Clare works in our Employment team, helping clients navigate employment, industrial relations and safety matters. She advises organisations across government, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, financial services, insurance, recruitment and maritime on enterprise bargaining, industrial disputes, investigations, organisational change and workforce management.
Clients value Clare's ability to cut through complexity, particularly when dealing with sensitive people issues and high-stakes employment matters. She regularly assists employers with restructures, employee conduct issues, psychosocial risks and managing injured workers. She has extensive experience conducting and advising on investigations involving bullying, harassment, discrimination and misconduct.
With careers spanning journalism and law, Clare brings a unique perspective to employee conduct, culture and reputational risk. Her background in both fields complements her legal expertise in helping organisations navigate issues that can quickly become matters of both legal and public concern. An experienced advocate, Clare regularly represents employers before the Fair Work Commission and the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, as well as conciliations, mediations and conferences.
- Provided external legal support to AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) on the sale of its portfolio of financial planning investments to AZ NGA, and on the formation of its strategic partnership with Entireti Limited (resulting in the creation of a new ownership structure for the AMP Advice licensee business).
- Advising an airport corporation with respect to the engagement and termination of senior executives.
- Advising a large state government department across all employment and WHS issues.
- Advising and representing a Newcastle manufacturing company regarding an accident involving an employee who suffered a brain injury. This includes representing the company in the SafeWork prosecution.
- Undertaking many workplace investigations, covering sexual harassment, bullying and assault, for a wide range of organisations, including a large disability service provider, local government, a Fortune 100 company, a household-name snack brand company and an Australasian infrastructure construction company.
- Acting for Councils across a broad spectrum of employment matters, including enterprise agreement interpretation, public interest disclosures, union disputes, unfair dismissal matters, investigations and day-to-day HR advice.
- Successfully negotiating an enforceable undertaking as an alternative to a WorkCover prosecution for a construction company, where two apprentices where injured in a workplace accident.
- Advising a Crown trust in relation to an ongoing employment dispute across a number of issues including application of an enterprise agreement, alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act 2009 and a bullying allegation.
- Working with Community Housing Limited providing advice and assistance with transfer of employment and integration of employees following acquisition of Horizon Housing Limited and Northern Suburbs Housing Community, including advice and assistance with a range of confidential employment issues.
- Assisting a manufacturing company with advice and strategies to manage protracted industrial action during enterprise agreement negotiations.
- Providing commercially sound advice on restructures across a broad variety of organisations.
Awards and recognition
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific
Labour and Employment | 2020
Membership and community involvement
- Member, Employment Law Committee, Law Society of NSW
- Member, NSW Industrial Relations Commission User Group