Christine is an experienced commercial litigator, with two decades of experience in defending class actions, particularly complex securities claims. She has a strong history of acting in the most significant class actions filed in Australia, with trial experience in securities and consumer claims. She advises ASX100 and global multinational companies across a variety of sectors on managing class action risks. Clients have positively commented on her hands-on and analytical approach and ability to work as cohesively and collaboratively with client teams.
Christine is a thought leader in the class actions space, regularly commenting on issues arising in the defence of class action claims, litigation costs and third party litigation funding. She is a contributing author to the leading texts Class Actions in Australia and Thomson Reuters’ Class Actions Practical Law Guide. She is a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Class Actions Committee.
Christine has variously been recognised as a rising star in class actions, litigation and alternative dispute resolution by Legal500, Best Lawyers, Benchmark and Doyles (among others).
Danielle Snell is the Managing Partner and Co-Found of Elit Lawyers.
She specialises in commercial litigation, insurance policy holder disputes and defamation, with a special interest in women’s rights.
Danielle has acted on many high-profile cases and represents a diverse range of clients including directors, executives, shareholders, professionals, public and sporting figures, members of parliament, companies and associations across a breadth of industries.
Danielle is a mother, wife, friend and professional who was pregnant at the time she decided to create a truly entrepreneurial law firm that promotes a new way of servicing clients. She has a passion for promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal sector and for challenging the traditional law firm model in order to provide a more authentic and transparent legal service to clients. She endeavours to create and grow a progressive workplace of the future.
Solving conflict issues through collaboration with other lawyers is one of Danielle’s key strengths, becoming the ‘go to’ litigator for conflict referral matters. She is highly regarded for her ability to collaborate and look after other lawyers’ clients in circumstances where conflict issues arise.
Jane Bowes is a personal injury and insurance litigator with over a decade of experience at top national and international firms. Her expertise spans all facets of injury litigation, representing both plaintiffs and insurers in matters involving catastrophic injuries, amputations, fatalities, motor vehicle and cycling accidents, medical negligence, sports injuries and public liability claims. Jane has also advised AHPRA on regulatory matters and has experience in commercial litigation and professional indemnity claims. She is a highly strategic litigator, having run trials for both plaintiffs and insurers in Queensland’s District and Supreme Courts.
In 2022, Jane founded Bowes Legal, which in just three years has become one of Central Queensland’s most formidable personal injury firms. In a field long dominated by large, male-led city practices, Bowes Legal has emerged as a regional force - outperforming long-established competitors and earning recognition at both state and national levels.
The firm is one of the only female-founded startup personal injury practices to be listed in Doyle’s Guide since its inception, and Jane was recently named Lawyers Weekly’s 2025 Litigation Partner of the Year.
But beyond the accolades lies a deeper mission. Bowes Legal is the result of what happens when a woman truly backs herself. Jane has proven to herself and the profession, that you don’t need millions in capital or a legacy name to build a powerhouse. You need conviction, courage and the grit to outwork everyone. Her vision hasn’t just reshaped her own path, it’s paving the way for the women following in her footsteps and delivering fearless, high-calibre representation to injured Queenslanders in regional and remote communities.
Joy is the Australia Region lead of Dentons’ Intellectual Property and Technology team and Dentons’ Global Consumer Products and Services sector group.
Joy is an intellectual property lawyer and registered trade marks attorney. She has a wealth of experience in IP litigation and dispute resolution, with expertise in the protection and enforcement of patents, copyright, designs, trade marks, reputation rights and confidential information.
Joy has represented Australian and global organisations in significant IP infringement, invalidity, misleading conduct, passing off and groundless threats proceedings before the Federal Court of Australia, appeals from IP Australia, opposition and non-use proceedings and domain name disputes. Joy’s practice also encompasses managing the international trade mark portfolios of well-known consumer businesses, freedom to operate searches and IP due diligence.
Joy has been recognised for her expertise in intellectual property by Best Lawyers in Australia, Managing Intellectual Property IP STARS, IAM Patent 1000, Doyle’s Guide, Euromoney’s Expert Guides, WTR 1000 and WIPR Leaders.
Kate is the Legal Beagle at Who Gives A Crap, tackling diverse challenges in a fast-paced scale-up environment. Building the legal function from scratch in a social enterprise that donates 50% of its profits to help ensure everyone on earth has access to a toilet and safe water allows for creative solutions beyond traditional legal approaches. Outside of work, Kate is kept busy spending time with her young family, running half marathons and building a large Lego empire.
Lauren Cassimatis is a leading female criminal lawyer in Melbourne and the Principal Lawyer and Founder of Gallant Law. With over 20 years of experience in the legal profession, Lauren has established herself as one of Victoria’s most respected criminal lawyers. She is an Accredited Specialist in Criminal Law with the Law Institute of Victoria, a certification she has held since 2014.
Under Lauren’s leadership, Gallant Law has grown into a premier criminal defence practice, handling some of the most complex and high-stakes cases in Victoria. Her team of experienced criminal defence lawyers is in court every day, representing clients in matters ranging from summary offences to indictable crimes and jury trials. Lauren is a recognised industry leader and a forceful advocate for the development of criminal law in practice. She has been acknowledged for her outstanding advocacy, client care, and commitment to justice.
She is also the Founder of Connecting Lawyer Mums, an organisation with 9000 members Australia-wide, dedicated to boosting the professional and personal lives of lawyer mums and related professionals through inspirational and joyful live events and webinars.
Melissa is Head of Cyber Insurance and Partner at Lander & Rogers. Melissa regularly provides incident response management services and advises on privacy issues arising out of cyber incidents. Melissa also advises on complex coverage issues, cyber recoveries, regulatory investigations, as well as acting in disputes arising from cyber incidents. In particular, Melissa often acts as coverage and monitoring counsel on significant and high-profile cyber incidents.
Melissa has been named Cyber Partner of the Year at the 2025 Partner of the Year Awards, New Partner of the Year (Big Law) at the 2024 Partner of the Year Awards, and Cyber Security Lawyer of the Year at the inaugural Australian Cyber Security Awards 2023. Melissa has also been recognised for her insurance expertise, and litigation and dispute resolution expertise by Lawyerly as a Litigation Rising Star, Insurance Business Australia as a Young Gun, and Australasian Lawyer as a Litigation and Dispute Resolution Rising Star. Melissa regularly provides in-house training for clients and market participants on cyber issues.
Melissa also sits on the Board of the Australian Women in Security Network (AWSN) which seeks to empower women in the security industry.
Nikkita Venville is a Senior Counsel at WorkSafe Victoria. Equipped with a Master of Laws in Workplace and Employment Law from Monash University, Nikkita combines her academic expertise with over a decade of practical experience from both the private and public sectors, advising employers and individuals on all issues relating to the employment relationship and industrial law.
Before her current position, Nikkita built a strong foundation in industrial relations as an Industrial Officer at two prominent unions: the previous iteration of the United Workers Union and The Police Association of Victoria, where she advanced significant gender equality reforms and conditions for its members including leading an equal pay case for 80,000 childcare workers. With experience as a Senior Advisor at the Fair Work Commission and as an Associate to a presidential member of the Commission, she has a profound understanding of fostering positive workplace relations through cooperative approaches.
Outside of her role, Nikkita is a panel member on the Cleaning Accountability Framework, a not-for-profit organisation that takes a whole of industry approach to ending the exploitation of cleaners and improve work standards. Nikkita was also awarded Corporate Counsel 2025 Government Lawyer of the Year.
