Biography:

Mark is located in Melbourne and is integrally involved in the provision of business advisory and tax solutions for his clients. Mark is recognised as a technically astute and perceptive practitioner, who is focused on delivering tailored and practical outcomes to his clients. He does this by working closely with them to quickly gain a thorough understanding of their complete tax position, and then provides solutions that are technically sound, practical, and commercial.

He is a regular expert commentator and presenter on tax issues, having contributed significant tax commentary through media and publications including Lateline Business, The Australian Financial Review, The Tax Institute Journal, and the Australian Tax Forum.

Mark’s business experience, including as Director for various local companies (including subsidiaries of foreign parents), as well being Managing Partner for his predecessor firm, gives him strong insights into both the strategic and operational issues facing his clients, and provides relevance to the business and technical tax advice he delivers.

Mark has completed his PhD in relation to the taxation of SMEs in Australia and is one of the few tax practitioners whose work has been cited in Australia’s Parliament.

Mark was formerly appointed by the Federal Government to Australia’s Board of Taxation (2015 - 2021), providing real time policy advice in relation to the SME sector to the Federal Treasurer. This involved attending monthly Board meetings, including with the Commissioner of Taxation. Several of Mark’s tax policy recommendations have been adopted by the Federal Government. Mark is also a former member of The Tax Institute’s Victorian Technical Committee and was previously the former Chair of The Tax Institute’s National SME Sub-Committee, as well as being a former Victorian State Councillor.

Modules:

• Dispute Resolution

Biography:

Izaac has almost 5 years of experience working in civil litigation. His primary practice is in the defence of tort claims for private insurers, including in the compulsory third-party, worker’s compensation, public liability, and professional disciplinary spaces. Izaac regularly appears as an advocate in the ACT Supreme Court, ACT Magistrates Court, and the ACT Civil & Administrative Tribunal. He has advised on a range of litigated matters in each of those jurisdictions, as well as the NSW Personal Injury Commission, the NSW District Court, and the NSW Court of Appeal.

Memberships

• Law Society of the ACT

Modules:

• Consumer

Biography:

Judith is an intellectual property and technology practitioner with more than 20 years experience providing broad-ranging intellectual property, IT and commercial advice including the management and commercialisation of intellectual property, drafting and negotiating general commercial agreements, PPS arrangements and marketing materials.

Judith's clients range from private sector enterprises, including those from the technology, media, manufacturing, agribusiness and franchising sectors, through to government-funded organisations such as Research & Development Centres (RDCs).

Modules:

• Governance

Biography:

Damian has a senior management background in corporate governance, enterprise risk management, corporate insurance and risk financing, legal compliance, infrastructure development, OHS and environmental management. He has recently worked as a work health and safety specialist contractor for Deloitte Risk Services.

Damian has worked for 12 years in the electricity industry in Queensland in risk management, compliance and legal risk and strategy roles. He has also worked in corporate governance and risk management roles in the public sector in Australia and was a non-executive director of North East Water, a state government water corporation in Australia, from 2008-11.

Damian is an accredited Lead Auditor of OHS Management Systems and has also completed the ICAM (Incident Cause Analysis Method) course on safety incident investigations. He has extensive experience on management systems development in the areas of risk and compliance, as well as OHS and environmental management. Damian has a Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Arts and Graduate Diploma of Environmental Science from Monash University.

Modules:

• Construction

Biography:

Charlie is Counsel in the Sydney office of White & Case and a member of the firm’s International Arbitration team. 

He advises and represents industry-leading, multinational companies, as well as States and State-owned entities, from a range of industries and business sectors, on complex, cross-border disputes (international arbitration and litigation). 

He has particular expertise in major infrastructure, energy and resources disputes and has appeared as counsel in international arbitrations (both commercial and investment treaty arbitrations) conducted under the rules of major arbitral institutions including the LCIA, the ICC, SIAC, HKIAC as well as ICSID and UNCITRAL. He has worked on disputes arising from projects across the globe from Africa, the Gulf States, the Middle East and Europe/UK to South-East and North Asia, Australia and the United States. 

Charles’ broad practice also includes acting on behalf of clients in complex, multijurisdictional, commercial litigation at both trial and appellate level, including arbitration-related litigation concerning challenges to awards or recognition and enforcement action.

Awards and Recognition
Recognised as ‘Rising Star’ in International Arbitration in Legal 500 UK (2024
Recognised as ‘Key Practitioner’ in International Arbitration in Legal 500 UK (2023)

Memberships
Member of LCIA YIAG, the ICC Young Arbitrator Forum, HK45, YSIAC, the Transnational Institute for Arbitration and ACICA 

Speaking Engagements
Presentation to the Law Association of Zambia on International Commercial Arbitration, Lusaka (April 2024)
Presentation to the Office of Attorney General of the Republic of Kenya on Investor-State dispute resolution, Nairobi (July 2024) 
Contributing author to International Arbitration in England: Perspectives in Times of Change (2022)
Contributing author of Zuckerman on Australia Civil Procedure (2018) 

Biography:

Brendan advises on IT transactions of all types and sizes, including large scale, complex outsourcing and integration projects, cloud-based offerings, data analytics and software licensing and development agreements. He also assists on IP protection and commercialisation, digital marketing and content, social media, sponsorships, privacy and cyber security.

Brendan has particular expertise providing strategic cyber and data resilience advice, and has current experience advising clients on their journey towards GDPR compliance.

Publications and Editorial Contacts

• LexisNexis - Practical Guidance Cybersecurity, Data Protection & Privacy (Australian chapters).
• Co-authored Australian Chapter of World Online Business Law.
• The Censorship of Misogynistic Rap Music—A Consideration of Gender-Based Harms and Free Speech, 26 VICT. U. WELLINGTON L. REV. 531 (1996).

Awards & Recognition

• Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2018, recommended for IT & Telecommunications.
• Victoria University of Wellington annual award for best legal writing.
• Selected from Australia & New Zealand to attend the "Building Global Lawyers" conference at IBM HQ in Armonk (New York State).
• Appointed global co-lead of an IBM initiative to improve customer experience.
• British Telecom Recognition Award for work on BT’s purchase of NSB Retail Systems plc’s UK operations and exclusive distribution agreement.
• British Telecom Recognition Award for work on BT Fusion (world’s first hybrid mobile and landline phone).

Speaking Engagements

• Engaged by Commvault to present at their “Connections Live” customer events in Sydney and Melbourne on cyber security and privacy developments (Australian mandatory date breach notification and the GDPR).
• Interviewed by Bloomberg BNA for ‘Companies to Face Mandatory Data Breach Notice Down Under’ article
• Interviewed by Sydney radio station regarding mandatory date breach notification.

Professional Organisations & Memberships

• Law Society of New South Wales

Professional Contact

T: +61 2 9291 6121

E: brendan.tomlinson@maddocks.com.au

Modules:

• Dispute Resolution

Biography:

Sophie spent three years while completing her law degree working as a legal assistant at a leading boutique disputes and commercial litigation law firm where she was exposed to an array of commercial disputes with a focus on professional indemnity.

Sophie served as Associate to the now retired Honourable Justice James Douglas of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2019 and the Honourable Justice Ann Lyons, Senior Judge Administrator of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2020. During this time Sophie gained experience in a broad variety of matters and developed an in-depth understanding of advocacy as well as practice and procedure in Queensland.

Modules:

• Criminal

Biography:

Admitted to practice in September 2004, Shaun was appointed a partner of the law firm Doogue O’Brien George in 2013 (one of Victoria’s largest criminal defence firms).  Shaun is a Law Institute Accredited Criminal Law Specialist, an accreditation he has held continuously since 2012.  In July 2020, Shaun launched his own firm, Pascoe Criminal Law, a boutique criminal defence law firm based in Melbourne.

Professional Organisations & Memberships

• Pascoe Criminal Law
• https://www.pascoecriminallaw.com.au
• Law Institute of Victoria

Awards & Recognition

• Accredited Criminal Law Specialist (2012)

Professional Contact

Email: shaun@pascoecriminallaw.com.au

Phone: 03 9668 7600

Modules:

• Succession

Biography:

Angela Cornford-Scott is the director of Cornford-Scott Lawyers Pty Ltd and an accredited specialist in succession law.

She has worked in the area of succession law for over 20 years and has a particular interest in estate planning, trust matters and estate administration issues.

Angela is the current Chair of the QLS Succession Law Specialist Accreditation Committee. Angela is a member of STEP and a previous Chair of the Queensland Branch. She is has lectured for QUT, the College of Law and is a regular presenter of seminars.

Angela also co-authors the LexisNexis Practical Guidance Succession module for Queensland.

Modules:

• Property

Biography:

Ilija was involved in general legal practice for approximately 20 years. He then ventured into legal publishing and writing, as well as part-time lecturing in Law units at business schools run by Curtin University of Technology, La Trobe University and Central Queensland University before joining Macquarie Law School.

Ilija is currently the unit convenor and lecturer in contracts and evidence at Macquarie Law School. He also tutors in property law. His research interests include the law and society, the law of church and state, contract law and theory, the law of work, dispute resolution and legal history.

Biography:

Guy has an extensive background in workplace law, general insurance and civil litigation.Guy has more than 20 years experience in South Australia and Queensland as a litigator working with insurers,claims managers,brokers and businesses providing advice on occupational health and safety, workers compensation, industrial relations, insurance and liability claims.

Biography:

Naomi is a market-leading, strategic, commercially astute, patent lawyer, patent attorney and trademark attorney, with over 25 years’ experience, and a background in molecular biology/biochemistry. Naomi is the founder of Pearce IP, which commenced in 2017 and won “IP Team of the Year” four years later at the 2021 Australian Law Awards and continues winning awards to this day.

Underpinning Naomi’s legal work is a deep understanding of life sciences industries, resulting from first-hand experience and knowledge as VP of IP in-house at global pharma giants, and Partner of a top-tier international law firm. Naomi’s clients value her creative, pragmatic solutions to IP/legal “problems”, and she is recognised by the industry as a market leader in patent litigation, freedom to operate (FTO) clearances, and strategic advice.

Drawing from her considerable in-house IP leadership experience and her experience as a partner and leader at a top-tier law firm with a global presence, Naomi builds elegant market entry strategies which align with clients’ commercial objectives, and are anchored with legal and technical excellence. Naomi manages AU patent litigations in the Australian Courts and excels in multi-jurisdictional litigations. In addition to Australian patent office and federal court proceedings, Naomi has worked with agents overseas to build and manage US Hatch Waxman litigations, US BPCIA strategies and proceedings, CA PMNOC proceedings, patent litigations in AU, HK, UK, DE, NE, NZ, PO, IE (among other regions), and patent oppositions before EPO, AU and NZ. Naomi’s clients use her global litigation experience to assist them develop and manage global litigation strategies with many moving parts, and to coordinate global litigations.

Naomi’s industry focus is life sciences, with a particular focus on health, pharmaceuticals/ biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, animal and veterinary healthcare agricultural technology (ag-tech), food technology (food-tech, including precision fermentation), medical technology (med-tech), gene editing technologies (including CRISPR), gene therapy and cell therapy.

Naomi has a significant practice assisting pharma/biopharma companies to prepare for the launch of generic and biosimilar medicines in Australia and overseas. Naomi’s 13 years with global biosimilars responsibility at Pfizer (Hospira) and at executive level at Mylan put her ahead of the curve on issues relating to the global development and launch of generics and biosimilars.

Modules:

• Construction

Biography:

Christopher is a Partner of HFW Australia. He is a leading Queensland construction litigation lawyer (Doyles Guide, 2025-2018).

Christopher’s national practice encompasses back-end, project delivery and front-end on major projects throughout Australia.

Christopher's recent experience includes acting for a major Japanese contractor in an AU$1.2B international arbitration arising from the AU$50B Ichthys LNG project in Darwin, an AU$500M infrastructure dispute in the Supreme Court of Queensland, a commercial arbitration for a publicly listed mining company, several disputes arising from the AU$21B Sydney Metro project and advising on the world-first Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Project spanning Victoria to Kobe, Japan.

Christopher is the Queensland editor of the Building and Construction Law Journal.

Awards
Leading Queensland construction litigation lawyer (Doyles Guide, 2024-2018)

Biography:

Lisa was a Legal Writer for the Australian Practice of Fragomen with several years of experience within the immigration industry. Prior to focusing on legal writing within the immigration space, Lisa practised as an Immigration Lawyer at Fragomen. She advised and assisted local and global companies in various industries on their immigration matters.

Lisa was also part of Fragomen’s Government Relations and Knowledge practices that focus on advocating for key changes within immigration policy.

Lisa continues to hold a practising certificate as a Solicitor with the Supreme Court of NSW.

Biography:

Tom Pils specialises in drone law and the regulations surrounding this growing area of aviation.

He has a deep commitment to educating the public and the drone industry on the changing regulatory landscape. Tom has presented on drone regulation on numerous occasions across various platforms, including conferences, podcasts, and at seminars for Continuing Professional Development credits for law, and other disciplines. Tom has written in excess of 55 drone law specific articles.

Tom has been invited to take part in various Government drone related working groups including the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Strategic Regulatory Roadmap Working Group, including leading one of its sub-working groups; the CASA Part 101 Post-Implementation Review Technical Working Group; as well as the The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, Unmanned Traffic Management Working Group.

When actually working, Tom advises drone pilots, operators, hardware manufacturers, software providers and just about every other party relevant to drone operations. The advice has ranged from advising on complex drone operations, and liability issues, through to representing operators in CASA investigations.

Membership

• Former President of Australian Certified UAV Operators Association
• Member of Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems

Speaking Engagements

• University of New England (UNE) guest lecturer, ‘Technology and the Law’ – drone law lecture.
• Speaker at Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems annual RPAS in Australian Skies conference.

Modules:

• Construction

Biography:

Edwina is a senior associate in the White & Case Project Development and Finance practice based in Melbourne. 

Edwina advises clients on the development, construction and maintenance of major infrastructure and energy projects in Australia, with a particular focus on public-private partnerships and other privately financed arrangements. 

Memberships
Law institute of Victoria 

Biography:

Mark has been involved with criminal law since 1996. His career began as a general police officer for the Queensland Police Service before spending the remaining 8 years as a Detective. During this time, he completed his law degree and spent a further 2 years as a prosecutor. After becoming admitted as a solicitor in 2008, he completed the Bar Practice Course. He was quickly employed as a Solicitor for Potts Lawyers and progressed to become a partner and later a Director in 2014.

Mark’s background stems from his extensive experience in a variety of major criminal areas, such as summary matters, sexual offences, internet/computer offences, fraud, major drug offences, assault, murder, money laundering, ASIC, Commonwealth offences and commissions of inquiries.

Mark has completed specialist courses in criminal summary matters, Anti-Money Laundering/ Risk Compliance and appears regularly in all areas of Queensland, Crime Commission hearings, Royal Commissions and is admitted to the High Court of Australia.

Memberships

• QLS – Qld Law Society
• ACAMS – Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists
• ALPMA – Australasian Legal Practice Management Association

Modules:

• Commercial

Biography:

Prior to opening the doors to The JRT Partnership, Geoff Rees was a director of a well respected Melbourne law firm for 30 years. In recent times Geoff has been the key commercial advisor on various important transactions in the higher education and medical institute sectors. He also advises many listed and privately owned midsized corporations. Geoff's hands-on work in various sectors in which he has experience have led to a number of senior appointments. He was Chairman of the company that formed and then listed Melbourne IT Limited. In the course of that process he dealt with the Auditor General, many public compliance issues, the media, the NTEU and the Minister for Education. He was also Deputy Chairman of Melbourne University Private when it successfully obtained reaccreditation as an Australian University.