Presenters

Carmel Lee, Barrister, 6 St James Hall Chambers
Carmel Lee is a leading commercial and equity barrister based in Sydney specialising in wills and estates, general commercial matters, private international law (conflict of laws) and property law. Prior to being called to the bar in 2012, Carmel was a Deputy Registrar of the NSW Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeal and Tipstaff to a number of judges in the NSW Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, including the Hon M J Slattery in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Hons D L Davies, L McCallum and G J Bellew in the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Hon R D Giles in the Court of Appeal New South Wales. Previous to this she was a solicitor in private practice and worked at the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office. Carmel has lectured in Conflict of Laws, Advocacy, Strategic Litigation, Evidence Law and Legal Ethics at Sydney University, University of New South Wales, and University of Technology Sydney. Carmel was awarded the Lawyers Weekly “Barrister of the Year” award in the Women in Law Awards in 2022 and “Barrister of the Year” in the Australian Law Awards in 2023. She is a member of the NSW Bar Association Succession and Protective Law Committee and the NSW Bar Association Human Rights Committee.


Gerard Basha, Partner, Bartier Perry
Gerard’s distinguished career is built on a foundation of dual Bachelors in Economics and Law from Macquarie University, a Master of Laws, and a current thesis in Succession Law from Sydney University. He is an Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law, holding a Master of Applied Laws from the College of Law. His leadership is reflected as a Notary Public, Chair of the NSW Wills and Estates Law Accredited Specialists Practice Group, and a Registered Trust and Estate Practitioner with a STEP Advanced Certificate in Trust Disputes. Furthermore, he is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Notaries and completed the AICD Foundations of Directors Course. With over 38 years of experience, Gerard is a recognized leader in his field. His principal practice areas encompass wills, estate and business succession planning, capacity and mental health issues, powers of attorney, enduring guardian appointments, probate and estate administration, contested estate litigation, and equity and trusts. Gerard acts as an expert witness in Succession Law contested Court matters and also acts as a tutor and Court appointed administrator in contested Court matters as well as a Court appointed trustee for sale. He regularly presents and chairs seminars in succession law and trusts law. He has been a guest lecturer at the College of Law in the Master of Applied Law, Wills and Estate course. Since 2015, Doyle’s Guide has recognised Gerard as a leading wills, estates & succession planning lawyer and a leading wills & estates litigation lawyer.  Best Lawyers since 2025 have recognised Gerard in the area of trusts and estates. Gerard is undertaking, on a part-time basis, a PhD on the scope of inheritance law in modern Australia.