8 SEPTEMBER 2017 KINGSCLIFF PEPPERS SALT RESORT SPEAKERS TRUSTS & ESTATES CONFERENCE 2017 The Hon. Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE GBM The Honourable Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE GBM was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1972 to 1987 and Chief Justice from 1987 to 1995. He was Commonwealth Solicitor General from 1964 to 1969 and a Judge of the NSW Court of Appeal from 1969 to 1972. He has been Chancellor of UNSW, National Fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji and President of the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal. From 1996 to 1997 he was Arthur Goodhart Professor in Legal Science at Cambridge University. Since 2001 he has been a Distinguished visiting Fellow at the ANU College of Law and in 2016 he was appointed as a Distinguished Honorary Professor. Sir Anthony was a non-permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal from 1997 to 2015. In July 2013, the Hong Kong Government awarded Sir Anthony the Grand Bauhinla Medal (GBM), Hong Kong s highest civil award. Sir Anthony holds Honorary Doctorates from the Australian National University and Sydney, Melbourne, Monash, Griffith and Deakin Universities, UNSW and the Universities of Oxford and Hong Kong. The Hon Alan Wilson QC The Hon Alan Wilson QC was a judge of the District Court of Queensland from 2001 to 2009 and of the Supreme Court of Queensland from 2009 to 2015. In the District Court he managed the Planning and Environment Court of Queensland and was its principal judge. In 2009 he was appointed the first sitting President of the new Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and remained in that role until 2013. He resigned from the Supreme Court in March 2015. Before his appointment Justice Wilson practiced at the Queensland Bar for 18 years, specialising in probate, succession, and equity. He took silk in 1999. He is a past Queensland Chair of STEP and has, despite various distractions in other jurisdictions, retained a strong interest in the law surrounding estates and trusts.
Professor Prue Vines, Professor Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales Prue Vines is Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales where she is also Co -Director of the Private Law Research and Policy Group. She specialises in torts and succession law and has published widely in both. Her recent publications in torts include Fleming s The Law of Torts (10th ed., 2011) (with Sappideen) and The Place of Apologies in Law, Onati Socio-Legal Series, 2017 (with Robyn Carroll). Her well-known work in succession includes the textbook she writes with Professor Rosalind Croucher, Succession: Families, Property and Death, (4th ed.,lexisnexis 2013) and The Aboriginal Wills Handbook: A Practical Guide To Making Culturally Appropriate Wills for Aboriginal people, (NSW Trustee & Guardian, 2nd ed., 2015). Professor Vines has had a Visiting Chair at Strathclyde University, Glasgow since 2006 and often visits Glasgow, where she teaches comparative obligations law. Don Fraser QC, TEP, Queensland Bar Mr Fraser commenced practice as junior counsel in Brisbane in April 1979 engaging generally in civil litigation. After 13 years practice as junior counsel Mr Fraser took silk in 1992. He developed a general practice as a silk and has appeared in a number of leading High Court cases including Bridgewater v Leahy (1998) 194 CLR 457, which dealt with the doctrine of Unconscionability in a way which surprised many commentators. This is a case that continues to be a topic of conversation. Gary Lanham, Special Counsel, TEP, MinterEllison Gary has dealt with all succession related matters great and small, advising individuals and families on their wills and estate planning for more than 40 years. A leading estate and trust practitioner and one of a small group of specialists in succession law accredited by the Queensland Law Society, Gary is also one of only two approved Estate Account Assessors available to be appointed by the Queensland Supreme Court. This regime, a re-write of part of Uniform Civil Procedure Rules, out sources assessment of deceased estate and trust accounts away from the Court Registry, to private, qualified solicitors, since 2012. He was the first person appointed under those changed rules to examine a set of estate accounts.
Melanie Costin, TEP Melanie Costin, with over 16 years experience working in the taxation and business areas of public practice accounting firms, specialises in tax advice and tax compliance in relation to deceased estate administration and special disability trusts. She has presented seminars to STEP, The College of Law, The Tax Institute and CPA Australia, focusing on taxation aspects related to the administration of deceased estates, testamentary trusts and special disability trusts. Zinta Harris, Principal Harris Law, TEP Zinta is the only solicitor in Queensland holding dual specialist accreditations in both succession Law and business Law, with over 20 years experience in these fields. Zinta s expertise lies in: Dispute resolution and management of contested estates; Court appointed estate administration; Estate and life planning; Business succession planning; and Business structuring and asset protection. Zinta s extensive background in contested matters allows her to provide proactive legal advice focused on avoiding problems in the future, together with practical solutions to resolve disputes quickly. Neal Dallas, Principal Superannuation and Revenue, McInnes Wilson Neal has substantial experience in advising clients in the estate planning, superannuation, asset protection and tax industry. With 22 years in superannuation and tax advising, and 24 years in estate planning, he is able to help clients preserve what they have worked hard to create; to deliver ideal structuring outcomes so that they can retain as much of their hard earned wealth during their lifetime, and pass it on at the right time to those who they ultimately wish to succeed them. Neal develops estate planning solutions that look beyond the first generation. In many instances he is called on to ensure that the estate planning solution addresses not only individually held assets, but looks at passing on control of other structures e.g. companies and trusts, as well as dealing with the passing on of assets held in self managed superannuation funds using a variety of arrangements including binding death benefits and reversionary pensions.
Andrew Fraser, Barrister, Queensland Bar Andrew commenced practice as a barrister in 2008. He has a general civil practice with particular expertise in succession and was a recommended junior counsel on Doyle s Guide for Estate Litigation in 2016. Before being called to the Bar, Andrew was a solicitor with a national firm working in litigation and was an Associate to Justice Atkinson of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He has a Bachelor of Laws from QUT with First Class Honours. He has lectured at QUT in the areas of equity and trusts since 2010. Andrew is a nationally accredited mediator and has chambers in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Matthew Burgess, co-founder View Legal Pty Ltd, TEP Matthew Burgess co-founded the firm View Legal in 2014, having been a lawyer and partner of one of Australia s leading independent law firms for over 17 years. Matthew s passion is helping clients successfully achieve their goals. Matthew specialises in tax, estate and succession planning, providing strategic advice to business owners and high net worth individuals. In part leveraging off the skills he has developed working in the SME market space, Matthew has been the catalyst for a number of innovative legal solutions for advisers and their clients, including establishing Australia s first virtual law firm. Gavin Barnes, Director Redchip With over 30 years as a commercial lawyer under his belt, Gavin Barnes now indulges his passion for the start-up journey through his roles as lawyer, mentor and, occasionally, director for technology and fast growth companies. Redchip was established by Gavin in the mid -1990s based on an instinct that business owners and entrepreneurs would respond positively to services delivered by a firm that was motivated by the same drivers as themselves. Gavin s strong commercial background, along with his endless curiosity about what makes businesses tick and what drives innovation in Australian companies, has seen him build one of the industry s most unique commercial firms, as well as his own market- leading technology platform.
Stafford Sheppard, Director, QLS Ethics Centre, Queensland Law Society Stafford was admitted as a solicitor in 1987. Between 1998 and 2003, he practised in partnership and subsequently as a sole practitioner. Between 2003 and 2008 Stafford worked as a consultant. In 2008, Stafford joined Queensland Law Society as an Ethics Guidance Officer and was subsequently appointed as Senior Ethics Solicitor in 2011. On 14 December 2015 Stafford was appointed Director, Ethics Centre Queensland Law Society. QLS Ethics Centre is responsible for providing ethical and practice support guidance to the profession, delivering legal ethics learning and professional development to members, university students and students undertaking practical legal training. Christine Smyth, TEP, QLS President Christine Smyth is President of the Queensland Law Society, an Accredited Specialist - Succession Law and Partner at Robbins Watson Solicitors, a highly respected Gold Coast law firm where she leads a team of 30+. With a legal career spanning over 25 years, Christine is a passionate advocate for solicitors (with a focus on their welfare), a long-standing mentor, utiliser of technology and flexible work practices all while honouring tradition and experience to achieve ethically grounded business viability. Christine s QLS leadership contributions include: Other previous leadership positions include STEP (QLD) committee and General Editor for Lexis Nexis Retirement and Estate Planning Bulletin. A highly regarded succession law expert, Christine is widely published, having a regular Succession Law column in Proctor, Australian Institute of Taxation Journal and various publications in STEP World Wide Journal. Christine s expertise is sought after as a presenter for QLS conferences, and other industry bodies. In 2013, LexisNexis recognised Christine as one of their Top 10 Influential Women. Christine s leadership has resulted in her being nominated for the Queensland Law Society President s Medal. In 2015 and 2016, Christine was awarded the prestigious Doyle s Guide of Queensland s Leading Wills and Estate Litigation Lawyer. Early Bird (before 31 July 2017) STEP Members* $ $ Non STEP Members $ $ Guest tickets to networking events Standard (from 1 August 2017) $ $ $ $ $80 each per evening *STEP Member applies to all members of STEP, including interstate and international members. *STEP Member applies to all members of STEP, including interstate and international members.