Chair:Danny Clifford

Danny Clifford is a Director of Clifford Gouldson Lawyers - one of Toowoomba's leading business focussed law firms. Clifford Gouldson advises businesses on workplace, litigation, property & commercial, construction, intellectual property and tax, structures and planning. In recent years Danny has worked closely with leading private schools in the Toowoomba region to manage individual staff issues, develop enterprise agreements and ensure risk minimisation strategies are in place to help schools deal with employee issues both at school and involving external use of social media. With his team, Danny helps clients manage the challenges of large workforces, deal with unfair dismissal issues and maintain compliance with the complex Fair Work requirements. Many large employers come to Danny for both advice on strategic direction and day to day workplace challenges. Danny and his team provides solutions across the full spectrum of workplace issues including employee management, discrimination, health & safety, agreements & awards, policy implementation and training.

Peter Jolly

Peter Jolly is a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in Business Law (Qld) and a Partner in Thynne + Macartney's Business Advisory and Dispute Resolution Group. Peter partners with his clients to provide them with strategic and commercially astute advice to help his clients achieve their business goals. Peter represents a range of clients from public companies to small and medium businesses. Peter is experienced in all aspects of commercial and corporate law, and specialises in the sale and acquisition of companies and businesses. He also acts for a number of private schools and has provided advice to them on a range of issues for over twenty years. Peter holds both a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland and sits on the Queensland Law Society's Specialist Accreditation Board. Peter is also a Senior Counsellor with the Queensland Law Society. Peter has acted as a director and committee member of a number of not-for-profit sporting clubs and school associations. Peter is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and currently acts an independent director and Chairman of an unlisted public company. He was also named by Best Lawyers International for Commercial Law, Brisbane in 2014 and 2016.

Trenton Schreurs

Trenton Schreurs enjoys being at the forefront of emerging trends, and therefore excels in the space of electronic and insurance law. He has a keen interest in developing technology and its intersection with the law. Trenton has extensive experience in insurance litigation and dispute resolution from both the Insurer and Plaintiff perspectives. He also has a profound interest in emergent technology including intellectual property and copyright online, privacy, media law, defamation and regulation of the internet. Trenton is often called upon to provide advice on the implementation of 'best practice' privacy, copyright and intellectual property safeguards for both companies and individuals.

Alastair McDougall

Alastair McDougall was admitted in 1997 and practices primarily in criminal law. He has appeared in all criminal court jurisdictions while at the private bar. Alastair has appeared as defence counsel on many high profile matters including multiple prosecutions involving VLAD circumstances of aggravation, declared organisation, drug importation, drug trafficking, extortion, 'boiler room' frauds and money laundering prosecutions. Many of these have involved challenges to the admissibility of evidence in organised crime prosecutions. He recently appeared in the High Court of Australia on behalf of the Commissioner of the AFP (twice) in relation to constitutional challenges to the use of coercive powers pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth). In 2013 he successfully argued in the Court of Appeal acute issues pursuant to section 13A of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) which now appears to have led to the introduction of section 13B. In a previous life he was a Detective with the Queensland Police Service seconded to the National Crime Authority and ACC as a Senior Investigator for the majority of his 18 years of policing service. In this position he was involved in many high profile organised crime investigations both as an investigator and lawyer. He resigned holding the rank of Detective Senior Sergeant at State Crime Operations Command in 2004. For the ACC, Alastair acted as Counsel Assisting the Commission with examinations into the highest profile criminal syndicates in Australia. He has conducted over 1000 coercive examinations as Counsel Assisting the ACC, the National Crime Authority and the Queensland Crime Commission. These have included the Melbourne underworld killings and the 'Mokbel syndicate'. In 2009 he was awarded the Purana Task Force Medallion for services to Victoria Police. In 2007 he was awarded the Geoffrey Bowen Memorial Award, the highest individual award within the ACC, for "strategic approach to coercive powers", and is a recipient of the ACC Rod Amery Memorial Award.

Jessica Lipsett

Jessica Lipsett is an Associate with Corney & Lind Lawyers. Her core areas of practice include Schools & Education law, Not-for-Profit and Charity Law, and civil litigation, discrimination and employment law as they relate to schools and other not-for-profit organizations. Having worked across multiple roles in schools and not-for-profits, Jessica combines her practical experience and legal knowledge to assist clients in these sectors navigate their way through dispute-related matters. Her experience in litigious matters extends to representing clients in the Supreme Court of Queensland, Federal Court, Federal Circuit Court, Family Court of Australia, Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, Australian Human Rights Commission and Fair Work Commission.

Alistair Macpherson

Alistair Macpherson is a director with Corney & Lind Lawyers, where he focuses on legal issues affecting schools, non-profit entities and other corporate clients. In late 2014, he acted for a large religious denomination in proceedings over two weeks before the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, which included a case study involving historical sexual abuse by a teacher against multiple students. Prior to working in private practice, Alistair was employed as an in-house solicitor with a number of government organisations (including the Australian Federal Police), advising across the various areas of law relevant to government enterprise. He has also worked as a criminal prosecutor with the ACT DPP and the Queensland DPP. He has extensive experience in employment law, discrimination law, dispute resolution, litigation and criminal law. Alistair has personally appeared in numerous Tribunals and Courts as advocate for individuals, schools and other corporate clients. He has instructed Counsel in numerous trials and complex matters, including lengthy jury trials for serious criminal offences. Alistair is a Board Member of Queensland Baptists which, through its care arm, is responsible for over 800 staff delivering services through retirement villages, aged care, schools, hostels, and other charitable activities.

Annie Smeaton

With many years' experience as an advocate with a strong background in industrial and employment litigation, Annie provides her clients with strong representation and practical commercial advice. She has extensive experience dealing with employment, industrial and discrimination proceedings in the Federal Courts and State and Federal Commissions and Tribunals. Annie provides strategic commercial advice to employer clients in the transport and logistics, energy, education and training and health industries, including large institutional companies, government sectors and government owned corporations, as well as small and medium size enterprises. Annie has extensive experience undertaking complex workplace investigations concerning harassment, bullying and safety breaches. Annie acts for a variety of transport and logistic operators providing front and back end strategic employment and industrial relations advice. Annie also undertakes a wide range of legal work in the Education sector, including anti- discrimination, student and teacher disciplinary matters, general employment and industrial relations, student and teacher safety, enrolment matters and managing complaints.

Nikolina Palasrinne

Nikolina is a Senior Associate at Aitken Legal, a boutique employment law firm for employers. Aitken Legal provides advice and representation to employers in relation to the myriad of workplace laws and regulations covering employee entitlements, independent contracting arrangements, contracts and enterprise bargaining agreements, performance, misconduct and termination, restructure and redundancies, discrimination, workplace bullying and harassment, injury management and worker's compensation claims, workplace investigations, workplace health and safety and workplace training. Prior to this time, Nikolina was a Partner at Adams Wilson Lawyers where she headed up the Employment Law practice at the firm's Gold Coast office, advising both employees and employers on all workplace issues, including in the school context. She regularly represents clients in the Federal Court of Australia; Federal Circuit Court; Fair Work Commission; Fair Work Ombudsman; Human Rights Commission; Queensland Anti- Discrimination Commission; Queensland Industrial Relations Commission; Queensland and New South Wales State Courts; and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Some recent examples of Nikolina's work in the education law space include: drafting enrolment contracts; advising educators on performance management and termination procedures, representing teachers in disciplinary investigations, acting for and against parents on behalf of their children in respect to breach of contract and discrimination complaints. Having acted for clients on 'both sides of the fence,' Nikolina brings a wealth of experience to the employment and education law scene. Nikolina is separately involved in a not-for-profit organisation called "Destiny Rescue" which advocates for the end of human trafficking of children in Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. Having acted for clients on 'both sides of the fence,' Nikolina brings a wealth of experience to the employment and education law scene. Nikolina is separately involved in a not-for-profit organisation called "Destiny Rescue" which advocates for the end of human trafficking of children in Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.

Trent Forno

Trent Forno is the Brisbane Office Managing Partner and Deputy Line of Business Leader (Risk, Regulatory, Insurance and Controversy). He is passionate about working with clients to devise best-practice strategies for managing risk and resolving complex disputes. The majority of his experience is in employee relations and safety, where he has acted for both public and private sector clients. Trent has worked with insurers to manage workers' compensation, general liability and professional indemnity claims. Trent's roles as Managing Partner of MinterEllison's Brisbane office and deputy leader of the firm's Risk, Regulatory, Insurance and Controversy practice enables him to engage with both the business community and government. He is also heavily involved in pro bono and not-for-profit work through the firm's Community Investment Program.

Mercure Hotel Brisbane

Level 2, 85-87 North Quay
Brisbane 4003
QLD, AUS

Ph: 732372300

Directions:

The Mercure Hotel has a riverside location in the heart of the

CBD. For public transportation users, the Roma Street Train Station

and King George Square Bus Station are both located an easy 10 minute

walk away.

Secure Parking at Mercure Hotel offers a discounted daily rate from $36 by

validating tickets at Mercure Reception prior to departure. Alternatively,

you may book in advance via Secure-A-Spot website

to secure cheaper daily

rates as little as $19.00.

There are further public car parks located on either Tank or

Herschel Streets. Standard public rates apply.

Parking is not included in the registration fee and prices are subject to

change.