ADELAIDE: Reflections from the Not-For-Profit Sector: Tax and Governance

Will is a taxation specialist at Piper Alderman who provides state, federal and international taxation advice to a range of corporate, commercial and private clients.

Much of Will’s work involves the provision of specialist taxation advice in the context of corporate restructures, business sale transactions and private client advisory. Will also advises the charities sector in relation to a range of taxation and governance issues.

In addition to advisory work, Will also manages disputes with state and federal taxation authorities, and has an excellent track record in securing positive outcomes for his clients.

Will’s knowledge and expertise is well recognised both internally and externally. Will regularly authors taxation law updates and has presented papers on a number of occasions at The Tax Institute. Will has also completed a Master of Tax at Melbourne University. He also has a depth of expertise in the not-for-profit sector advising NFPs on a range of issues including restructuring, tax endorsement and compliance, and directors’ duties.

Christine provides trusted advice to Boards and Executive in all matters of board governance, performance and effectiveness; strategic planning; and executive and director search.

Simon Venus has more than 20 years’ experience as a corporate and commercial lawyer with a broad practice that includes mergers and acquisitions, in-bound foreign direct investment, investment structuring, foreign investment approvals, due diligence and transaction execution.  Simon’s clients come from many different sectors and he advises on a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions for major Australian and international corporations, fund managers, high net worth family offices and private clients.

Many years of working on large pastoral station properties has given Simon a keen interest in agriculture, and the agribusiness sector has become a specific area of focus within his practice.  Simon is the National Head of the firm’s Agribusiness Group and is widely respected within the industry.  He has been consistently recognised for his knowledge and expertise in legal directories and was named Agriculture and Rural Affairs “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in Australia in 2021.

Simon is a former Director of the peak national industry body, Agribusiness Australia, and was an inaugural member of the South Australian Agribusiness Council.  He is also an inaugural member of the Agribusiness Advisory Board at the University of Adelaide’s School of Business and is a director of several private client-owned Australian domiciled holding companies.  Simon is the principal author of the ‘Business Structures’ section in the LexisNexis ‘Practical Guidance’ legal publication and has been a speaker at several agribusiness focused investment and legal conferences.

Simon’s charitable and not-for-profit roles include being a director of the rural financial counselling service, Rural Business Support South Australia & Northern Territory, as well as a trustee of several charitable organisations including the Michell Bequest Foundation, (a medical research foundation administered by the University of Adelaide Faculty of Health Sciences), and the University College London Australia Gift Fund.

A trusted advisor to many long-term clients, they appreciate Simon’s knowledge, commitment, expertise, responsibility, and understanding of the agribusiness sector and his prompt, thorough, and commercially sound advice.  They value his willingness to gain a deeper understanding of how they operate and to recommend alternative options when delivering legal solutions.

Erin has over fifteen years’ experience in providing advice to employers and employer associations on all aspects of occupational health and safety, employment and industrial relations law as well as delivering essential information seminars and training workshops on key employment issues.

Erin has extensive experience providing advice in relation to performance management, misconduct investigations and unfair dismissal claims, bullying, discrimination and harassment matters and occupational health and safety issues including risk management and policy development.

In particular, Erin has been involved in numerous enterprise bargaining processes for large organisations across industry sectors, supporting clients in the planning, negotiation and implementation stages of the process.

Erin is a co-author with Professor Andrew Stewart and Elise Jenkin of Parental Leave: A User-Friendly Guide, published by Thomson Reuters in December 2011.

As a part of our national team, Erin advises clients in all states and territories in Australia.