Maurice Blackburn

Key practice areas: Employment & Industrial Law
Location: Sydney (NSW), Canberra (ACT)

Michael Doherty is a Workplace Counsel in the Sydney Employment and Industrial Law practice. He practices in all areas of employment and workplace relations law.

Michael provides advice in relation to a range of issues including employment contract negotiations, contract disputes, executive bonuses (including short term incentives  (STIs) and long term incentives (LTIs)), share plans, restraint of trade, redundancy, underpayment, wrongful dismissal, workplace rights (including the general protections in the Fair Work Act 2009), disciplinary matters, bullying and harassment, discrimination, OH&S matters, award or certified agreement compliance, and general employment issues.

Michael has advised and represented a wide range of employees including company directors, senior executives, CEOs, banking professionals, media personalities, public sector employees and IT professionals.

Michael is a tough negotiator who fights for his client's rights. Examples of successful outcomes for his clients include:

• achieving a multi million dollar settlement for a senior executive with an international company who was made redundant
• successfully negotiating a large payment for the CEO of an international charitable organization following a dispute with the Board
• negotiating a significant payment for a prominent media personality whose contract was terminated
• assisting an executive director of an international insurance company to achieve a multimillion dollar redundancy package that included retention of company shares post employment
• negotiating severance packages for a number of senior banking executives whose positions were made redundant.

Michael regularly conducts matters in the Federal Court, Federal Magistrates Court, Fair Work Australia, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission and the NSW Supreme Court. He has represented the interest of clients in the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) enquiries, coronial inquests, the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (AHREOC) and Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) inquiries in NSW.

Michael is a member of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Society, the Law Society of NSW, the NSW Society of Labor Lawyers and the Commercial Law Association.

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