University of Newcastle School of Law and Justice Advisory Board
The University of Newcastle School of Law and Justice's advisory board brings together the specialist knowledge and legal professional practice expertise of a highly skilled and diverse group.
Members of the Advisory Board include members of the judiciary, lawyers from local and global law firms, members of community legal centres, lawyers from government agencies, members of the Newcastle Bar Association, and sole practitioners.
The Advisory Board has three sub-committees who provide strategic advice on alignment of the school’s strategic objectives with external opportunities and community expectations in the areas of equity and diversity, professionalism, and promotion and funding.
The Advisory Board meets three times a year, while the sub-committees continue to work independently on initiatives and report back to the whole Board. Board members are asked to serve an initial two year term, but may be invited to renew their membership or recommend a replacement member from their particular field or area of expertise.
Advisory Board meetings are open to all school staff staff and may also include invited guests from time to time.
Lauren is a Senior Trade Mark Counsel at Davies Collison Cave with more than fifteen years’ experience in intellectual property law, focusing on trade mark prosecution, advisory, clearance and enforcement work. She has handled large trade mark portfolios in Australia and overseas for a variety of businesses from start-ups through to large corporates, including across Internet service and Internet retail, food, cosmetics, fashion, software, technology, transport, tourism and health industries and for government clients. Lauren also has experience in product design matters, copyright, trade practices, trading names and domain names. She works in Davies Collison Cave’s Newcastle and Sydney offices.
Lauren studied a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at the University of Newcastle and a Master of Laws at the Queen Mary and Westfield College of the University of London. She is pleased to continue to be engaged with the University of Newcastle, including in relation to I2N and as a VMS mentor, and on the Law School Advisory Board.
Catherine Henry is the principal of Catherine Henry Lawyers – a mid sized legal practice in Newcastle’s CBD. She has specialised in health and medical law for over 30 years. In that time, she has successfully handled many hundreds of claims for injured plaintiffs and worked on some of Australia’s highest profile cases. She employs a team of six specialist health lawyers at the firm who conduct litigation and a diverse range of health law matters including a large practice in the health disciplinary area acting for allied health professionals including pharmacists, nurses, psychologists and dentists. Catherine has also been a legal member of boards of inquiry hearing complaints against pharmacists and has been a part legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. The firm also acts in family law and has a growing presence in estate and elder law. Catherine has become a national expert in the area of aged care litigation – primarily in litigation against aged care facilities. As the national spokesperson for the Australian Lawyers Alliance on aged care and elder law, she believes that litigation has been shown to play a positive role in improving standards of health care. Catherine has been a casual lecturer at UON Law School in the past – and has taught torts and civil procedure. She was a member of the University Council for a 3 year term from 2005 and is so honoured again to be able to contribute to the great work done at the UON Law School. a member of the Hunter Reference Group on Potential Elder Abuse.
Geoff Mulherin CSC is the Director of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, an independent statutory body, which is globally recognised for its work to identify the legal and access to justice needs of the community, what ‘works’ to address those needs, and to support the planning and delivery of appropriate and cost-effective legal services to the community.
Geoff is a Director of the Pro Bono Disbursement Fund, and a member of the NSW Legal Assistance Forum and of the Legal Information Access Centre of the State Library of NSW. His research interests include the planning and delivery of legal services in rural regional remote areas of NSW, and has a growing personal interest in the Hunter region.
Daniel is an experienced insurance lawyer with close to 20 years advising clients on insurance litigation. He specialises in catastrophic claims, indemnity issues, fraudulent and complex economic loss claims. He has particular expertise in compulsory third party claims, public liability claims, property damage recovery actions, and defending section 151Z recovery actions. Daniel is well known for his pragmatic approach to claims, his advocacy and his technical knowledge. He advises large national insurers and self-insured corporates. Daniel has acted for insurers in many leading decisions in the Court of Appeal and also regularly manages special projects for insurers. He is also a sought after speaker with respect to claims management issues.
Emma is an experienced workplace lawyer who advises on employment and work health and safety (WHS) issues for clients in diverse sectors, including mining, transport, financial services, insurance, health care and government. Emma considers broader organisational objectives when guiding clients through difficult situations, ranging from internal investigations and disciplinary matters to unfair dismissal and general protections claims. She also helps clients with enterprise bargaining, terms and conditions of employment and organisational restructures. Emma helps improve workplace safety by developing WHS policies and procedures, advising on legislative compliance and devising practical training. Emma also helps clients respond to regulator investigations into potential breaches of WHS and employment laws.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.