Women in Legal breakfast panel event - Deakin Law School Newsroom

Start your day with a powerful panel discussion featuring five remarkable women in the legal profession, co-hosted by Women in Legal.

Our guest panelists will reflect on their career journey and share their insights into the current state of gender equality in the legal profession.

Deakin Law School Alumni Chapter is delighted to welcome the following speakers:

Panellists

Donna Whiteley – Moderator:

As a manager in the secondments team of award winning NewLaw firm lexvoco and also as the founder of Women in Legal, Donna helps lawyers succeed and believes that the best teams are made up of a diverse mix of amazing people who all bring their whole, unique self to work. Donna loves big plans and connecting with lawyers who are driven and passionate about change in Australia’s legal industry, whether that be fixing the leaky pipeline of female talent to senior leadership roles, engaging with legal technology and innovation, or thinking differently about resourcing. Building the Women in Legal community around Australia is a true passion project, perfectly complimented and supported by lexvoco who share the same mission and values.

Professor Jenni Lightowlers

Professor Jenni Lightowlers is the Dean of Deakin Law School. Jenni is a practicing Dean and is founding Partner of boutique law firm, Francis Abourizk Lightowlers (FAL). Jenni is one of Australia’s leading and most respected lawyers in the field of technology, innovation and commercialisation. She is also considered one of Australia’s leading advisors to universities and has a deep understanding of the university and higher education sectors, particularly their compliance and operational issues. She has held the position of Deputy Chancellor of Deakin University and is a Vice chancellor’s Distinguished Fellow. Prior to taking up the role of Acting Dean, Jenni also chaired the University Legislation Committee and was a Member of the Advisory Committee to the Law School.

Magistrate Carolyn Burnside

Carolyn Burnside was appointed as a Magistrate in 2017. Prior to this appointment, she dedicated the past decade of her career to prosecuting sexual assault and family violence cases for the Office of Public Prosecutions. Ms Burnside signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 1993 and is an active member of the Victorian Bar having held positions on its managing council and various committees, including the Criminal Bar Association and the Victorian Bar Ethics Committee.

Marianne Marchesi

Marianne Marchesi is the founder and principal lawyer of Legalite – a new kind of law firm that aims to simplify legal services. In less than two years, she has proudly led Legalite in becoming a recognised market-leading law firm in the business and franchising space. Marianne is passionate about changing the practice of law and disrupting the traditional legal model. In 2018, she was awarded Sole Practitioner of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards, and Legalite was named Australia's Best Law Firm for the second year in a row in the NAB Professional Services Awards – an award judged entirely by clients.

Loren Goodwin

Loren Goodwin is Legal Counsel for L’Oréal Australia & New Zealand, where she supports 29 brands in Australia and 19 in New Zealand plus corporate functions. Prior to this, Loren was a solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons, where she primarily worked across Corporate M&A. Loren is passionate about legal innovation & all things legal tech, automation and data analytics. Shortlisted as a finalist in the upcoming Lawyers Weekly 30 under 30 Awards, Loren is recognised for her excellence as a young in-house lawyer. Since 2016, she has also been the President of the Deakin Law School Alumni Executive Committee.