Public Sector In-house Counsel Congress agenda

2nd annual  Public Sector In-house Counsel Congress

Stamford Plaza, Melbourne, 23-24 October 2019

 

 

Conference day one – Wednesday 23 October 2019

08.30 Registration
09.00 Opening remarks from the chair
09.10

Providing a high-quality legal service to the organisation

 
  • Defining the role of legal services to the organisation ; its inclusions and limitations
  • Effectively engaging stakeholder, managing expectations and mitigating risk
  • Delivering legal information in an engaging format for a diverse workforce
  • Developing a system for prioritising legal enquiries
  • Reducing the volume of enquiries
  • Providing effective support for the legal services team
 

Lucy Keller, Director Legal Services, Department for Education SA

09.55 Educating the organisation on legal obligation
 
  • Delivering legal information in an engaging format for a diverse workforce
  • Collaborating with staff to enhance quality of training and resources
  • Monitoring educational requirements of staff in an ever-changing workforce
  • Effectively engaging stakeholders across risk, governance and audit to promote integrity and compliance
  Jonty Somers, Chief Legal Adviser, Department of Conservation New Zealand
10.40 Morning Tea
11.10

Legal as a “strategic business partner”: what does that mean and how do you achieve it?

 
  • What value can the legal function deliver
  • What might the partnership look like
  • Developing the legal function for the future
 

Janine Reid, Legal Councel, WorkCover Queensland

11.55

Case study: Effective legal counsel in the political landscape

 
  • Understanding the impact of legal advice for councillors, MP’s and the community
  • Engaging with stakeholders; managing expectations and mitigating risk
  • Effectively influencing the board, executive and business
  • Navigating bureaucracy and maintaining your integrity
 

Colin Brown, Assistant Director Legal, SA Health

12.40 Lunch
13.40

Case study: Streamlining legal operationst

 
  • Utilising technology to remove low value tasks from the remit of in- house counsel
  • Creating a readily available repository of legal resources to aid staff
  • Establishing boundaries with staff to prevent time-wasting enquiries
  • Enhancing agility of legal services team to be more responsive to a rapidly changing government agenda
 

Kara Miller, General Counsel and Acting Manager, BITS- Legal & Governance, Sustainability Victoria

14.25

Case study: Maximising the value of external counsel spend

 
  • Negotiating the ‘right skill’ for the ‘right price’ when acquiring external counsel
  • Constructing and delivering a clear brief for external counsel
  • Developing a communication strategy to ensure external counsel stay on track
  • Interacting transparently to build trust between internal and external counsel
 

Catrina Cresswell, General Counsel, Sydney Metro

15.10

Afternoon Tea

 15.40

Mapping the rabbit hole – Embracing litigation in the recovery of Commonwealth debts  

 
  • Marrying litigation risk and successful program delivery
  • Recovering Commonwealth money for taxpayers
  • Accruing $170 million in additional recoveries at a cost of $40 million
  • How? What are the challenges, pitfalls, and opportunities?
 

Andrew Cameron, Senior Government Lawyer, Attorney-General’s Department

16.20

New modern slavery legislation and implications for public sector

 
  • Expert background and insight on the new legislation
  • Understanding stakeholders for modern slavery within your organisation
  • Educating your organisation on their legal obligations
  • Conducting a modern slavery risk assessment
 

Vanessa Zimmerman, CEO, Pillar Two

 17.00 End of conference day one
   
 

Conference day two – Thursday 24 October 2019

8.20 Opening remarks from the chair
8.30

International Keynote: Insight from a centralised government legal model

 
  • Opportunities for enhanced government efficiency and service delivery
  • Creating a standard for legal counsel across government
  • Weighing up the benefits and challenges of alternative models
  • Preparing for transition as an individual and organisation
 

Stephen Cave, Deputy Director, Department for Education Legal Advisers Office, Government Legal Department UK (live via Skype)

09.10

Aligning in-house counsel with strategic direction of organisation

 
  • Refining and defining the role of in-house counsel to maximise resources
  • Reducing siloes between legal and other organisational units
  • Identifying opportunities to add value to the organisation
  • Building relationships with leadership and stakeholders
 

Charles Cho, General Counsel, Treasury New South Wales

09.55

Panel discussion: Developing and leading a high performing in-house counsel team

 
  • Attracting high quality employees in a competitive job-market
  • Developing a service culture within your counsel team
  • Equipping counsel with skills to excel in the public sector environment
  • Providing adequate reward and incentive in the public sector
  • Delivering a quality training experience in a cost and time efficient manner
 

Sarah Godden, General Counsel, Department of Communications and the Arts

Ian Pendleton, Group Executive, Legal and Company Secretary, First State Super

Emma Carnovale, Chief Counsel, Eastern Health

10.30 Morning Tea
11.00

Enhancing and communicating the value of in-house counsel to the organisation

 
  • Negotiating the best value in legal procurement
  • Quantitative methods of demonstrating value to executives and finance
  • Identifying opportunities to add value to the organisation
  • Partnering with internal stakeholders and aligning with organisational strategy
 

Sarah Godden, General Counsel, Department of Communications and the Arts

 11.45

Case study: Portfolio efficiency through automated contract writing

 
  • Demands of a diverse portfolio on the in-house legal team
  • Collaboration between IT and Legal to develop a bespoke solution for contract automation
  • Insight into the 3-year journey of creation of the automated platform
  • How EIS legal EIS are utilising technology to enhance and empower the business
 

Rebecca Robertshawe, Director EIS Legal, Education Infrastructure Service, Ministry of Education New Zealand

Ashleigh Robinson, Contract Automation Manager, Education Infrastructure Service, Ministry of Education New Zealand

 

12.40 Lunch
13.30

Case study: Streamlining procurement to reduce risk

 
  • Conducting a review of current procurement process
  • Improving collaboration and transparency between organisational siloes
  • Balancing oversight with efficiency when re-designing procurement procedures and systems
  • Developing and maintaining an appropriate procurement database
 

Anne McManus, Corporate Counsel, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

14.15 Case study: Promoting governance practices across the organisation
 
  • The important role of in-house counsel in promoting good governance
  • Considering the top governance priorities
  • Promoting ethical culture
  Paul Kapetas, General Counsel, City of Ryde Council
15.00

Afternoon tea

 15.30

Impact and implications of AI for legal profession

 
  • Opportunities presented by AI for public sector in-house counsel
  • Current applications of AI legal tech
  • Preparing in-house counsel for disruption
  • New skills for the lawyer of the future
  • Limitations of AI in the public sector
 

Rajiv Cabraal, Commercialisation, Legal & IP Director, Data 61

16.15 Closing remarks from the Chair and end of conference