Russell Kennedy is a member of the Coronial Inquiries sub-panel of the Victorian Government's Legal Services Panel.
Our firm has a substantial coronial practice and has acted for state government entities and government employees, health and aged care providers, relevant individuals and private clients for well over twenty years.
We regularly act for the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria. Our work has included many high profile cases including inquests arising out of police shootings, public emergencies, fire-fighting activities and deaths in custody. We also frequently advise aged care providers about their general obligations in this area of law, particularly around how to respond to Coroners' subpoenas in a useful and comprehensive way.
We have also acted as lawyers assisting the Coroner in both large scale cluster inquests and single incident inquests. In addition, we have acted for government on the preparation of responses to Coronial issues.
We assist our clients in preparing effective responses to Coroners' subpoenas, with the aim of minimising the chances of an inquest. We also assist our clients in conducting internal investigations with a view to improving their processes. Similarly, we prepare staff to give evidence by running intensive training sessions, to better inform and educate staff about Court procedure, what to expect and the types of questions likely to be asked.
Russell Kennedy has represented key organisations in major Royal Commissions. These include various clients in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, Metropolitan Ambulance Service Royal Commission; Goulburn Valley Water and the Victorian Building Commission (now the Victorian Building Authority), in the Bushfires Royal Commission; Wesley Mission Victoria and other organisations in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. We have represented individuals from the organisation we are retained by, who are the subject of the Inquiry. For example, we were retained by an Australian Government department to represent one of its employees in the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program. We represented the CEO of the Peter McCallum Cancer Institute in the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.