TAMARA HUNTER
Partner, King & Wood Mallesons

Tamara is a Partner of King & Wood Mallesons with experience in litigating class actions, particularly those arising under the Competition and Consumer Act and the Australian Consumer Law. She has a strong track record in helping clients navigate major class actions and advising on commercial strategy to minimise the impact of such actions on their business. Tamara is currently acting in a cartel class action, and has previously advised clients in relation to product liability and cartel class actions. She also has extensive experience in related areas of commercial litigation—including competition law, regulatory investigations, and consumer law disputes.

DR RITA MATULIONYTE
Academic, Macquarie University Law School

Dr Rita Matulionyte is an academic at Macquarie University Law School and an affiliate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S). She is an international expert in intellectual property and technology law, with her most recent research focusing on legal and governance issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence technologies. She currently leads projects on Government Use of Facial Recognition Technologies: Legal Challenges and Possible Solutions and Towards More Transparent and Explainable Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Healthcare.

Rita has over 50 research papers published by leading international publishers and she has been invited to present her research in conferences in Europe, Asia and Australia. She has co-authored commissioned reports for the European Patent Office, the governments of South Korea and Lithuania. Rita is leading an Emerging Tech workstream at the Australasian Society for Computers and Law (AUSCL).

HEATHER COLLINS
Investment Manager, Omni Bridgeway

Heather has almost twenty years’ experience in private legal practice, including most recently at Baker McKenzie where her practice encompassed commercial, construction, insolvency, banking and finance and property disputes.

Heather was also previously in-house counsel in the finance sector.  She is a veteran commercial litigator with significant experience advising clients on insolvency, property, construction, Corporations law, trade practices and employment matters.  Her client base has spanned industry sectors including property, construction, infrastructure, finance and retail. She has acted for leading consumer brands such as Tiffany & Co, Ralph Lauren, Valentino, Aldi and Sephora.

Whilst working at Omni Bridgeway Heather has funded matters which include class actions, patent infringement disputes, general commercial litigation and insolvency.

Heather holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Adelaide and she is recognised in the Lawdragon Global 100 Leaders in Legal Finance 2021-2023 Guide.

LUKE HAWTHORNE
Senior Associate, King & Wood Mallesons

Luke Hawthorne is a Senior Associate at King & Wood Mallesons, where he specialises in intellectual property and technology law. Luke is a long-standing advisor to some of the world’s leading technology companies and platforms — including in relation to online copyright infringement — acting on some of Australia’s most complex IP litigation. He has a special interest in Indigenous Intellectual and Cultural Property practice, leading a pro bono program at KWM advocating for the protection of First Nations artists and their culture.