrielle Sullivan, Principal, Sullivans Legal Co
Gabrielle Sullivan is the Director of the Employment Law & Investigations Group at Bradley Allen Love Lawyers, admitted to the NSW legal practice in 1997. In 2007 Gabrielle joined Williams Love & Nicol in Canberra, working for five years in her specialist field before becoming Principal Solicitor in the Employment Group at the ACT Government Solicitor Office. Within the Public sector she focused on Workplace misconduct and investigations, Discrimination, bullying, harassment, Labour hire and recruitment arrangements. In April of 2013 Gabrielle joined Bradley Allen Love Lawyers becoming a Director in 2016. Gabrielle gained her Employment and Industrial Law Specialist Accreditation from the NSW Law Society in November 2016. In 2019 she was appointed as a member of the ACT Law Society’s Industrial Relations Committee. For more details please contact www.ballaywers.com.au

Damien Brazel, Partner, Griffin Legal
Damien is a Partner at Griffin Legal, and his main areas of practice are administrative law, litigation, procurement and information law. Damien has advised on a numerous Australian Government policies and programs, and the legislative frameworks that underpins them. Damien delivers solution-orientated legal advice based on over 15 years’ experience advising many different agencies, including several senior in-house roles and as an external adviser. Damien’s calm demeanour allows him to expertly navigate and guide clients through complex changes to the administrative law landscape, focusing on finding solutions which can be implemented and meet the needs of the client.

Vanessa Flowers, Principal, McInnes Wilson Lawyers
Vanessa Flowers is experienced in providing advice and guidance on probity and procurement matters, governance matters, corporate and commercial law and public law in the freedom of information and privacy space. She has acted for the Commonwealth and private clients for over 15 years and provides commercial and probity advice on high-value and sensitive procurement processes for various Commonwealth agencies and departments as well as Directorates of the Australian Capital Territory. Vanessa has also undertaken secondments in various departments and agencies.

Kasey Fox, Partner, Farrar Gesini Dunn
Kasey Fox has worked exclusively in Family Law and has been with specialist Family Law Firm Farrar Gesini Dunn for the past 20 years. With expertise in both litigation and out of court solutions,, Kasey works hard to achieve the best outcomes for her clients. As well as representing clients who have separated, Kasey provides advice to clients regarding asset protection, including drafting Binding Financial Agreements.

Sebastian Marquez, Senior Associate, McInnes Wilson Lawyers
Sebastian Marquez was admitted in 2016. He has worked across a range of insurance, insolvency, and construction litigation practices. He has also worked in the Commonwealth procurement and whistleblower space and has developed familiarity with Commonwealth practices. Sebastian is currently a Senior Associate at McInnes Wilson Lawyers working with the ACT insurance team.

Andrew Freer, Principal, KJB Law
Andrew Freer graduated from ANU with a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws. After joining KJB Law in 1995, Andrew became a partner in 2000. Andrew has an extensive practice in Estate Planning, Estate Administration and Estate Litigation. Andrew has presented Professional Development Seminars for the ACT Law Society and Legalwise Seminars. Andrew grew up at Ungarie, in Central NSW. Andrew is a keen cyclist and has three children which explains his grey hair.

Rhys Mitchell, Director, Terracon Legal
Rhys has experience working on a broad range of commercial and property matters, including commercial sales and acquisitions, financing and commercial leasing in ACT and NSW. Rhys employs a commercial approach to assist clients to progress transactions as efficiently and effectively as possible. Rhys commenced his legal career at Trinity Law in Canberra working in the commercial team for a range of private and developer clients. Throughout his career, Rhys has worked on matters for multi-national, international and government clients. In August 2020, Rhys joined the Terracon Legal team and joined the partnership in January 2022.

William Ward, Partner, Griffin Legal
Will Ward is accredited by the NSW Law Society as a specialist in employment and industrial relations law and is a Special Counsel in our employment, workplace relations and safety team. With over 17 years of experience in employment and workplace relations Will has advised clients in almost all industries as well as the public sector. Will's knowledge and expertise in the area is further bolstered by the fact that he was a university lecturer in employment, human resource management and industrial relations for 5 years prior to practicing as a lawyer for the last 12 years. As a result, Will has a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw upon in advising and achieving results for clients in all aspects of employment and workplace relations law.

John Larkings, Barrister, Blackburn Chambers
John Larkings was admitted in 2003 and recently joined the ACT Bar having been a solicitor in a prominent legal firm in Canberra for over 11 years. As a solicitor, he was a NSW Law Society Accredited Specialist in Commercial Litigation Law, and was listed in Doyle's Guide as a recommended Canberra Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution Lawyer in 2016 and 2017. His background is predominantly in the conduct of commercial litigation, including contract disputes, Corporations Act matters, and equity. His practice in property-related litigation has included matters involving title disputes, enforcement of securities and judgments against real property, the removal of caveats, lessee make-good obligations (including environmental issues), and the duties of mortgagees in effecting seizure and sale orders.

Katie Innes, Legal Director, BAL Lawyers
Katie Innes is an experienced corporate lawyer who regularly advises a range of private companies and individuals, insolvency practitioners, industry peak bodies, co-operatives, associations and local governments on a broad range of commercial issues. Katie is a New South Wales Law Society Accredited Specialist in Business Law. Katie works closely with clients on the establishment and commercialisations of business ventures including the associated corporate governance, business structuring and ownership, succession planning, intellectual property considerations and capital raising. Katie's recent focus has been: assisting clients to find the most suitable business structure for their new and existing businesses to increase tax effectiveness and to create a workable succession plan; assisting clients with capital raising to fund business ventures including the offer of shares, debentures, units and convertible notes; and assisting private companies with major business acquisitions and disposals including the structuring, documentation and completion of those transactions. Katie's analytical and problem solving skills enable her to provide practical advice to her clients to achieve commercial resolutions in the best interests of her clients.

David Toole, Special Counsel, Lexmerca
David Toole is a highly regarded and experienced Canberra lawyer having been in practice in the ACT for over 20 years after practising in New South Wales for 6 years. In 2016 David completed a Masters in Wills and Estates with the College of Law (NSW). In addition to having extensive knowledge in the field of Estate Planning, David has a passion for assisting clients to put in place an effective estate plan. David has a good working relationship with a number of local accountant and financial planners. He utilises those connections to bring comprehensive and tax effective solutions for our estate planning clients. Building on his Property Law expertise, David is able to work closely with clients that are transitioning to retirement or aged care accommodation. David was the Deputy Chair and a Board Member of DUO Services Australia Limited before its recent merger. He is also an Associate Member Taxation Institute of Australia.

Amy Sydney, Special Counsel, MV Law
Amy advises employees from all industries as well as businesses of all sizes on a wide range of workplace matters. She regularly works with employees, independent contractors, business owners, general managers, human resources managers and directors to navigate workplace issues from commencement of employment right through to termination. This includes drafting contracts of employment, advising on compliance with the National Employment Standards, awards and enterprise agreements, assisting with and conducting workplace investigations and representing clients in Fair Work Commission and Court proceedings. Amy has a unique understanding of commercial business operations as well as government, due to her varied career spanning from commercial lawyer to in-house counsel and company secretary for a family-operated hospitality group to policy and legal practice for the ACT Government. This experience together with a passion for people – which was instilled in her early career working in services roles – is what sets Amy apart.

Liam Casey, Senior Practice Leader – Medical Law, Slater Gordon
As a Senior Practice Leader in the Medical Law team at Slater and Gordon, Liam is proud to help those who have been injured as a result of medical negligence achieve the compensation, justice and support they deserve. He truly understands the complex challenges one can face after being injured, and he is passionate about helping you feel supported and understood through the compensation process. Liam is based in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), however he runs a complex medical negligence claims in multiple jurisdictions, including New South Wales (NSW), Queensland, South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA). Prior to joining Slater and Gordon, he worked in insurance litigation, acting on behalf of the major insurers in professional indemnity, public liability, workers compensation and motor vehicle accident claims. His experience in both sides of compensation law means he has a unique insight into how insurers work. After joining Slater and Gordon in February 2013 as an Associate, he took over the ACT Medical Law practice in July 2013 and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2015 and Principal Lawyer in early 2017. He supervised the Queensland Medical Law practice from 2017 until mid-2019, before being promoted to Practice Leader Medical Law NSW and ACT in 2022. In 2024, he was promoted to Senior Practice Leader.