Luke Forsyth

Luke Forsyth is a Principal in Hall Payne’s Sydney office. He practises in the firm’s industrial relations and employment law teams. Since 2014 Luke has been consistently recognised as one of Australia’s leading employment lawyers by his peers in the Doyle’s Guide.

Luke started with Hall Payne in 2001 before leaving to work as the Senior Legal Officer at the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union in 2008. He returned in 2012 and was appointed Principal.

Luke brings 21 years of experience to his work. He acts for a large range of clients, from senior executives of listed corporations to unions and their members across the country.

He is known for his commercial acumen and is frequently retained to act for senior executives in employment disputes. Luke’s focus is on the timely and confidential resolutions of employment disputes, ensuring not only that his clients are adequately compensated for the wrongs against them but that their future employment prospects are protected by recognising that an equally important task in resolving a dispute is ensuring that his client’s reputations are protected.

Luke’s practice across defamation and employment law means he has an acute understanding of the importance of how reputation is the cornerstone of someone’s professional and personal life. With this focus, Luke has achieved strong outcomes for employees at all levels while maintaining the relationships and reputations of his clients throughout the process.

Luke is an experienced litigator, acting for clients in Federal and State Courts and tribunals. He specialises in advising on matters of:

• all Fair Work Act 2009 matters, including unfair dismissals, general protections claims and claims for contraventions of the Fair Work Act 2009;
• State and Commonwealth public sector employment disputes and claims;
• employee contractual entitlements and common law claims;
• recovering short-term incentive (“STI”), long-term incentive (“LTI”) and other bonuses;
• restraint of trade and confidential information matters;
• defamation;
• professional, particularly health practitioners, registration and professional misconduct matters;
• Competition and Consumer Act claims;
• discrimination and sexual harassment;
• all termination of employment/unfair dismissal claims; and
• research misconduct matters.

Luke is a member of:

• New South Wales (NSW) Law Society;
• NSW Law Society’s Employment Law Committee;
• Union Lawyers and Industrial Officers NSW; and
• NSW Industrial Relations Society.

He is also an accomplished author, contributing to the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union’s “Nurses and Law”, editions 1, 2 and 3 and is a contributor to the first edition of Lexis Nexis publication “Workplace Investigations: Principles and Practice”.

When not at work, Luke enjoys reading, cycling and heading to the beach.