Kate James is a Senior Associate in the Workplace Relations & Safety team, known for her technical legal analysis and clear communication. Kate provides strategic and practical advice on a diverse range of employment issues, with a particular focus on resolving complex and sensitive matters in the public sector.
Experience
Kate advises Commonwealth and private sector clients on all aspects of employment, industrial relations, and workplace safety. She specialises in employee disputes, workplace investigations, public interest disclosures, enterprise bargaining, compliance audits, and public sector advisory. Kate is often called on to provide strategic support for performance management, misconduct, and investigations involving vulnerable or high-profile individuals.
Kate's areas of expertise include:
- public sector employment law
- enterprise bargaining and agreement interpretation
- public interest disclosures, including investigations, advice and training
- workplace investigations (public and private)
- unfair dismissal, general protections and discrimination
- workplace restructures, industrial strategy and executive advisory.
Career highlights
Kate's career highlights include:
- working on the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation while on secondment to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
- advising Commonwealth agencies on public interest disclosures, including managing reputational risks and briefing agency heads and ministers
- conducting and advising on multiple sensitive code of conduct investigations for Commonwealth agencies and private companies
- instructing counsel in an appeal before the Full Federal Court in relation to a claim for breach of an enterprise agreement
- advising on payroll compliance audits for major education clients
- advising Commonwealth agencies on managing SES-level misconduct and performance concerns, including strategy and internal briefings
- conducting enterprise bargaining for a not-for-profit agency and other Commonwealth agencies, including navigating the new APS-wide bargaining framework.