Presenters

Marianne Barker, Barrister, Owen Dixon Chambers West
Marianne has had extensive experience in all areas of intellectual property, trade practices, general commercial law and sports law. Her practice has encompassed appeals, trials and various types of interlocutory applications for orders including injunctions, civil search and seizure orders and contempt orders. Her clients in the trade marks area have included various owners of famous trade marks. She has also acted in copyright and design matters. Marianne has also acted in mechanical and pharmaceutical patent matters. She has also acted in allied areas such as breach of trade secrets, Crown use of IP, the IP aspects of tax appeals (R & D) and in the trade practices area she has acted in various consumer law and price fixing matters. Her sports law practice grew out of her pro-bono work for Olympic athletes and she was, for several years, the President of the Taekowondo Appeals Tribunal and was awarded the Denis Callinan prize in 2019 which recognises members of the Australian New Zealand Sports Law Association (ANZSLA) who render commendable community service in the field of sports law.) Marianne has acted in non-selection cases for athletes and coaches as well as in matters concerning member protection and more recently in safeguarding matters brought against coaches. Finally, she also practises as a Mediator. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and has had various board positions on not-for-profit boards.

Jacquie Seemann, Partner, Thomson Geer
Jacquie is a partner in the Employment and Safety team at Thomson Geer Lawyers who has practised employment, discrimination law, and education law and sport law since 1990. She works in both the public and private sectors, and her expertise spans a wide range of industries including sport, education, health and aged care, financial services, IT, retail and transport. Her sports law clients include sports clubs and their owners, representative sports associations, employer associations, and community and disability services organisations. Her sports law experience includes assisting a national sports organisation (covering 18 sports): drafting integrity policies including membership applications, Code of Conduct, training materials, management guides and tribunal rules; advising sporting organisations about constitutional reform, and drafting new constitutions; drafting coach and player contracts; advising about player, parental and coach misconduct, and commissioning external investigations; assisting a disability services organisation in relation to safety and liability issues arising from its participants playing sport; and, representing an employer association in the Fair Work Commission in the modern award review process – resulting in the inclusion of a new classification in the award for elite sports people undertaking part-time apprenticeships. Jacquie is recognised for her expertise in sports law by Best Lawyers in Australia, and she is a member of the General Purposes Tribunal of Football NSW.