Labour and employment in Australia

‘ Jennifer Patterson is an experienced, robust and candid adviser, with credibility and gravitas to present to any senior executive and Board.’

‘Minters has a large team of lawyers practicing in employment law who are clearly experts in the field. They are client focused and versatile.’

‘Key strengths are their commercial acumen, deep understanding of our key business drivers, attention to detail, faultless service standards and accurate, creative thinking on some of the most significant employment related matters that our organisation has ever faced.’

‘I regard Seyfarth Shaw as the premier law firm on the eastern seaboard of Australia in the employment law space. Its client focus and responsiveness is second to none and the quality of its advice is first class at a cost that is not inexpensive but to my mind appropriate.’

‘The Seyfarth team is always a safe pair of hands to partner with on complex matters of legal risk. The technical, nuanced advice is always given knowing that it needs to be operationalised and so always comes “fitting” our business.’

‘Very practical and pragmatic – practical response to employment problems, rather than theoretical responses which tell you what the law says.’

‘What stands out is the practical, sensible answers – really value being able to phone up Erin Hawthorne with a practical problem and talk through the best way to navigate it, given the legal considerations we’re trying to manage.’

‘There is an obvious passion for the work that Michael Tamvakologos and his team have. There is a sense that they really care about outcome and take pride in playing their part in our success. Michael and his associate Justine Giuliani are both exceptional lawyers who bring a range of options to the table on each matter which exhibit a deep knowledge of business, not just legal, impacts.’

‘Chris Gardner devotes time and attention into getting to know our business and commercial pain points, as well as our leaders. He prides himself in delivering pragmatic legal advice tailored to the realities of our operations, and he is the best in the business at doing so. Always a pleasure to deal with.’

‘Ben Dudley, founding partner, a lawyer of outstanding intellect, commercially focused and who provides exceptional client service.’

‘The Bakers HR team are exceptional. They invariably deliver clear, timely and commercial advice on, oftentimes, complicated and sensitive matters. They have an excellent understanding of our business and industries and the nuances at play and are extremely easy to work with. We have 100% confidence in their advice, gained over a long time.’

‘Michael Michalandos is a standout. He is knowledgeable, approachable and always commercially minded in finding solutions to difficult problems. He has the ability to effectively communicate to all levels within the organisation.’

‘Kellie-Ann has shown exceptional leadership in guiding our company through a challenging litigation that goes to the core of our business. She has been considered, accessible and has the confidence of our General Counsel and board.’

‘Kellie-Ann has consistently met deadlines with high quality work. She has adapted to lockdowns and Covid restrictions whilst maintaining our chances of success in litigation. We have been very impressed with her.’

‘The team is accessible and they work side by side with a forensic and technology services team which provides value add and further reach as to the services they provide.’

‘Saul Harben – intelligent, articulate, informative, robust, strategist.  Amy Toohey – accessible, knowledgeable, provides practical advice to match complex legal advice.’

‘The CU team we work with, led by Dan Trindade, has an excellent understanding of our business and our sector, and a deep understanding of employment law. The team is able to think creatively about how best to address challenging situations but also realistic and commercial when assessing these ideas. The team works very effectively together, and are highly capable, so that I am happy to work directly with more junior members of the team for many matters. The other aspect of this team that I value highly is their ability to select the right counsel for a matter and their ability to work effectively with counsel. In my observation, the CU team is held in high regard by the counsel we have worked with, and rightly so.’

‘Dan Trindade – deep knowledge of the law and able to apply this thoughtfully and creatively. Pragmatic and understands our business drivers well, so advice is not only legally excellent, but also commercially sound. Has built an excellent team around him that we have great confidence in, he empowers more junior members of his team.’

‘Every member of the firm who we engage with provides a very high level of responsive service – no matter is ever too difficult or too menial for them to tackle, and the lawyers seem to pride themselves on providing high quality, practical, timely, and well considered advice to us. In all cases, a clear summary of commercial and industrial risks is presented to us with recommendations to allow for us to make the most legally and commercially sound decisions, while knowing that we will have the support of the firm in our decision making.’

‘The team often prompt us to provide greater consideration to unforeseen risks due to trending issues, and practical ways for us to mitigate or address each of these potential challenges. The team have taken considerable effort to familiarise themselves with our business, including the industrial instruments and landscape that applies to us, and provide timely advice tailored to our specific circumstance which is appreciated.’

‘Despite having a smaller team than top tier firms, the level of service, especially responsiveness to urgent requests for advice, is significantly better than top tier firms we have recently engaged. The Kingston Reid team is able to engage meaningfully with the range of our internal stakeholders from junior in-house lawyers to senior executives.’

‘Kingston Reid has a very strong understanding of our business and provides advice that is always “fit for purpose”, provides commercial advice that is well considered and appropriate for the risk appetite of the business, has strong relationships with internal stakeholders and takes the time to get to know our strategic objectives and priorities, adds value through their advice rather than simply being a cost for the business and is a modern practice and uses their skills and technology in innovative ways.’

‘I appreciate that we can have honest and direct conversations with all members of the firm to ensure that we are receiving the advice that we need on commercial terms that are appropriate for our business, and never feel that the team are ‘clocking up hours’ unnecessarily in their work. When compared to other firms who we have worked with, I consider that the value for money provided by Kingston Reid is good, and their rates are definitely competitive in market.’

‘Christa Lenard has proven time and time again that she is willing to go the extra mile to be a valuable partner for us, making herself available at all times (often out of hours) to assist with pressing and time sensitive matters that are significant to our business. Christa has been able to successfully build relationships with a number of leaders within my organisation through her personable approach to providing direct, yet balanced advice. I appreciate that Christa takes a very commercial view of the matters for which we provide instruction, and that she is not ‘gun shy’ when it comes to risk, often willing to advise us on the most successful ways for us to achieve commercial outcomes whilst meeting our legal obligations and managing risk in doing so.’

‘Steven Amendola provides clear and frank advice which can be received by our senior leadership without needing further ‘interpretation.’ He is able to articulate risks and options, rather than simply provide a technical legal response and appreciates the particular sensitivities that our organisation faces in the labour and employment space, that may not apply to other employers.’

‘Duncan Fletcher has a very good understanding of the business, has a strong relationship with key stakeholders, provides commercial and pragmatic advice, has exceptional technical knowledge, is very responsive and easy to work with and works with us as an extension of our team to understand our strategic objectives and help us to plan and deliver them.’

‘Tip top service advice and general assistance through a long project. Best labour law firm that I have come across.’

‘Knows the business and its values; accessible and highly responsive.’

‘The strengths of the Allens Labour and Employment practice is the quality and depth of knowledge of its partners, the diversity of its people and their responsiveness to client needs.’

‘What makes the Allens lawyers stand out is their high level of integrity, their quality legal skills, their commerciality and their responsiveness to client needs and deadlines. Simon Dewberry and Sikeli Ratu are stand-out partners. They are exceptional lawyers. They resource matters appropriately and efficiently and are extremely responsive to client needs.’

‘Veronica Siow is definitely an expert in her field-highly responsive, solution focused and pragmatic; excellent value for money.’

‘Sikeli Ratu has been an absolute star.’

‘The team in Sydney has great depth and utilises it for the benefit of the client. Their use of technology throughout the pandemic has been seamless and makes maintaining our relationship easy and practical.’

‘The Landers team are so responsive and easy to deal with. There’s a great spread of talent across the team, and team members work together well to provide seamless client service. They provide good value and communicate well about billing issues.’

‘Aaron Goonrey is an exceptional practitioner. His availability and ability to think outside the box make him a key pillar of advice for our workplace strategies’.

‘Kaitlyn Gulle is a sensational negotiator and advocate. She’s right across the detail of her matters, understands the underlying causes of conflict and can think creatively to come up with practical solutions to intractable disputes. She’s dedicated time to understanding our team’s needs and operating environment and has generously made Landers staff available to undertake secondments to support us during periods that we’ve been understaffed.’

‘Excellent knowledge of public sector employment law. Solid knowledge of the law and sound practical application.’

‘Provide practical solutions which balance legal and commercial considerations.’

‘Very deep industry knowledge (across our mainstream and more nuanced aspects), great senior and junior coverage (allocated as appropriate), real interest in our business and its drivers of success and challenges, responsive, accessible, sensible and willing to share a view, great to deal with and low on egos.’

‘Maree Skinner is responsive and responsible, with a mindset to resolve problems for clients in an effective manner.’

‘The people are highly experienced, engaging and knowledgeable.’

‘Work as trusted partners, excellent subject knowledge & expertise, clear billing and fair pricing, relationship practices offer additional value for money.’

‘The employment team at Mills Oakley has grown steadily and significantly over the last 4 years, which is testament to the team’s abilities. Despite the growing size, it is evident MO operate as a cohesive team. Flexible with billing practices and often operate under fixed or maximum fee arrangements which give certainty to our business.’

‘Their quickness to respond, act and follow up. Daniel White (Partner) is thorough and explains the difficult stuff in an easy to follow dialogue and written communication.’

‘Samantha Maddern is expert in her field offering pragmatic and sound advice without over complicating matters. She takes a balanced approach always recognising the need to weigh commercial realities.’

‘Daniel White – as head of this busy practice Daniel is always accessible and across all matters in his team. His advice is second to none – commercially savvy, pragmatic and legally sound.’

‘FCB is unique in its desire and ability to truly partner with the people within our organisation to guide, advise, challenge and achieve results that serve our needs with the highest quality advice regarding risks and potential negative outcomes. FCB’s collaboration style results in my team wanting to seek input and broader industry and legal input so we can in turn provide trusted advice to our internal stakeholders.’

‘The team has excellent automotive experience.’

‘FCB are expert employment and workplace lawyers. Campbell Fisher has been a leading lawyer in this field for many years and has built a firm with excellent expertise.’

‘From my personal experience, I feel like FCB is the place to go to in Sydney for all workplace law matters. I am still very grateful for all the guidance and assistance FCB provided in the workplace bullying episode. I will certainly recommend anyone who needs workplace assistance to consider FCB as the first choice.’

‘Matthew Robinson has a good understanding of workplace law.’

‘Ben Gee has deep expertise in employment law and is very experienced in applying his knowledge to every-day situations. The advice we receive is pragmatic and is integral in solving workplace and employment issues.’

‘I have been fortunate to know Bianca Seeto for numerous years now and her technical ability, passion for what she does, genuine desire to want to understand the business and seek to achieve great outcomes together is unlike my experiences with other firms.’

‘The G+T’s employment team are highly competent, understand sensitivities and our culture and take a commercial approach to trouble shooting issues in the workplace. They provide timely advice and give a clear path way forward in complex situations.’

‘Good technical skills. The G&T leaders know the culture and environment of the organisations I am involved with. Available outside normal working hours. Practical solutions are provided.’

‘Di Banks has been out trusted adviser for years. Her extensive knowledge of the law and ability to resolve disputes efficiently makes her a valuable asset for us.’

‘Di Banks is the key partner I have dealt with on people related issues at organisations I am involved with. Di knows me and my strengths and weaknesses and similarly understands the culture and environments at the different organisations where she has provided advice. Di is very professional but also makes it enjoyable to work with her in confronting environments and circumstances. Di’s advice is also very practical and gives me assurance me and the organisations are legally well placed. I have also used Di to establish appropriate systems controls and documents so if issues do arise those organisations are in a strong position.’

‘HFW are employment law specialists, they provide a high level of advice and guidance to 100s of our colleagues both Talent and Culture and operational leaders in our business.’

‘Their online advice portal is a great easy to use system providing our people with knowledge on a variety of employment law matters.’

‘They actually talk to you and very fair with their billing hours.’

‘Mark Sant is the team principle and he is very friendly, open to all queries and ensures our colleagues understand the advice in simple terms. He is flexible with his calendar and has created really easy to follow webinars on workplace changes such as EBA terminations and the transition from Casualization to permanent employee processes to educate the teams.’

‘I deal with Brendan Milne and have done for many years. Brendan’s professionalism and his ability to know what I am wanting is remarkable. Brendan is considered part of the team at our organisation.’

‘Consistent culture of team in providing accurate, pragmatic & timely workplace relations advice at a reasonable cost. They have delivered excellent development workshops to my team, which has helped build capability, as well as rapport with Chris Gianatti and his team.’

‘I have experienced working with many firms and teams. The main differentiator of KHQ team is they are “Team” with its complete meaning. Every single team member knows his/her role, act as a team and support their clients in a way that doesn’t leave the client with concerns. I haven’t seen this quality of “teamwork” in many other firms.’

‘The team is unique due to the creativity of their legal knowledge and deep understanding of the industrial relations sphere, regulator behaviour and the needs of industry.’

‘KHQ Lawyers Labour and employment practice combines a unique understanding of desired business outcomes, commercial pragmatism and deep industry expertise. This results in leaders gaining insight, with a sound understanding of risk and mitigations which they can action through the KHQ Employment Team or through the organisation with KHQ’s guidance.’

‘Chris Gianatti is an employment law genius.’

‘Chris is a fantastic lawyer who takes the legal jargon out of the discussions and is surrounded by a fantastic team of empathetic and passionate individuals.’

‘Chris Gianatti is a highly intellectual and deeply experienced practitioner. However, his real skill is breaking complex issues down into manageable bites that can be easily understood by the laymen. His wit makes the driest of subject digestible.’

‘The Labour and employment team at Moray & Agnew is our preferred service provider in this space for both our internal requirements and for referring to clients for a number of reasons. They are supremely well informed and professional, very able to engage with a wide variety of clients and have the ability to provide relevant commercial advice promptly and efficiently.’

‘We engage solely with Nick Duggal, who is a very pragmatic and commercially-oriented legal adviser. His ability to provide legal advice that is specific to the circumstances, and yet holistically relevant to a clients’ needs is why we work with him so closely. Nick is also very responsive, and we never need worry that a client’s requests are unanswered at any time.’

‘CBP provide exceptional legal services due to both the legal expertise and knowledge of the community services industry, demonstrated by the partners and legal staff in the Employment Law area of the business. This understanding and knowledge is essential in providing us with industrial relations advice relating to the unusual and flexible environment of our community service support.’

‘During the Covid pandemic, CBP have utilised available technology to ensure all client information is gathered and client contact is made virtually.’

‘CBP partner Megan Kavanagh has been a pleasure to work with, her knowledge and understanding the our business is exceptional. Megan is a busy lawyer, however, she has always made time to contact us and carry out various projects at short notice.’

‘Megan’s staff are friendly, polite and easy to deal with.’