Samantha Downes

Ali Erskine is a Principal at Harwood Andrews and heads the Dispute Resolution and Litigation team. Ali has more than 15 years post qualification experience. Ali joined Harwood Andrews with significant experience in all areas of commercial dispute resolution and regularly advises business clients to resolve disputes and manage risk. Ali is a specialist in relation to terminal and non-terminal insolvency, securities, and security enforcement. Ali also has significant experience relating to sha...

John Spender is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Family Law. John, who practices law in Melbourne, Australia, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which John is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Mark’s practice encompasses both litigious and non-litigious applications of employment and industrial relations law. Mark is skilled in dealing with matters involving: industrial disputes and their implications; drafting and advising on enterprise agreements; award interpretation and ramifications; providing advice and acting in litigious matters regarding terminations, employee discipline, unfair dismissals, adverse action claims, common law disputes, equal opportunity, discrimination...

Deborah is a principal lawyer in Harwood Andrews’ wills and estates law practice team. Deborah is accredited by the Law Institute of Victoria as a specialist in Wills and Estates. Deborah has worked for various law firms in Geelong. Deborah has a caring and compassionate approach and aims to provide a solution that works for you. Deborah has in excess of twenty years’ experience in all areas of wills and estate planning, testamentary trusts, estate administration, estate litigatio...

Emma is a member of the Thomson Geer Property Group. Over the past twenty years in practice she has acquired substantial property experience. Emma has been involved in reviewing and drafting documentation for numerous landlords and tenants in large commercial leasing and property transactions. She has also been involved in substantial property due diligence for both buyers and sellers of properties and in corporate mergers and acquisitions. Recent experience includes: Acting for GeelongPort i...

Louise Wolf is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Franchise Law. Louise, who practices law in Mount Waverley, Australia, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Louise is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Bonnie Phillips is an Accredited Family Law Specialist with the Law Institute of Victoria and has been recognised in Best Lawyers and as a Preeminent Family & Divorce Lawyer in Regional Victoria in the 2025 Doyle’s Guide. Bonnie is a Director and Principal of Coulter Legal and acts for clients in all aspects of Family Law, ranging from divorce and intricate parenting matters, through to complex and multifaceted financial matters, including multi-party international disputes. Bonnie ...

Nick practices in all aspects of trade mark law, providing advice on trade mark clearance, prosecution, opposition and enforcement in Australia and New Zealand. He also advises on and manages international trade mark programs for local and international clients. In addition to his experience in all aspects of Australian trade mark law, Nick is a specialist in New Zealand trade mark law. He regularly advises and represents local and international clients regarding clearance, registration and p...

Phil heads Sladen Legal’s superannuation team. He is a member (and past member) of multiple superannuation related committees, and is a regular author and presenter. He regularly liaises with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Treasury in relation the implementation and administration of the superannuation laws. Phil’s clients include private business owners, accountants, financial planners, self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustees and high and medium net worth indiv...

Ian has extensive experience in a wide range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law disputes and transactions covering all intellectual property regimes including patents, copyright, trade marks and related competition law issues, with a particular emphasis on strategic intellectual property litigation. Recently Ian’s practice has involved major national and multi-jurisdictional patent litigation in the pharmaceutical, life sciences, and resources/metallurgical sec...