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Keynote Presenter – Simon Phemister, Secretary, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions
Simon Phemister's career in the public service has spanned many portfolios, and his achievements include establishing the Latrobe Valley Authority, supporting delivery of the Major Transport Infrastructure Program and leading work to further drive Victoria's economy and jobs growth.
Appointed Secretary of the department 1 January 2019, he brings with him a passion to create a vibrant State economy and create opportunities for all.
Simon has an Executive Masters Public Administration from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Business (Asia Pacific Studies) from La Trobe University and Honours in International Studies and Mandarin Chinese from Yunnan University, China.
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Sam Pandya, President, Law Institute of Victoria
Sam is the current President of the Law Institute of Victoria in 2020. Sam has worked in government, the regions, large city law firms and more recently has run a small suburban practice, OpusRed Lawyers, in the inner west of Melbourne practising in commercial, insolvency and employment law. Sam therefore understands the challenges faced by our practitioners.
Sam is an experienced commercial lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in the areas of commercial, corporate and insolvency law. He holds honours degrees in Law from the University of London and in Accounting Finance & Economics. He is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a qualified mediator. Sam has been on the Council of the LIV for 5 years and was previously a director of Western Region Health Centre, now Co Health.
Sam is passionate about advancing diversity in the legal profession, both in Victoria and nationally, and has been the Chair of the LIV Diversity Committee since 2016 and an active member of the Law Council of Australia’s Equal Opportunity Committee since 2017.
Stephen Bubb, Risk Manager, LPLC
Stephen was appointed as a risk manager by LPLC in January 2016. He has over 30 years’ experience in private practice and understands the challenges that practitioners face. He is focused on the benefits of good legal practice management.
Michael Licenblat, Resilience Expert, Bounce Back Fast
Michael Licenblat is a resilience expert who teaches people how to bounce back from challenges and setbacks – and perform better under pressure.
Over the past 10 years, Michael has dedicated himself to teaching the principles of resilience to people in business and sales. Drawing on his background in Psychology, Shiatsu therapy, and over 25 years of Martial Arts experience, Michael has helped countless companies become 'pressure proof' and learn how to bounce back from the setbacks and challenges so they can out perform their competition.
Simon Libbis, Consultant Prior Law, Accredited Specialist Property Law
Simon Libbis is a consultant with Prior Law which incorporates his practice of Subdivision Lawyers. Before he established Subdivision Lawyers Simon was Executive Director of the National Electronic Conveyancing Office which ultimately led to the introduction of PEXA. As well as an extensive career as a specialist property lawyer Simon also served as the Registrar of Titles of South Australia for some years.
In 1994 Simon was among the first legal practitioners accredited by the Law Institute of Victoria as property law specialists. He is the author of a number of publications including Conveyancing Victoria – The Ultimate Guide and Subdivisions Victoria – The Ultimate Guide.
Mark Bolton, Mark Bolton Legal, Accredited Commercial Law Specialist
Mark Bolton is the principal of Mark Bolton Legal, a commercial law firm based in Bendigo.
Mark is a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Commercial Law. In 2019, he was appointed to the Law Institute of Victoria’s Commercial Law Advisory Committee.
Mark is also a sessional law tutor for LaTrobe University and Monash University.
Ines Kallweit, Principal Solicitor, KHQ Lawyers, Accredited Wills & Estates Specialist
Magistrate Megan Aumair
Magistrate Megan Aumair graduated from University of Melbourne with a Master of Arts majoring in Criminology in 1996.
She worked for a short time with the Department of Justice on a sentencing project before commencing a law degree at Monash University, graduating with Honours in 2004.
She then moved to Bendigo to commence articles of clerkship with Stella Stuthridge and stayed on as solicitor advocate eventually taking over the practice when Stella was appointed a Magistrate in 2009. She spent many fulfilling years as a member of the Criminal Law Section at the LIV. One year as chair of the Criminal Law Section and one year as Member of Council.
Appointed to the Magistrates Court in 2016, she returned to Bendigo in 2018 and was appointed Regional Co-ordinating Magistrate for the Loddon Mallee Region at the beginning of 2020.
Magistrate Nahrain Warda
Barry Jenner, Principal, MSA Consulting
Barry Jenner Mindshop Expert, FCA, Grad Dip Bus (Acc) formed MSA Consulting in 1995 when he became part of the Mindshop Community.
As a Mindshop Expert, Barry provides consulting and mentoring in business strategy, facilitating strategic planning workshops, coaching, implementation, business turnaround and improvement.
He has built and runs an executive coaching group in Melbourne and created the insightful “Customer Profitability Analysis” which he uses with clients. Barry has global experience, having worked in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and South Pacific.
Kristie Harpley, Commercial Lawyer, LawSquared
Eric Chin, Principal, Alpha Creates
Eric Chin is a strategy consultant that works with law firms, listed law firms, LegalTech firms, NewLaw firms, and corporate legal departments on strategy, M&A, market analysis, innovation and Asia. His experience spans across the Asia-Pacific region with work completed for law firms and Big Four accounting firms. Eric’s work in the region has culminated in his induction as one of 30 people to watch in the business of law in Asia in 2015 by Asia Law Portal.
Graeme Grovum, Principal, Alpha Creates
Graeme is a legal technologist with 15 years’ experience in legal and financial services industries. Prior to founding Alpha Creates Graeme worked with one of Australia’s top tier firms as Head of Innovation where he led the firm through many innovation and technology initiatives. Graeme’s work has been recognised in the 2017 Legal Innovation Index placing as a finalist, as well as by the Financial Times’ Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyer Awards 2016, placing as ‘Highly Commended’ in the technology category.
Jacqueline Brauman, TBA Law, Accredited Wills & Estates Specialist
Jacqui Brauman, who having worked in a variety of small and medium firms, and also within a commercial business as in-house counsel, wanted a work environment that was friendly and comfortable for families and staff alike, founded TBA Law in 2012. Jacqui knew legal services could be provided more efficiently, and was dissatisfied with the poor communication that she had witnessed in the industry between solicitors and clients. Jacqui’s personal values brought into the firm made all the difference – a commitment to serving her community, very strong ethics, a sense of civil justice, and a dedication to accountability and efficiency.
Anthony Curtin, Managing Partner, Corporate and Commercial, Merton Lawyers
Anthony is Co – CEO of Merton Lawyers leading their corporate group. He advises on M&A, capital raising and corporate advisory assisting local and international founders, investors and technology companies. As principal of Nitruc Ventures He has founded and invested in technology, retail, property and social impact. He also presents at leading technology and industry conferences on his experiences as a founder, investor and lawyer. He also mentors a number of education not for profits including Foundation of Young Australians, La Trobe University, Melbourne Accelerator Program and LaunchVic. He has three beautiful children with his beautiful wife Marney. He loves the mighty Bombers.
Karen Finch, CEO, Legally Yours
Karen Finch is a non-practising lawyer, Founder and CEO of Legally Yours, Board Member of the Australian Legal Technology Association (ALTA), and a passionate ambassador of the NewLaw movement. Qualifying as a lawyer in 2003, Karen has gained experience within the legal industry across a multitude of different roles, including as a practicing solicitor in Melbourne and an in-house legal recruitment consultant for an international recruitment firm based in the UK. In 2015, Karen became a co-founder of Legally Yours and in 2017, Karen was appointed CEO. Since this time, Karen has scaled Legally Yours significantly, taking it from a bespoke matching service based primarily in Victoria, to a national, automated online service that connects consumers with fixed-fee and value based pricing lawyers Australia wide.