Jessica Pratt
Special Counsel
Jessica is a highly skilled lawyer with wide-ranging expertise, having worked in both private practice and in State and Federal government.
Jessica is a passionate and enthusiastic advocate for her clients. She takes a keen interest in understanding their business imperatives and helping them identify solutions that suit their needs. Jessica’s advice typically has a practical focus which her clients value.
Areas of Practice
Jessica advises clients on all aspects of employment and workplace relations law, including general employment and HR issues, modern award compliance issues, enterprise agreements, disciplinary and performance matters, change management and organisational restructures, corporate transactions, and employment litigation (including Fair Work Commission and court matters).
She is also a sought out adviser on privacy law, workplace health and safety, and has expertise in gender equity practice and the Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic).
Jessica regularly develops and presents workplace training programmes for employees at all levels, including senior executives and boards.
She is committed to ensuring that the organisations she advises, including independent schools, professional services firms, and not-for-profit organisations, are in a position to foster diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces for their staff.
Experience and expertise
Recent examples of work undertaken by Jessica include:
- Providing multifaceted advice regarding a large organisational restructure and associated change management processes to ensure proactive compliance with workplace laws
- Advising a large employer on the automatic sunsetting of a zombie agreement and the impact of it being replaced by numerous modern awards, including preparing tailored documentation for the workforce to minimise associated legal risk
- Assessing modern award coverage and advising on organisation-wide employment contract and workplace policy reviews, to achieve proactive compliance and best practice
- Preparing and facilitating interactive performance management workplace training for senior management of a large national employer held at numerous sites
- Frequently acting on behalf of vendors and purchasers in commercial transactions (both share acquisitions and business sale transactions), conducting due diligence, and advising on transfer of business rules
- Advising local and global clients in respect of compliance with Australian privacy laws, including Commonwealth laws, state-based privacy laws, and surveillance legislation. Drafting documentation to ensure compliance with legislative schemes, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Advising on all aspects of managing employees, including the management of ill and injured workers, dealing with employee performance and misconduct issues, advising on employee entitlements, and termination of employment issues
- Attaining expertise in Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic) compliance, gender equality strategy development and implementation, and gender impact assessment development and implementation
Professional and Community Engagement
Jessica regularly volunteers in her local community.
She also enjoys presenting on the latest employment law developments at industry seminars and contributing to thought leadership publications.
Education
- Bachelor of Laws, University of Tasmania
- Bachelor of Commerce (Finance Major), University of Tasmania
- Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, College of Law
- Course in Gender Equity (300-hour accredited course), RMIT University
Affiliations
- Law Institute of Victoria
