Judges

Jenna Adamson is a partner with New Zealand law firm, Wynn Williams.
Based in the firm’s Tāhuna Queenstown office, she is a member of the firm’s national property team supporting clients in the private and public sector with retail, commercial and industrial property related matters, including leasing, developments and portfolio management.
She also advises retail, tourism and hospitality businesses on commercial matters, including e-Commerce, consumer and competition law.
Adamson practiced in Australia for over 10 years, including leading an award-winning real estate team within top tier Australian firm, MinterEllison, and as In-House Legal Counsel for L’Oréal Australia and New Zealand.
Judge of the Australian Corporate Counsel Awards 2021, Adamson is also a past Award finalist in numerous Australian industry awards, including Australian Corporate Lawyers Award In-House 2020 and LawyersWeekly Australia Top 30 under 30 Property 2017. She was also listed in the Property Council of Australia Top 100 Woman in Property 2017.

Vice-President, General Counsel and Ethics & Compliance Officer (Capgemini Australia, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong) | GC Powerlist 2022/3 | In-house Leader 2022 | GC of the Year finalist | Equality advocate | Parent | Laughs a lot

Claire is a senior lawyer and professional coach, based on the east coast of Australia. Claire has over 30 years of experience gained through senior management appointments with some of the world’s largest companies and at top-tier law firms. As well as practising law, Claire is an internationally qualified executive coach (PCC) and in 2018 she founded a global professional coaching practice in which she coaches private and corporate clients, specialising in senior lawyers and executives, to empower them to move their career and leadership dreams into active, actionable, pursuits. Outside of her executive life, Claire is a non-executive director of multiple ASX-listed companies and is an Industry Professional Fellow with the University of Technology Sydney, School of Law.

Claire has been recognised as one of Australia’s best lawyers and female executives, including having been awarded the “Excellence Award for Women in Law”, “General Counsel of the Year”, “Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia & New Zealand”, “Mentor of the Year” and was featured in SmartCompany's International Women's Day Showcase.

Nicole is the General Counsel and Company Secretary of CAR Group. In addition to managing the legal function across CAR Group, Nicole is responsible for governance, risk and sustainability.

Nicole has over 20 years of legal experience, having commenced her career working across a number of legal areas at one of Australia’s premier law firms. For the past 15 years Nicole has worked in-house, advising leading online companies. Nicole has extensive experience in acquisitions, disputes and intellectual property and a strong focus on corporate responsibility.

Nicole holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.

Prior to this appointment Dr Boersig worked as an Assistant Secretary in the Federal Attorney-General’s Department, responsible for a number of areas including Indigenous law and justice and human rights. Before joining the Attorney-General’s Department John practiced law in NSW, as a lawyer for the Aboriginal Legal Service and in private practice. He established the University of Newcastle Legal Centre and was Director of the Professional program in 1994. He was a part-time Presiding member of the Guardianship Tribunal for many years.
John has a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sydney, and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Canberra. He was awarded the Public Service Medal in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Joseph Catanzariti AM is a Vice President of the Fair Work Commission, the national workplace relations tribunal.
Prior to his appointment to the Fair Work Commission, Joseph was a senior Partner of Clayton Utz and Practice Leader of the Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety Practice Group. Joseph was a trusted adviser to many of Australia’s leading companies and government departments. Joseph was also a highly experienced Commercial Litigator.

Joseph is a Visiting Professorial Fellow of the School of Law and the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in Work and Organisational Studies, School of Business at Sydney University.

Joseph is the Chair of the College of Law.

Joseph is also co-author of Workplace Bullying published by LexisNexis.

He has previously held the positions of President of the Law Council of Australia, President of the NSW Law Society, Chair of the Workplace Committee of the Law Society of New South Wales (2000 - 2013), and Secretary of the Industrial Relations Society of Australia (1997-2011).

Joseph was awarded Life Time Recognition, Industrial Relations Society of Australia / Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association 2011, and the Industrial Relations Society of New South Wales in 2015.

Joseph is a fellow of the Academy of Law.

On 26 January 2016 Joseph was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

David Cullen is the Group General Counsel of AMP Limited. David has been with AMP since 2004, and has held positions including Group Company Secretary & General Counsel, Governance.
David has almost 25 years’ experience in the legal profession, with extensive experience in the areas of M&A, corporate law and corporate governance. Before joining AMP, David worked for law firms Blake Dawson Waldron and Gilbert + Tobin and spent two years with the ASX.
David is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Ann-Maree David is an Executive Director of The College of Law, the largest provider of practice-focused legal education in Australasia. She has worked in the legal profession for over 30 years, in public and corporate sector roles and in private practice as a solicitor.

Ann-Maree has held a career-long passion for developing and delivering education and training programs to enable all involved in the delivery of legal services to thrive both personally and professionally.

In addition to leading the College of Law’s Queensland campus, Ann-Maree is Immediate Past President of Australian Women Lawyers and a Director of the Australian Gender Equality Council. She also chairs the Queensland Law Society’s Equity & Diversity Committee.

Ali joined LexisNexis in 2017 as Head of Legal for the Pacific Region. Ali and her team work with LexisNexis’ Australian and New Zealand businesses providing advice across issues from intellectual property and digital media through to privacy and competition laws.
Ali has held senior legal roles across a variety of industries internationally, including higher education, renewable energy and leisure. Ali’s focus is on working closely with the business to address both the opportunities and the challenges presented by rapid advances in technology, changing customer needs and the evolving nature of legal practice across the region and the world.

Nicholas brings intellectual rigour, curiosity and creativity to all his work. As a Restructuring and Insolvency Partner, Nicholas is driven by the appeal of never having to face an ordinary situation, and always needing to bring innovative and novel solutions to the table. Whether helping clients address future risks, restructure debt or operations, sell assets or navigate troubled times, he keeps the lines of communication open and brings his trademark creativity and plain speaking to problem solving.
Advising on contentious and non-contentious issues arising from corporate distress, Nicholas represents financial institutions, insolvency practitioners, distressed debt funds, creditors, debtors and company directors. He has worked across a diverse range of industries, including retail, mining, media, construction and financial services.
Nicholas is also the chairperson of KYUP! Project, a charitable organisation with the aim of ending the scourge of domestic violence and empowering the next generation to champion their safety and wellbeing.

Glenn is a passionate and driven corporate and transactional lawyer, specialising in mergers and acquisitions and complex commercial arrangements.

Glenn advises both Australian and international clients on a range of corporate and commercial matters, including corporate transactions, advisory work, joint ventures, capital raisings, shareholder arrangements, corporate structuring and reorganisations, as well as directors’ duties.

He is an experienced negotiator and provides our clients with accurate, succinct and practical solutions to challenging and technical issues.In addition, Glenn has been recognised as a Leading Corporate/M&A Lawyer (Small & Mid-Market Matters – NSW) in Doyles Guide 2018 and has also been listed in Best Lawyers over the past four years for Equity Capital Markets Law and M&A Law. Glenn has also received recognition as one of Australia’s leading lawyers in private equity (IFLR 2012, ALB 2009, ALB 2007).

Geraldine Johns-Putra is an experienced corporate lawyer and expert in enterprise governance,
purpose, business & human rights and modern slavery. She runs her own practice in Melbourne focussing on enterprises seeking purpose, and actors in the impact economy. She is legal advisor to not-for-profits making an impact in this space, including B Lab Australia & NZ and Impact Investing Australia. Her purpose is to use the law to build more purposeful enterprises & ecosystems for a happier world.

She has over 20 years' experience practising law in Australia, the UK, Hong Kong and China. She has worked with large global and Australian law firms and was a partner of a top-tier Australian law firm for several years. She sits on the Council of Monash University.

Steve Lancken has been a full time mediator since 1999. During that time, Steve has conducted over 2,000 mediations. Steve has worked in Queensland mediating Native Title issues and in Liberia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Nepal and Northern America. Steve has conducted mediations for Australia’s largest and most successful organisations such as ASIC, ACCC, QANTAS, GPT, AGSM, Mission Australia, the Salvation Army, Australian Treasury, Australian Government Solicitors and Department of Defence. Steve also works with Australia’s largest banks and insurers.
Steve enjoys the opportunity to do the most interesting and challenging work and contribute to social justice, teach, educate and contribute to his profession.

Mellissa Larkin is the Founder and Managing Director of award-winning boutique law firm Peripheral Blue. Since 2016, she's been making waves in the legal industry in Australia advocating for a client-centred model of practice and championing the flexible workplace. Her views on the culture of overwork in law, lawyers' mental health, and women in business have been featured in multiple industry and business publications.
Prior to founding Peripheral Blue, Mellissa worked in dedicated Project and Construction Teams in international and top-tier firms in Ireland and across the Disputes and Corporate Teams of a national firm in Australia. She also worked in house for blue-chip companies.
In 2016, Mellissa Larkin walked away from the career she had spent two decades building over two continents, to found Peripheral Blue with the aim of disrupting the legal and professional services industries by giving clients access to top tier, responsive legal and advisory services in a flexible and affordable way.
Mellissa was named as the Innovator of the Year in the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards in 2022 and as the South Australian Winner in the Small Business category of the 2020 Telstra Business Women's Awards. Her firm, Peripheral Blue was a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards 2019.
Mellissa holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts from Flinders University and a Master in Laws from Trinity College, Dublin

Anna Lozynski is an award winning executive general counsel & author, turned Change Agent, Advisor and Influencer.

Starting out at a major Australian law firm, she has spent the majority of her legal career in-house working in the banking, automotive and cosmetics industries. In 2021, Anna has donned her entrepreneurial shoes, and started her own business, on a mission to help law and business adapt to the digital age, launching her own Advisory service.

She believes that innovation is invigorating, change is energising and efficiency will never go out of fashion.

In addition, she is an Advisory Board Member to Mys Tyler (a fashion tech startup), She Breaks The Law (a global female innovator network), and sits on the CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium) Australia Chapter.

Described as a change agent, Anna is a sought-after commentator, mindset coach and consultant both domestically and internationally – seeking to shift the dialogue in order to propel the corporate world forward.

You are invited to join Anna’s online communities @legallyinnovative and LinkedIn as well as @annaloz on Clubhouse.

Melissa is an innovation specialist committed to assisting the legal industry to develop human centred design skills. She draws on many years of experience in legal practice as a commercial litigator and as a partner of a law firm. She has also held senior business development roles, including managing BD teams and leading numerous projects and programs at a top tier Australian legal firm.
Melissa is the Executive Director & Experience Designer of Hive Legal, an innovative law firm which over the last 10 years has changed the legal profession by introducing legal design thinking, technology solutions for its clients, value pricing and truly flexible work practices.
Melissa has developed a very different approach to innovation programs based on a design thinking framework and the power of purpose (HiveThinkP). She is a skilled facilitator and assists clients to develop human centred projects through interactive workshops and design sprints. She has also designed and delivered numerous educational sessions and programs to a broad range of people within the legal ecosystem focussing on providing an understanding of legal design concepts and how they can be utilised to design user centred business models, products, documentation, services and processes.
She is a member of the Centre for Legal Innovation’s Advisory Board and collaborates with the Centre by hosting The Legal Design Collab Series. She has been recognised at the Australian Law Awards winning Business Development Professional of the Year (2017) and Innovator of the Year (2020).

I am the Founder and Managing Principal of Legalite – a multi-award-winning new kind of law firm that is breaking new ground in simplified and forward-thinking legal services.

I started Legalite with one clear vision: to flip the traditional law firm model on its head. Through pioneering the delivery of innovative and bespoke services that give our clients maximum value, Legalite has established itself as a market leading firm with above industry average growth.

As an advisor to some of Australia’s most well-known brands, my expertise encompasses franchising, regulatory compliance and national and international expansion. More than just a technical advisor, I am focussed on providing future-ready, strategic and innovative advice. This extends to advisory board services.

I’m genuinely passionate about fostering meaningful relationships with clients, colleagues and industry connections. I’m proud to lead, and work alongside, a diverse, award-winning team of gun lawyers and professionals who are equally as passionate about changing the future of the legal industry.

Andrew is a strategy and media expert working with business, legal and professional services leaders to solve communications challenges. A former business journalist with The Australian he is an award winning media & communications consultant and advisor, with over 25 years experience.
Both in-house and through his consultancy Crackle Communications, Andrew has advised CEOs and leadership teams across law, professional services, finance, mining, development, litigation, retail and technology. His experience ranges from crisis management and industrial relations, to media coaching and corporate transformations.
Andrew also teaches public communications at UTS and UNSW, holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, a Master of Politics and Public Policy from Macquarie University, a Graduate Diploma of Journalism & Communications from UTS and a BA from the University of Sydney.
www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mckenzie-47582413/

Sue-Ella specialises in helping lawyers and law firms create more rewarding practices through purposeful business strategy and positive client engagement.

Sue-Ella established her award-winning consultancy Prodonovich Advisory in 2005.

Her In-House roles have included Director of Marketing, Arthur Anderson; Director of Marketing & Business Development, Baker McKenzie; and Partner, Crowe Horwath.
Sue-Ella is a member of the teaching faulty of The College of Law, The Law Society of NSW, The Law Institute of Victoria, and FMRC. In 2011 she was inducted into the APSMA Hall Of Fame for services to the Australasian Professional Services Industry and in 2019 she was made a Fellow of the College of Law Firm Management. Her qualifications include an MBA, Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) (Law & Marketing) – VC List, the AICD Course for Company Directors, and the Net Promoter® Client Loyalty Program™.

www.prodonovich.com

Caryn leads the Gilbert + Tobin Legal Service Innovation team and G+T Innovate. These teams provide specialised services to support Gilbert + Tobin’s legal service delivery, and innovate to deliver new tools and services benefiting Gilbert + Tobin’s practice and clients. Caryn’s role encompasses responsibility for over 70 lawyers and business professionals working across Transformation and Legal Technology, Data and AI, Legal Project Management and Knowledge Management. Caryn was named “Most Innovative Changemaker” at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Asia-Pacific 2022, “Innovator of the Year” at the Australian Law Awards 2022 and “Innovator of the Year” at the Partner of the Year Awards 2021. Under her leadership, Gilbert + Tobin also won “Excellence in Technology and Innovation” at the Australasian Law Awards 2023 for a third consecutive year and was named “Most Innovative Law Firm” at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Asia-Pacific in 2019. Caryn is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board to the Centre for Legal Innovation and is a director for various not-for-profit organisations. Caryn has a passion for expanding the focus and content of legal education to enable lawyers to succeed and thrive in the changing legal environment.

Scott is a General Counsel with extensive experience advising listed entities in regulated environments . Scott’s pragmatic approach ensures the organisations he acts for maintain good standing with regulators, their peers and the broader community, while being able to confidently deliver the experiences expected by consumers. Scott has led teams of varying sizes and particularly enjoys helping junior lawyers develop their skills and understanding of complex commercial environments.

Donna Stone is a multi-award-winning business coach with decades of experience, plus formal qualifications in Accounting, Marketing, Business Management and Training. She’s written seven books and has been an invited judge for multiple awards since early 2019. Donna has spoken at a number of Universities, Chambers of Commerce, conferences and business events.

Damian is one of the founders of the innovative Australian firm, Marque Lawyers where he heads up the Dispute Resolution team.
Damian has almost 30 years’ experience as a commercial litigator with specialist expertise in the areas of international arbitration and cross border dispute resolution. He has run international arbitrations in London, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
He is recognised as one of Australia’s leading lawyers in the field of Dispute Resolution by Legal 500, Best Lawyers and the Chambers Global and Asia Pacific Guides. In 2018 he was named the Arbitration Lawyer of the year by Best Lawyers. He is a Visiting Professorial Fellow at UNSW.

Troy Swan is the Group General Counsel and Board Member of the $1.3 billion office products company Winc. Winc was formed following the acquisition and merger of Staples, OfficeMax and Corporate Express in Australia and New Zealand by leading US based private equity firm Platinum Equity.

He has been publicly recognised as one of Australia's leading corporate lawyers and was previously an Australian Lawyer of the Year and an Australian General Counsel of the Year triple finalist. He was also the Association of Corporate Counsel Global Member of the Year, from over 43,000 lawyers worldwide, with this being the first time this honour was ever awarded to a lawyer outside America.

He became only the second Australian lawyer to win the International Value Champions Award in San Francisco and was also named the Association of Corporate Counsel Winner for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility.

Known for his business judgement, he is highly active within the legal and business community, being named a Judge at the Australian Law Awards, New Zealand Law Awards, Corporate Counsel Awards, Partner of the Year Awards and the 30 Under 30 Law Awards.

He is a long standing Member of the Law Society Corporate Lawyers Committee, is a regular commentator and speaker on legal and business affairs and leads an award winning legal team based in Sydney, Australia.