FALS Committee

23 March 2021
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Alexandra Law

Member Victoria Alexandra works as a property lawyer at Bupa (Property, Leasing & Development) for Australia and New Zealand, and had previously worked as a lawyer at Mills Oakley in the Property & Construction Department. Alexandra wishes to continue to serve the Society dedicating her time and skills into organising events for the Society in 2022. She sees her role as integral in the day to day organisation of events and activities undertaken by the Society and growing the Society as an exciting place to be.

Antonela Purece

Treasurer New South Wales Antonela is a Tax professional within the International Tax and Transaction Services department at Ernst and Young in Sydney. She is a French and Romanian lawyer and completed a Bachelor of Law in both Romania and France. She wishes to actively help with organising different social events, give back from her experience to the French community and to speak French with people who love keeping alive the French culture while in Australia.

Camille Dezarnaulds

Public Officer New South Wales Camille is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales who is bilingual and has an extensive French speaking practice. He works with lawyers and notaries in France, New Caledonia and Tahiti, and has advised the French embassy in Canberra and the French Consulate in Sydney. In addition, he has a French-Australian clientele within Sydney and practices particularly in the field of common law, family law and commercial law. He has been practicing in Sydney over 20 years.

Charlotte Linehan

Secretary New South Wales Lawyer Charlotte is a specialist in employment law and workplace relations. She has been an Associate in the Fair Work Commission in Sydney since the beginning of 2022 and prior to that worked as an employment lawyer in private practice.
Charlotte has a great love for France, French people and French culture (and French cheese!). She enjoys meeting fellow Francophiles, native speakers and citizens who share her love of the law, France and Australia.

Donna Ross

Committee Member Victoria Donna is an international commercial lawyer, arbitrator and mediator and the principal of Donna Ross Dispute Resolution. She is admitted to practice in New York and Australia and holds a French civil law degree.
Donna is a francophone and francophile having lived and worked in France for some 20 years. She advises and acts for clients from civil and common law jurisdictions and teaches arbitration, mediation and negotiation.

Emily Lau

Vice President New South Wales Emily is an Associate in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications group at Johnson Winter & Slattery in Sydney. She advises clients in the areas of privacy, competition and consumer laws, telecommunications regulations and modern slavery reporting laws. She also assists clients with drafting and negotiating technology supply agreements. Emily has a Bachelor of Arts (French major, Hons 1) and Bachelor of Laws (Hons 1) from Macquarie University.

Gary Thomas

Member Western Australia Gary is a Perth-based property lawyer
specialising in property transactions and commercial contracts and advice at McWilliams Lawyers. Gary comes from an English-speaking background and came to Australia at the age of 21. Gary has been a Francophile since falling in love with his French teacher in first year high school. He has a small “chez-moi” in Paris and hopes to be able to travel to France more regularly again, despite the current international uncertainties and promote the aims of FALS whenever possible.

Ken Ramsay

New South Wales Ken has been a solicitor since 1966 and a public notary since 1992, acting in the public health sector as well as for listed and unlisted corporations, not for profit bodies and private individuals.
Ken lived in Fontainebleau, France, during the school year 1967/8, employed by Lycee Francois 1er to give English conversation classes to its students, and he maintains a keen interest in France and all things French. He is a committee member of the French Australian Lawyers Society Inc.
Ken sits on the boards of charities and corporate clients; he was an Elected Councillor of HCF, and he was a member of South East Health’s Human Research Ethics Committee from 2000 to 2017.
Ken has been the Independent Chair of the Code of Conduct Committee of the Private Health Insurers Intermediaries Association Inc. since 2015. He was also for many years the Chair of the Code Monitoring Committee of the Medical Technology Association of Australia.
Ken has been a partner in law firms ranging in size from small to multinational, and now works in sole practice as a member of Clarence Professional Group.

Marie Wilkening-Le Brun

Past President Victoria Marie is a barrister and an accredited national mediator. She has been a lawyer for over 20 years having studied and practiced in Melbourne, and in London.
Marie was President of FALS for 6 years (2014 to 2020). Marie has organised events for the Society, represented the Society nationally. She has also been awarded a Chevalier of the Ordre de Merite of the French Republic for her legal services and engagement in the French community in Australia.

Phillip Roberts

President New South Wales Phillip is an Australian lawyer who speaks French, Japanese and Vietnamese. He has made numerous visits to France, Quebec and New Caledonia. Currently Phillip has a private practice in the Sydney CBD with the main areas of practice being IT law, commercial litigation and family law. Phillip is interested to assist FALS in achieving its aims in Franco-Australian relations and also in keeping up to date with the general affairs of the profession.