Speaking, seminars and professional education
I present to three key audiences: lawyers, the professionals who meet the family law system through their clients, and the community organisations supporting people through it.
I have presented for the Television Education Network, Legalwise, Leo Cussen Institute, CPA discussion groups, the Law Institute of Victoria's Family Violence Committee and Surrogacy Australia, and at the STOP Domestic Violence Conference. In February 2026 I chaired the Television Education Network's 11th Melbourne Annual Family Law Conference at Crown Melbourne. In 2018 I co-presented a national webinar on family law challenges with the Honourable Diana Bryant AO KC, former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia.
Upcoming.
Date
October 2026
Session
Coercive Control: What the New Offences Mean for FDR Practice
Audience
Family dispute resolution practitioners
Format
Chairing and conference leadership.
I have chaired national and Melbourne family law conferences, including a full-day programme at Crown Melbourne in February 2026.
| Year | Role | Conference | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Chair | TEN’s 11th Melbourne Annual Family Law Conference — full day | Crown Melbourne |
| 2023 | Conference chair | The Family Law Litigation Tool Box: Strategy and Procedure | Television Education Network, online lunchtime conference |
| 2023 | Conference chair | Death, Tax, Trusts, Crime and Bankruptcy: Family Law | National online conference |
Family violence and coercive control
STOP is Australia's principal conference for frontline family violence workers, police, health practitioners and researchers.
STOP Domestic Violence Conference
| Year | Session | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | New Horizons in Family Law: How the 2024 Amendments Reshape Property Settlements for Family Violence Survivors | Surfers Paradise |
| 2022 | Elder Abuse in the Context of a Family Separation | Gold Coast Co-presented with Stefan Pantellis |
| 2020 | Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence in the Context of Family Separations | Gold Coast |
| 2018 | The Legal Framework of Family Violence | Gold Coast |
Family violence law has changed substantially since 2018, and most of the people applying it are not specialists. These sessions were delivered to lawyers, dispute resolution practitioners and workplace audiences, covering coercive control, evidence, information sharing and the intersection of family and criminal law.
Continuing legal education and professional briefings
| Year | Session | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Coercive Control Learnings in Practice | Law Institute of Victoria, Family Violence Committee |
| 2025 | Family Violence, Child Protection and Information Disclosure: Navigating New Duties and Disclosure Risks | Television Education Network, national webinar |
| 2024 | Proving and Disproving Family Violence in Family Law | CPD seminar, Melbourne |
| 2022 | Family Violence and the Workplace | Melbourne |
| 2021 | Family Law and Crime: Getting the Upper Hand on the Low Down | Television Education Network |
| 2021 | Domestic Violence and Crime: A Family Law Perspective | Television Education Network, webinar |
Property, financial settlements and contributions.
| Year | Session | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Understanding Contributions: A Short and Long Term Perspective | Television Education Network Presented four times, including TEN’s 6th Annual Melbourne Family Law Conference and the 14th Annual Family Law Conference |
| 2021 | Financial Agreements: The Importance of 2020 Vision | Discussion group webinar |
| 2020 | Navigating Difficult Property Matters in Family Law | Television Education Network, online lunchtime conference |
| 2018 | Property Settlements and Superannuation | Television Education Network, audio and webinar programme |
Property work is where family law meets tax, superannuation, trusts and business structures. These sessions were delivered to family lawyers, mostly through the Television Education Network, on contributions, financial agreements and complex asset pools.
Parenting, parentage and surrogacy
Surrogacy and donor conception remain among the least settled areas of Australian family law, and the questions arrive faster than the legislation. I have presented on legal parentage, surrogacy arrangements and assisted reproduction to legal, medical and intended-parent audiences since 2014.
| Year | Session | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Legal Issues Affecting Surrogacy | Surrogacy Australia |
| 2024 | Who’s Your Daddy? Disputes Over the Biology of a Child | Leo Cussen Institute Parentage disputes, DNA testing, declarations of parentage, assisted reproductive technology |
| 2019 | A Guide to Surrogacy Laws: Both Here and Overseas | Legalwise Seminars |
| 2014, 2015, 2017 | Presenter, national conferences | Surrogacy Australia / Families Thru Surrogacy |
Practice, procedure and dispute resolution.
Some of this work is craft rather than doctrine, how an order is drafted, how a mediation is prepared for, what privilege actually covers. These sessions were delivered to family law practitioners through Leo Cussen, Legalwise and national webinar programmes.
| Year | Session | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Mastering Mediation, Preparation for Success | Leo Cussen Institute, Family Law Intensive Advocacy at mediation, ethical obligations, practical strategy |
| 2021 | Drafting Complex Consent Orders | Leo Cussen Institute, half-day masterclass |
| 2019 | Drafting Complex Orders and Agreements | Legalwise Seminars |
| 2019 | Family Law Drafting Intensive: Drafting Complex Consent Orders | Legalwise Seminars |
| 2018 | Family Law Challenges | CCH, national webinar Co-presented with the Honourable Diana Bryant AO QC, former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, Michele Brooks and Jacky Campbell |
| 2018 | Without Prejudice Correspondence in Family Law Matters | National video webinar |
Education for accountants and professional advisers.
Accountants and financial advisers usually meet family law through a client, without warning and often before a lawyer is involved. I have been running sessions for CPA discussion groups and accounting firms since 2020 on property settlements, trusts, financial agreements and how to work effectively with a family lawyer.
| Year | Session | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Understanding Family Law the KHQ Way | Multiple CPA discussion groups Property settlements, trusts, companies, loans, gifts, inheritances, financial agreements |
| 2021 | Family Law and Financial Agreements | CPA Northern Suburbs Women’s Discussion Group |
| 2020 | Family Law in 2020: A New World | Accounting firms, webinar |
“The most rewarding part of my job is seeing a client move from feeling overwhelmed and uncertain to feeling informed, empowered and ready to move forward..”
Monica Blizzard, Director KHQ Lawyers