Medico-Legal Society of Queensland (MLSQ) Podcast

Pills v Precedents:  Measuring the Impact on Humanity

Biography

Petrina Macpherson is best described as a lawyer with a sense of humour.

By day, Petrina is a Special Counsel at MinterEllison, specialising in complex construction disputes, and holds a Masters in Construction Law from the University of Melbourne. In addition to her Construction Disputes practice, Petrina also has a keen interest in legal ethics and sits on the Ethics Committee of the Queensland Law Society and the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board of Queensland.

Petrina also has a background in stand-up comedy, including regular gigs on the Brisbane stand-up comedy circuit and she has been a finalist in many Queensland comedy competitions. Petrina has flexed her skills as a comedian in a professional setting in corporate comedy debates, and hosting and MC'ing corporate events in the legal and non-legal world.

A view from the Bench

The Honourable Justice Rebecca Treston

Biography - Justice Treston was admitted as a solicitor in 1991 and was called to the Queensland Bar in 1996. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2013, and as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2024.

Her Honour had a diverse commercial practice at the Bar, predominantly in estate and trust litigation, but also in general commercial litigation, statutory scheme litigation, public liability and medical negligence litigation.

Her Honour was the first female President of the Bar Association of Qld between 2018 and 2020. 

Crossing the Expert: Mastering the Art of Cross-Examination of Experts 

Gerard Mullins KC

Biography - Gerard Mullins KC practices in Tort law. He specialises in catastrophic injury, medical negligence, aviation and human rights.

He has an LLM from the University of Queensland where he lectures periodically in the Masters Program. He has delivered papers nationally and internationally on diverse aspects of tort law. He is a joint author of Civil Liability, Australia, published by LexisNexis.

He acted on behalf of the families of victims of the Black Hawk Helicopter crash in Townsville in 1996 in litigation in Queensland and Connecticut; the New South Wales Master Farriers’ Association in the Equine Influenza Inquiry in 2006; numerous children sexually abused in foster care in Queensland (Davison v. State of Queensland (2006) 226 CLR 234); the patients of Dr Jayant Patel and the Bundaberg Hospital Support Group at the Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry and associated litigation (Keating v. Morris [2005] QSC 243); multiple Police Officers who developed psychiatric conditions following covert police work (Queensland v. Stephenson (2006) 226 CLR 197); the relatives of Cameron Doomadgee following his death on Palm Island (Hurley v. Clements [2010] 1 Qd R 215); multiple patients of a surgeon in claims relating to failed abdominal surgery (Shaw v Broadbent (2004) QSC 433); multiple families of victims of the Lockhart River air crash (Thornton v. Lessbrook (2010) QSC 363 and Kepa v. Lessbrook (2012) 269 FLR 103) and subsequent antisuit litigation relating to proceedings in Missouri (Mackellar Mining Equipment Pty Ltd v. Thornton [2019] QCA 77); the mothers of deceased adolescents following closure of a psychiatric facility at the Barrett Adolescent Centre Commission of Inquiry; Doctors for Refugees at the Inquest into the Death of Hamid Khazaei on Manus Island; the survivors of sexual abuse in the Australian Defence Force and families of the deceased in the crash of FZ981 in Rostov-on-Don in Russia. 

Everything About Expert Conclaves

Jessica McClymont KC

Biography - Jessica McClymont KC is a highly experienced practitioner in personal injuries, having practiced extensively in that area over the course of her legal career spanning more than thirty years. She practiced as a solicitor and was a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist, prior to commencing at the Bar in 2005 and being appointed King’s Counsel in 2023. She accepts instructions on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, and as a mediator and expert evidence conclave facilitator, and is a panel member of most major insurers with the Queensland jurisdiction and the Queensland government. 

Expert Immunity in Medical Indemnity: Legal Protections and Limitations

Justine Beirne

Biography - Justine has over 25 years’ experience in medical indemnity across the spectrum of civil claims, class actions, disciplinary complaints and coronal investigations. She has successfully combined her litigation, risk management skills, Master of Laws, Postgraduate Certificate in Management, strategic and change leadership to manage a national medical indemnity portfolio and over 220 staff. She leads a team of over 90 lawyers in Avant Law nationally making it the largest and only specialist medico legal firm in Australia. As the first female and youngest President of the Society Justine brings a wealth of medical indemnity experience.

What does the “I” mean for an IME?

Dr Jill Reddan

Biography - Jill Reddan has been a medical practitioner for close to 45 years and a Fellow of the RANZCP for 36 years. Her subspecialty training was in forensics but she has always also practised as a general adult psychiatrist. She was a psychiatrist for the General Medical Assessment Tribunals, QCOMP and she was an Assisting Psychiatrist for the Mental Health Court for close to 10 years.

She was in private clinical practice for many years but for most of her professional life she has also worked in the public sector and she continues to work for the Prison Mental Health Service.

In addition, she has undertaken work for the College and she spent 6 years as the Co-Chair of the Committee for Examinations.