Please join us for 9 live webinars that will be facilitated by Russell Kennedy Principal Sarah Manly. Our CPD Series is aimed at government lawyers who are holders of Practising Certificates, and who need to obtain points in the compulsory CPD categories before 31st March 2022.
You will be able to earn up to nine CPD points in our series including Ethics, Professional Skills, Practice Management, Business Skills & Substantive Law.
With each webinar session, we are providing the opportunity to submit your questions, before the webinar and during the webinar in our Q&A format.
Please refer to each of the webinar sessions for information on submitting questions.
For more information, please contact our events team via email at events@rk.com.au.
Click on a week below to read more and register:
Session 1. Privacy Update – An overview of key developments over the past year and what to expect in 2022
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Our first session will be relevant to privacy officers, project managers and anyone else involved in designing or implementing projects that involve the collection, handling, use or disclosure of personal information.
This session will cover:
- Proposed changes under the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Online Privacy and Other Measures) Bill 2021, including:
- new privacy codes for social media and other online platforms; and
- increased penalties and enforcement measures.
- Discussion Paper released by the Attorney-General’s Department as part of its ongoing review into the Privacy Act, which proposes significant reforms based on overseas legislation such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- Outcome and recommendations from OVIC’s recent audit that assessed four Victorian public sector organisations’ adherence to Standard 2 of the Victorian Protective Data Security Standards. Standard 2 requires VPS organisations to identify and assess the security value of public sector information.
- Recent OAIC investigations including into 7-Eleven Stores and Clearview AI.
In this session, Russell Kennedy’s IP specialist,
Gina Tresidder, will provide a clear understanding of the direction Australian privacy laws are
taking and what changes clients need to consider to stay one step ahead.
Time: 10:30am - 11:30am AEDT
Date: Friday, 18 February 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in
Substantive Law
Presented by:
Gina Tresidder
Special Counsel, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Session 2. Practical preparation tips for mediation, and doing it well when you’re there
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Our second session will be relevant to in-house counsel and key instructors such as CEOs and department heads.
Referrals to mediation by Courts and Tribunals are at an historic high. It has never been more relevant to learn and understand how to maximise the prospects of resolving a dispute in your favour at mediation.
In this session, Suzanne Rieschieck, Principal and Paul Somers, Principal in Russell Kennedy’s Dispute Resolution team will cover:
- Why preparation matters
- Key preparation steps
- Nuances for Government parties
- Using the negotiation process to its full advantage
Participants will gain an understanding of how to be better equipped to constructively and effectively prepare for and engage in the mediation process, and will learn how to use the process to more effectively manage intractable disputes and challenging opponent behaviours.
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEDT
Date: Friday, 18 February 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Professional Skills
Presented by:
Suzanne Rieschieck
Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Paul Somers
Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Session 3. Managing hybrid teams
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Our third session will be relevant to all leaders looking to work more effectively and keep their teams engaged.
What really creates an engaged and effective hybrid team is dynamic leadership. It is leading with the belief that sometimes the best course of action is the one that feels least comfortable – the thing that is counterintuitive. For many leaders this is letting go of control and learning to influence both in person and virtually.
This session welcomes curious leaders from across our community to join the discussion and share their experiences and insights on how to lead with courage and creativity in a hybrid environment. How are you responding strategically and tactically, what advice would you give for remaining resilient and how do you stay focused on what matters regardless of your location.
The topics that will be covered in the webinar:
- Skills - What are the skills of success in a hybrid environment?
- Communication - How critical is effective communication to the success of a team?
- Trust - What level of trust is required for optimal engagement?
- Dynamic Leadership - Where are leaders needing to invest, inspire and influence?
Shelley Flett is an expert in leadership and team performance and will explain how to earn the necessary skills to succeed in a hybrid environment, develop awareness around the importance of adaptive communication, appreciate that value of trust in team culture and cohesion & understand the components of becoming a dynamic leader and how to achieve them.
Time: 10:30am - 11:30am AEDT
Date: Friday, 25 February 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Practice management & Business skills
Presented by:
Shelley Flett
Guest speaker, Leadership & Team Performance Trainer, Speaker, Coach, Mentor, Facilitator · Shelley Flett Pty Ltd
Session 4. Giving statutory interpretation advice – identifying options
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Our fourth session will be relevant to all government lawyers seeking to finesse their statutory interpretation skills.
Using the modern approach to statutory interpretation, this session will explore how the courts have approached identifying and weighing various options for the legal meaning of statutory provisions.
This webinar will explore how to identify when provisions are open to various constructions of meaning and when there are various constructions how to determine the preferred meaning and apply it to your clients’ problems.
Emma Turner, Principal and Beatrisa Dubinsky, Lawyer from the Russell Kennedy Public Law team will also discuss courts’ approaches to choosing the preferred legal meaning where various interpretations are available.
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEDT
Date: Friday, 25 February 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Professional Skills
Presented by:
Emma Turner
Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Bea Dubinsky
Lawyer, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Session 5. Divesting Leasehold and Disposal of Freehold Interests: Considerations for Government
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Our fifth session will be relevant to all government lawyers, officers, and stakeholders who are involved in leasing or disposing of public land, whether on a project basis or otherwise.
As a result of COVID-19, many organisations are re-evaluating their property portfolios and considering options for divestment or disposal.
For government, in addition to considering strategies and options for disposal and divestment, a number of complex policies and procedures apply to the leasing and disposal of public land, to ensure compliance with any statutory requirements, improve transparency and probity, and maintain best practice.
Failure to comply relevant policies and procedures can cause project delays, interfere with the ability for Government to do business, lead to a loss of faith from external stakeholders, and expose Government to claims (whether from aggrieved counterparties, or third parties whose interests were prejudiced by a failure to follow policy).
The session will consider:
- Key policies and who is obliged to comply with them
- Key stakeholder considerations for disposing of leasehold and freehold interests
- Summary of what is a freehold interest and brief overview of steps involved in disposal of freehold interests
- Summary of options for divesting leasehold interests
- Potential risks involved if processes are not followed
This session will be presented by Samantha Taylor, Principal and Shaun Burmester, Senior Associate from Russell Kennedy’s experienced Property team. They will provide a general understanding of the overall processes involved in divesting leasehold and disposing freehold interests and relevant considerations.
Time: 10:30 am - 11:30 am AEDT
Date: Friday, 4 March 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Substantive Law
Presented by:
Samantha Taylor
Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Shaun Burmester
Senior Associate, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Session 6. Enforcement Notices 101
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Our sixth session will be relevant to all government lawyers and investigators.
Many regulators have the power to issue an enforcement notice to either prohibit an activity or require something to be done. Enforcement notices are a powerful enforcement tool to bring about compliance almost immediately. This seminar will discuss the common errors when issuing enforcement notices and the key areas of challenge. We will look at the threshold tests involved, what to look for when reviewing notices and we will explore what good administrative decision making looks like in an enforcement context.
This session will cover:
- Thresholds for issuing enforcement notices
- How to recognise errors on the face of the notices
- Cases which have provided guidance on the test of ‘reasonable belief’ in the context of enforcement notices
- The requirements of procedural fairness when issuing enforcement notices
- An understanding of good administrative decision making
- Common tips and traps when reviewing or drafting enforcement notices
In this session, Kylie Walsh, Principal and Natalie Marchesani, Senior Associate from the Russell Kennedy Public Law team will discuss these common issues in light of some recent client scenarios and decisions.
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm AEDT
Date: Friday, 4 March 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Substantive Law
Presented by:
Kylie Walsh
Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Natalie Marchesani
Senior Associate, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Session 7. Can you keep a secret?
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This session will be relevant if you are called upon to seek to suppress publication of material likely to be used in Court or advise on the viability of these applications to do so. Also, those who have within their custody or responsibility sensitive material, the protection of which gives the lead to consideration of making these types of applications.
This session provides an overview of the various options available to keep sensitive information from broader publication/dissemination and the obstacles to and approaches best suited to successfully achieving that goal.
This session will cover:
- The Open Courts Act 2015;
- Pseudonym orders under the various Court Rules;
- Public Interest Immunity considerations;
- ‘Hot’ debriefs; and
- Critical incident reviews.
This session will be presented by
Ben Lloyd, Principal from the Russell Kennedy Public Law team, Ben will outline how to frame and give sensible practical advice, clarify instructions, make out the key arguments and focus on what’s important in making applications to suppress or secure sensitive information in Victorian Courts.
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEDT
Date: Friday, 11 March 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Substantive Law.
Presented by:
Ben Lloyd
Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Session 8. Ethics in practice for government lawyers
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This session will be relevant to all government lawyers.
Like all lawyers, those in government face daily ethical challenges but they also face unique ethical issues because of the nature of their clients. The webinar will address these issues through practical problem solving.
The topics that will be covered in the webinar:
- Paramount duty to the court;
- Who is your client, and ethical duties of confidentiality, integrity, independence; and
- Being a model litigant.
Simon Libbis and Michael Dolan from the Law Institute of Victoria, will explain how to earn the necessary skills to recognise ethical challenges at an early stage and guidance on how to deal with them.
Time: 10:30am - 11:30am AEDT
Date: Friday, 18 March 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Ethics
Presented by:
Simon Libbis
Head of Ethics & Practitioner Support
Law Institute of Victoria
Michael Dolan
Special Counsel Ethics
Law Institute of Victoria
Session 9. Responding to complaints of workplace bullying and discrimination
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The purpose of this session is to discuss how to best respond to workplace complaints. The last few years have provided some very good and very bad examples of how to go about it, and our purpose is to discuss some of the areas where we have seen organisations get it wrong, so that you can learn from their mistakes.
This session will cover:
- The steps which should be taken on receiving a complaint;
- Workplace investigations;
- Choosing the right outcomes; and
- The questions which in-house counsel should be asking.
This session will be presented by Anthony Massaro, Principal from Russell Kennedy’s experienced Workplace Relations, Employment & Safety team.
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEDT
Date: Friday, 18 February 2022
This session is worth 1 CPD point in Practice management & Business skills
Presented by:
Webinar Details
We are utilising Zoom to run these webinars. Zoom is free to download and can be viewed from your PC/mobile device.
Attendees will be sent a link to log into the live webinar room 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.
These webinars are free to attend but registrations are essential as places are limited.