Meet Kathryn
How I was invited to the party.
Hi! I am Kathryn Adams, and I am a commercial lawyer of twenty years experience. I have had a pretty wild career, having been based around the world (including Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom), specialising in the vast areas of commercial, corporate and employment law.
People know me as the assertive, “no-nonsense” lawyer who avoids the “pomp and ceremony” and just focuses on getting the job done.
What people tend not to know about me is that I have previously run my own wedding and events company, am a lifestyle and product photographer and love of all things interior design. That gives me the “inside knowledge” of the workings of event businesses.
As a result, it made complete sense that when COVID-19 brought havoc to the Australian wedding and events industry, I “stepping into the ring”. I was able to utilise my skills as a commercial lawyer, use the love, passion and experience I had with all things events, and merge it all together to assist people with the complicated legal issues that were surfacing as a result of the pandemic.
Fast forward to now, I am Australia’s first lawyer to specialise in “wedding and event law”, with the focus on advising wedding and event suppliers.
I have advised over two hundred businesses in the last two years in relation to the various legal issues within the Australian wedding and event industry.
I advise various suppliers, including both licensed and non-licensed venues, celebrants, wedding photographers and videographers, event planners, wedding stylists, hair and markup artists, stationary suppliers, florists, cake designers, bridal attire designers and suppliers, car hire and many more.
Qualifications
I hold:
a Bachelor of Commerce (Management) from the University of Western Sydney;
a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the University of Western Sydney; and
a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law, Sydney.
Career
I was admitted as a Legal Practitioner of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2003 and admitted into the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2019.
After graduating, I worked in mid to top tier law firms in both Australia and the United Kingdom. I specialised in employment and industrial relations law. That experience led me to become an in-house lawyer for multinational recruitment and outsourced labour companies.
I relocated to Singapore to manage the regional legal affairs of a global recruitment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. I was responsible for providing legal advice to the company’s seventeen offices in nine countries around the Asia Pacific region.
Upon my return to Australia I gained academic experience by teaching at universities in the areas of corporate law, commercial law, internet law, intellectual property and alternative dispute resolution. During this time, I also spent a considerable amount of time working within community legal centres, where I represented a broad range of people on personal legal matters.
In a twist of fate I was enticed up to Broome, Western Australia, where I became involved in community law work, particularly relating to child protection.
In 2019, I moved my practice to the Barossa Valley, the famous wine region of South Australia. Whilst I continue to practice as Principal Solicitor of Hallett Law, I now primarily focus on this Event Law platform and the development of legal information, templates for the wedding and event industry and business consultancy.
Thank you for inviting me to this party! I promise not to ruin it!
Kathryn Adams