Presenters

Sarida McLeod, Barrister, 35 West Chambers
Called to the Bar in 2021, Sarida has a broad regulatory and commercial practice, with particular expertise in matters involving competition and consumer law, the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), business and directorship disputes, financial services, and complex or novel questions of statutory interpretation and expert evidence. She was listed as a Leading Queensland Junior Counsel in the area of Administrative & Public Law in Doyles’ Guide 2025. In the regulatory space, Sarida is regularly briefed (led and unled) by government entities such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the Australian Energy Regulator in relation to investigations, litigation, and advice. She was one of junior counsel assisting the ACCC in its 2024-2025 Supermarkets Inquiry; acted (led) for senior members of the Forensic and Scientific Services’ DNA testing laboratory in the 2022 Commission of Inquiry into Forensic DNA Testing in Queensland; and has acted (both led and unled) for ASIC in number of urgent ex parte applications for asset preservation and travel restraint orders. Sarida also frequently acts for private parties responding to government action (including in relation to disqualification and banning orders and compulsory examinations). In the commercial space, Sarida has acted (led and unled) for both small and large companies and private individuals in a range of civil matters in the Supreme and District Courts of Queensland ¾ from director disputes about the control of a company to long-running contract and negligence claims involving multiple parties. Before being called to the Bar, Sarida was a solicitor in the Civil Regulation team of the Australian Government Solicitor; a senior associate in the competition law team of an international law firm; and a civil law adviser in the ministerial office of the Commonwealth Attorney-General. She completed her masters thesis on the economics of human gene patents at the University of Cambridge.


Julia O'Connor, Barrister, 35 West Chambers
Prior to being called to the bar in 2015, Julia spent 8 years as a solicitor practising almost exclusively in complex commercial litigation. Upon commencing at the bar, Julia continued to practise in commercial litigation and has appeared in disputes in competition and consumer law, commercial property, insolvency, corporations law and contract. Her experience has included appearances in courts and tribunals in both state and federal jurisdictions, as well as appearances in commissions of inquiry such as the Grantham Floods Commission of Inquiry and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Julia has also developed a significant practice in mining, energy and resources, and environmental law. She regularly appears in cases before the Land Court of Queensland and the Land Appeal Court for mining proponents, statutory parties, and objectors. Julia has acted in environmental appeals, mining compensation disputes, land access disputes and mining objections proceedings. Her experience includes appearances in two of the largest and most complex objections proceedings before the Land Court – the New Acland and Waratah Coal objection proceedings. Currently, Julia is a member of Queensland Environmental Law Association and sits on the Bar Association of Queensland’s Environmental, Planning and Property Law Committee.