Erica Elliott

Erica is a safety and regulatory lawyer who has practised for more than 20 years across the public and private sectors, and in-house.

She has both prosecuted and defended offences, instructed in summary and indictable offences and practised in the New South Wales, Victorian, Queensland, Tasmanian, South Australian, Northern Territory, Western Australian and Commonwealth jurisdictions across a range of industrial, not-for-profit and government sectors. These include:

• mining
• logistics
• agribusiness
• construction, including Significant State Infrastructure
• transport, including rail (private and public) and public transport
• public infrastructure management
• maritime and stevedoring
• heavy vehicle
• aviation
• offshore gas and petroleum
• education
• tourism
• clinical and health, aged care, first response and mental health
• manufacturing
• fumigation
• child protection
• journalism, music and tourist event management
• arterial road operation, road safety and assistance provision
• probity
• government procurement
• sporting injuries
• masonry and building maintenance
• Indigenous business and the NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

Experience

Erica provides end-to-end advice and representation in all areas of regulatory law, including proceedings brought by workplace health and safety, environmental, police, Roads and Maritime Services, Commonwealth and offshore regulators.

She provides compliance advice and delivers compliance training, attends and manages incidents and manages prosecutions, coronial and civil proceedings and civil claims arising from regulatory investigations and charges.

Erica advises businesses, boards, executives, managers and workers on complying with their duties and how to prudently and practically respond to, and anticipate, compliance and enforcement action taken by regulators and police. She also advises on proactive compliance considerations for duty-holders engaging in restructures and professional and disciplinary action.

Erica has instructed/appeared in (for example) all New South Wales Courts from appellate to local courts, the NCAT and the NSWIRComm; the Victorian Supreme Court, the Victorian County Court, and the Victorian Coroners Court; the Queensland Coroners Court, the Tasmanian Coroners Court, the SAET, the Northern Territory Coroners Court, the NCAT, the Western Australian Magistrates Court, the WA Work Health and Safety Tribunal, and the Federal Court. She has also been a probity advisor to the NSW Sporting Injuries Committee.

Erica's areas of expertise include:

• work health and safety law, including incident management, litigation and systemic postventions, with a focus on silica and psychosocial compliance
• marine, aviation, rail, offshore gas and petroleum, environmental, dust diseases and heavy vehicle, coronial, privacy, freedom of information, public interest immunity, administrative and workers compensation law
• mainstream crime
• tort, class action and contract law, including arising from industrial incidents
• judicial and merits review
• occupational licensing
• dealing with unions and health and safety representatives
• notifications of convictions to licensing and construction bodies
• advising on the consequences of convictions for international travel
• advising on prospects of tender competitiveness arising from safety regulator proceedings
• negotiating lesser charges and favourable statements of facts for fixing defendants' penalties
• contractual interpretation and drafting in respect of safety, environmental and principal contractor clauses.

Career highlights

Erica's career highlights include:

• acting for Cricket Australia, Cricket New South Wales, Cricket South Australia, players and umpires in the inquest into the passing of Phillip Hughes
• acting for managers and workers in the Dreamworld inquest
• acting for the music festival peak body regarding the inquests into deaths of multiple music patrons
• advising Opera Australia in relation to the coronial investigation into the passing of Carla Zampatti
• advising a security body in relation to the Bondi Westfield stabbings
• advising an executive in respect of potential personal exposure in relation to the Wieambilla inquests
• instructing in a test case on psychosocial law construction and compliance
• advising and instructing in test prosecutions regarding alleged respirable crystalline exposure
• negotiating multiple enforceable undertakings and charge withdrawals to avoid convictions
• acting in a case establishing that a prosecutor's costs can be taken into account in discounting penalties
• advising the Rural Fire Service in respect of deaths in the 2019-2020 bushfires
• advising in respect of the inquests relating to the Finke Desert Race
• acting for an aged care operator in respect of the deaths at the Quakers Hill Nursing Home and related inquests, SafeWork and police investigations
• acting in respect of a test case on the use of public interest immunity by a work health and safety regulator
• advising in respect of falls from height, crushing, entanglement, person/plant interaction and guarding cases
• advising in respect of alleged breaches of environmental laws relating to the construction of the St Peters interchange
• advising in respect of alleged rail safety breaches in respect of runaway rolling stock
• advising in respect of the validity of statutory improvement notices resulting in their being stayed and then dismissed
• advising in respect of potential work health and safety breaches involving tourists and operators of marine tourist vessels
• advising in respect of an in-hold crushing fatality on board a cargo ship
• negotiating lesser charges that resulted in minimal health and safety fines
• advising in respect of alleged dimensional and weight breaches of the heavy vehicle law resulting in five charges being dismissed
• advising in respect of the positive duty regarding sexual harassment and sex-based harassment
• advising in respect of workplace investigations into workplace incidents, including events in which workers participate as business representatives
• pro bono work for the homeless, hoarders, homelessness outreach services, domestic and family violence survivors and victims and the Wayside Chapel
• acting in proceedings to overturn statutory improvement notices
• advising in relation to investigations undertaken by NOPSEMA, AMSA, the ONRSR, police, environmental and heavy vehicle regulators
• providing mentoring and training in civil, criminal and coronial law, the use of AI in the law, mental health law, health, resilience and wellbeing in the profession, courtcraft, practice and etiquette, effective advocacy, trauma-informed practice in relation to traumatic workplace events and effective communication with clients.