STEPHEN’S DISTINGUISHED CAREER WAS FORMERLY AS A PROMINENT EMPLOYMENT LAWYER AND IS NOW AS AN INDUSTRIAL AGENT AND EMPLOYMENT LAW ADVOCATE SPECIALISING IN UNFAIR DISMISSAL AND UNLAWFUL DISMISSAL ADVICE, CLAIMS AND REPRESENTATION.
About Stephen Edwards LLB, the Owner and Principal of Fair Work Legal Advice®
During Stephen’s eminent legal career as a barrister and solicitor in Western Australia he became prominent in various areas of the law including as Chairman of Partners and the senior litigation partner at Minter Ellison Perth having developed a specialist practice in media and defamation law and industrial relations and employment law. During that time his case load was extremely challenging and varied, including being lead counsel in many serious and well known criminal trials ranging from defence to wilful murder to prosecuting for the Crown, jury trials, major appeals and Supreme Court defamation trials.
Stephen also served a term as Acting President of the Western Australia Industrial Relations Commission.
During his former career as a court lawyer, Stephen was regarded as one of the leading members of the Australian legal profession in employment law and industrial relations, and was lead counsel in many cutting edge cases.
In mid August 2014, after an impeccable career as a lawyer, Stephen decided to register as an industrial agent under the Industrial Relations Act (WA). In that capacity Stephen opened a new business, Fair Work Legal Advice®, which is a specialist consultancy in employment law, workplace relations and fair work law. The firm specializes in assisting people and companies throughout Australia, particularly in Perth and regional Western Australia, in the resolution of all types of employment issues and disputes, independent workplace investigations and negotiating enterprise agreements. Stephen is no longer a legal practitioner, having decided not to be, but as an industrial agent he is entitled to represent clients in the Fair Work Commission and the WA Industrial Relations Commission in cases such as unfair and unlawful dismissal, general protections, denied contractual benefits and enterprise bargaining.
Stephen currently has a wide range of clients, some very well known. He represents both employers and employees, and is easy moving between the two sometimes competing worlds of business and employees. He is vastly experienced handling employment issues for both and is highly regarded, and sometimes feared, in the business world and in his former profession as a lawyer, senior members of which are routinely adversaries in the employment cases he takes on. Law firms often brief Stephen to represent their clients.
Lately, Stephen has undertaken some significant workplace investigations and has also developed a thriving practice as an enterprise agreement and fair work negotiator, where his experience and qualifications as a LEADR mediator are very useful.
Stephen is now a registered industrial agent and he conducts his business meticulously with the same ethics, integrity and standards as he did formerly as a senior certificated legal practitioner and he applies and complies in all respects with the Code of Conduct prescribed by the Industrial Relations (Industrial Agents) Regulations 1997.
Stephen is a very experienced private pilot with a full command instrument rating and he flies beech bonanza and tiger moth aeroplanes.
Stephen does not provide advice or representation about workers compensation.