PERTH: Sundowner Session

Shane is a Partner at Piper Alderman. He is a nationally recognised leader in employment, industrial relations and workplace health and safety law. He is also skilled in commercial and governance law, and acts as a General Counsel for some clients.

He started his legal career with Freehills, and has subsequently held senior roles with Downer and BHP across coal, base metals, iron ore and petroleum, for operations and expansion projects. He has clients in most industries including mining, mineral exploration, mining services, energy, engineering, construction, power, transport, retail, air and sea ports, government, maritime, education and agriculture.

Shane is a trusted advisor to executives and boards. Shane regularly deals with complex industrial relations strategy and bargaining matters, having led some very substantial industrial reform projects involving the FWC and court litigation. He advises on sensitive departures, settles disputes and conducts investigations.

Shane leads a proactive workplace health and safety law team nationally with a deep capability and experience. His team educates boards and senior officers on strategy, legal compliance, designs and reviews systems, conducts audits and investigations, conducts deep dives and benchmarking processes, critical response processes, education, legal representation and support for employers during serious accidents and in prosecutions. He has also acted for regulators in prosecutions of companies.

Shane is a member of the firm’s Strategic Leadership Group and is a Head of Office. He is a Director of Crime Stoppers. He designed and taught the unit Legal Strategy in Organisations at Murdoch University and is the co-author of a book on the management of FIFO operations in mining.

Andrew is a leading expert in employment law, workplace relations and the general law of contract.

He consults exclusively to Piper Alderman in matters of legal practice while maintaining his position as the John Bray Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide. He has also undertaken consultancy work for Federal and State governments, the International Labour Organization, the Fair Work Ombudsman and other bodies, and was formerly the President of the Australian Labour Law Association.

His work for Piper Alderman clients includes presenting seminars on legal developments, and the preparation of advice on complex issues. He is particularly well known for his expertise and public commentary on the Fair Work legislation.

This expertise is further enhanced with the publication of several books, including being lead author of the popular texts Creighton & Stewart’s Labour Law, Stewart’s Guide to Employment Law and Intellectual Property in Australia. His most recent work, Contract Law: Principles and Context (co-written with Warren Swain and Karen Fairweather), was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019.

He is also the author of Independent Contractors: A Practical Guide, published by CCH in 2013 and Parental Leave: A User-Friendly Guide, published by Thomson Reuters in 2011. Both were co-written with other members of Piper Alderman’s Employment Relations team. Other recent books include Cooperation at Work: How Tribunals Can Help Transform Workplaces (with Mark Bray and Johanna Macneil) and a co-edited collection, The Wages Crisis in Australia.

Andrew is a founding member of the Perth Piper Alderman office. His experience and skillset spans the practice areas of employment relations, workplace health and safety, commercial, and dispute resolution and litigation.

His employment relations expertise includes working with employers and organisations on front-end advisory work, as well as back-end disputes in many different courts and tribunals. His experience in workplace health and safety includes investigations and audits, and representation (both prosecuting and defending) in regulatory workplace prosecutions.

Andrew was individually recognised as a Recommended Lawyer and Key Lawyer in the 2024 edition of the Australian Legal 500 Rankings in Labour and Employment, Workplace Health and Safety.

He prides himself on efficiently providing strategic and practical legal advice, and establishing long term relationships with clients in a way that adds value to them. Andrew therefore acts as the general legal counsel for numerous clients across many sectors. He is a seasoned expert in commercial contract reviews and negotiations, and has significant experience in commercial disputes and litigation.

Andrew is a member of various professional bodies, including the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) Safety Committee, and the Industrial Relations Society of Western Australia. He often provides pro-bono advice to associations and not-for-profit companies.