After almost 20 years with law firm Jackson McDonald, industrial relations lawyer Maria Saraceni has left to join rival Deacons.
After almost 20 years with law firm Jackson McDonald, industrial relations lawyer Maria Saraceni has left to join rival Deacons.
Ms Saraceni said the growing federalisation of workplace relations and occupational safety laws was behind her switch from the state-based Jackson McDonald.
“Being a state firm limits what you can do and the type of client you can have,” Ms Saraceni told WA Business News. “A lot of head offices are based on the east coast and they look for someone on the ground.”
Ms Saraceni, who joins Deacons as a partner, will remain based in Perth and travel to the east coast to service her new firm’s clients.
She will also remain the president of The Law Society of Western Australia.
“It was not an easy decision to leave Jackson McDonald but I decided it was time to move on,” Ms Saraceni said.
The legal fraternity had speculated that Ms Saraceni’s next move would be to become a barrister.
But Ms Saraceni said the ailing health of her elderly parents, and uncertainty surrounding the workplace relations laws earlier in the year, were among the reasons behind her decision to join Deacons rather than become a barrister.
“I’m really pleased with my decision to move, it is another chapter in my life,” she said.
Ms Saraceni has spent the bulk of the year helping her clients adapt to the Howard government’s new workplace relations laws, WorkChoices.
And there seems to be no likelihood of an easing in the workload for the foreseeable future.
“Some state governments are already looking at ways to get around the effects of WorkChoices; NSW has been the first with at least four legislative amendments,” Ms Saraceni said.
“In WA, the state is looking at setting up a Workplace Advocate representing the interests of employees.”
She said the Carpenter government’s move was potentially “doubling up” with the Office of Workplace Services and questioned whether it would deliver greater protections to workers.
“Do they need it or is this political scoring as the prime imperative?” Ms Saraceni said.
She said the focus for workplace relations should now be on regulation.
“In a buoyant economy as is ours, employees have the upper hand. There are more jobs than employees so employees do have greater bargaining power. In a different economic environment, the policing of practices of employers which fall below the regulated minima are more important,” she said.
“Even under the old system, shyster employers existed. Unions did not stamp them out even under the award system or one where collective agreements were preferred. This will not change.”
