David is a co-founder of Edge Legal.

David has particular expertise in industrial relations and safety. David doesn’t just focus on legal solutions. His advice has a real practical edge to it drawn from experience in various senior executive management roles in the telecommunications, franchising and agriculture industries – even leading one organisation to a National Finalist and Joint State Winner of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) People Management Awards.

David fundamentally understands the IR system from an employer perspective, having been the Chief Workplace Relations Officer of a peak Employer Organisation where he delivered training to businesses on behalf of the Federal Government following the introduction of the Fair Work Act. He has been instrumental in enterprise bargaining strategy, particularly in organisations with workforces over 500 people and multiple Unions.

David’s experience includes:

• Providing user friendly Due Diligence training for Board members and Executive Management Teams in publicly listed, state owned and large private companies

• Comprehensive safety audit and Board advice for a publicly listed, leading aquaculture company

• Crisis management for workplace fatalities in the mining and aquaculture industry providing onsite and remote expertise from immediate response action such as dealing with the safety regulator, contractors, family of the deceased, co-workers, police and the media though to safety investigations, response action advice and dealing with coronial inquests and safety prosecutions

• Project managing the enterprise bargaining process for a superannuation company during contentious regulatory change and overseeing the introduction of consistent contracts of employment across 3 transferring employer groups

• Managing large scale transfer of business situations including all employment aspects of an integration of a distribution network and transmission network as part of government reforms to the electricity supply industry

• Successfully defending union attempts to oppose the approval of enterprise agreements in the Fair Work Commission in one of the first cases to address the issue of no-extra claims clauses

• Successfully appealing a classification interpretation in a State Industrial Commission regarding a significant section of the public sector workforce

• Representing employer groups regarding the implementation of a State Wage Case

• Representing an employer in the Water Industry enterprise bargaining involving 7 different Unions and involving complex transfer of business issues involving over 20 employers

A sitting member of a statutory training agreements committee, David has also tutored in workplace law and human resources at the University of Tasmania and is a regular workplace trainer particularly in the areas of DISC and managing performance and conflict. David is a regular contributor to commentary on a variety of workplace issues as a facilitator and presenter at national HR and Safety conferences as well as social media, TV and print.