Strengthen your professional skills, ethical decision-making and client management capabilities with this practical CPD session tailored to personal injury lawyers. Understand the limits and strengths of expert evidence, while gaining valuable insights into effectively briefing and working with forensic crash investigators, and staying ahead of emerging issues such as e-scooters, vehicle data and evolving liability risks. Learn best-practice approaches to supporting vulnerable clients through trauma-informed care while enhancing client communication and engagement. You will also explore common ethical challenges that arise throughout the life of a claim, with practical guidance on managing professional obligations, evidence, experts and settlements while reducing the risk of complaints and conduct issues. 

Presenters

Alexis Polidano, Acting Principal Lawyer, Knowmore Legal Service
Alexis Polidano is the Acting Principal Lawyer at Knowmore Legal Service and a passionate advocate for trauma-informed legal practice. Since joining Knowmore in 2017, she has worked extensively with people who have experienced trauma, leading legal teams and driving initiatives to improve client-centred service delivery, legal capability, and access to justice for survivors. Drawing on her experience at Legal Aid NSW and her background as a high-school teacher, Alexis combines practical legal expertise with a deep understanding of communication, learning, and the impacts of trauma. She is committed to helping legal professionals build the skills and confidence to deliver services that are legally effective, culturally safe, and grounded in compassion.

Seun Idowu, Partner, Hall & Wilcox
Seun works across the NSW and ACT jurisdictions and is a defendant insurance litigator with a speciality practice in health law, aged care and disability and sensitive issues including historical abuse. Seun provides her clients with proactive support on receipt of instructions including prompt investigation and early advice and recommendations designed to promote cost efficiency. Her rigorous approach to matters is tempered by her empathy. Her aim is to expeditiously resolve meritorious claims on best terms to the insurer and insured, and robustly defend unfounded and opportunistic claims. Prior to transitioning into private practice, Seun spent almost a decade working within the NSW public service including what was known as the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care. She provided legal and policy advice to Government and NGO stakeholders around issues concerning risk mitigation, ageing, disability, assault and trespass to vulnerable individuals, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and home care.

David Beck, Principal, Datum Road Safety
David Beck is a road safety expert witness and consultant with extensive expertise in automotive and road safety engineering. His work spans vehicle systems and performance, human tolerance and injury biomechanics and road design and the Safe System approach. His foundation in biomedical, mechanical, and traffic engineering—supported by postgraduate qualifications—allows him to take a multidisciplinary approach to crash causation and injury prevention. With over two decades of experience, David has contributed to a wide range of national research projects, crash test programs, and safety standards. His work includes examining the real-world performance of protective clothing and helmets, child restraint systems, e‑mobility devices and emerging autonomous and connected vehicle technologies. David is highly regarded for his expertise in forensic crash investigation and expert witness work, where he is recognised for clear, considered analysis and the ability to communicate complex technical findings with clarity and credibility. He regularly provides advice to legal practitioners, insurers, government agencies, and industry clients across a range of safety and liability matters. Beyond his technical work, David is an active committee member in the NSW Chapter of the Australasian College of Road Safety and a respected mentor within the road safety community, supporting the next generation of professionals committed to a Safe System.

Johann Tay, Founding Principal, TVL
Johann Tay is one of a small number of practitioners in Australia with authoritative, degree-qualified expertise across all three primary elements of the road transport system — the road infrastructure, the vehicle, and the driver — combined with the human factors knowledge and legal literacy to apply that expertise in court and policy settings. He founded Traffic Vehicles & Logistics Pty Ltd in 2013 on the premise that the road transport system is best understood as a whole, and that the most consequential insights come from examining how its elements interact — not from treating them in isolation. Over 25 years, he has worked across research, government, public policy, fleet operations, and consulting — building on an early career in technology that gives his engineering practice a depth of digital literacy uncommon in the road safety field. He has appeared as a court-appointed Expert Witness in criminal and civil proceedings, conducted road safety audits across Victoria and nationally, led technology and innovation programs for a major public transport operator, and presented research at the Australasian Road Safety Conference in consecutive years.

Valeria Capasso-Kruck, Acting Manager, Trauma Informed Practice, Knowmore Legal Services
Valeria Capasso-Kruck is the Acting Manager, Trauma Informed Practice at Knowmore Legal Service, where she has worked for the past six years. With extensive experience in trauma-informed practice, she provides leadership and guidance in supporting safe, person-centred approaches to service delivery. Valeria holds a Master of Counselling and has worked across addiction and trauma services before joining Knowmore. She is a PACFA Registered Clinical Counsellor and a Certified Clinical Supervisor. Throughout her career, she has been committed to supporting people affected by trauma and promoting trauma-informed practice across services and organisations.


Grace Collis, Senior Associate, Hall & Wilcox