Our industrial and employment law presence
Over the last 24 months our firm has undergone some structural change in order to improve and develop our industrial and employment law presence in Queensland.
In mid 2013 the Honourable Robert McClelland, former Commonwealth Attorney General, returned to the firm as a Partner specialising in industrial relations law.
Robert temporarily left the firm in 1996 to enter Federal Parliament where he served in a number of shadow ministerial portfolios including Shadow Minister for Workplace Relations.
Between 2007 and 2011 Robert served as the Commonwealth Attorney General. During that time he introduced a number of reforms in the area of alternative dispute resolution including amending the Commonwealth Legal Practice Guidelines to require all government agencies to consider mediation as an alternative to litigation. Robert also introduced legislation to require parties to make genuine attempts to resolve matters before commencing litigation in the federal courts.
In 2012 Special Counsel Adam Tayler joined the firm who has wide experience in employment and industrial relations matters.
Our firm has developed a specialised legal team based in Brisbane with access to our network of offices throughout the country ready to service industrial and employment law clients.
Turner Freeman is well equipped to provide legal services to unions and their members in all matters relating to:
- Employment and industrial law
- Occupational health and safety
- Governance and administration
- Legal strategies in pursing industrial objectives
- Drafting an interpretation of union rules and appearing for the union and/or its officers in legal arguments concerning the rules
- Interpretation and application of federal and state awards and agreements and state and federal legislation
- Election procedures
- Internal disciplinary matters
- Disputes with other unions
- Drafting of awards and agreements
- Defending against alleged restrictive trade practices
- Representing unions in statutory and quasi judicial enquiries
- Defending against industrial tortes actions
- Negotiations for enterprise agreements
- Deformation claims against officers
- Fighting sham contracting arrangements
- Federal and state anti-discrimination legislation
- Superannuation
- Commercial and corporate law issues; and
- Employee participation/industrial democracy and employee profit sharing arrangements.
Our Queensland based industrial and employment law team offer discounts on normal rates to union members with whom the firm has a relationship in industrial law matters.
In industrial matters the team has specialists in industrial and employment.
What sets Turner Freeman’s Queensland based union advisory team apart is that the firm values the provision of high quality legal services being provided by senior and experienced lawyers rather than the mass market approach adopted by many of the large union service firms.
When a union becomes a client of Turner Freeman they enter a partnership where all of their professional support needs are fulfilled.
Turner Freeman’s Queensland based industrial law team take a creative and out-of-the-box approach to industrial matters with an eye on strategy and the directions, values and goals of its union based clients and their members.