Jessica "Jess" Phillips

Jess is an employment and industrial relations lawyer with a particular focus on providing plain language advice to clients and working with them to find practical and commercial solutions to workplace issues.

What she does

Jess has experience assisting clients with a broad range of employment and industrial relations matters including drafting employment contracts and policies and procedures, advising on the interpretation and application of industrial instruments, conducting workplace investigations and advising on workplace restructures, transfers of business, performance management, injured employees and terminations. Jess also has experience in defending employee claims including unfair dismissal, general protections, workplace bullying, discrimination and underpayment claims and advising on remediation of systemic underpayment issues.

Who she works with

Jess works with HR teams and management in small to large organisations in a number of different industries including social and community services, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, mining and airline ground handling.

Qualifications

Jess has a Diploma in Law from the Legal Profession Admission Board and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law.

Life before Sparkes

Jess joined Sparke Helmore in July 2020 when Laycock Burke Castaldi Lawyers merged with the firm. She has worked in the area of employment law and industrial relations since 2011 and practiced exclusively in the area since her admission in 2016. Her experience prior to admission working as a paralegal and as an Associate to Deputy President Saunders at the Fair Work Commission between 2017 and 2018.

Life outside of Sparkes

Outside Sparkes you will find Jess taking her dogs for a walk, at the beach or scrolling through Pinterest for her next home renovation project.