​Gadens, Sydney is pleased to announce two new additions to its workplace relations and employment team.

Kristen Barratt has returned to Gadens as a Special Counsel after two years at a building construction material company. As part of her role, Kristen was responsible for assisting various businesses units within the company to renegotiate their enterprise agreements and was pivotal in renegotiating over 30 union and non union agreements. Prior to her in-house role, Kristen was a solicitor and senior associate at Gadens for five years. Kristen has over 20 years experience advising clients across all areas of workplace law.

Kristen said: “Working in-house was an invaluable experience. I have returned to Gadens better equipped to service a broad range of clients. I made a decision to come back to Gadens because I enjoy working in the collaborative and friendly team environment which makes Gadens unique among law firms.”

Senior Associate Susan Babidge has also joined the team from Henry Davis York. Susan has represented employers, including large national and international corporations, across all areas of workplace law. She has substantial experience in conducting and advising clients in relation to workplace investigations and will play an important role in helping to strengthen Gadens’ investigations practice.

Mark Sant, head of the workplace relations and employment team said:

‘We are seeing increasing demand from our clients for services relating to enterprise bargaining and workplace investigations. Kristen will assist us deliver even better services to clients given her in house experience running enterprise bargaining projects. Susan’s background allows us to offer great insight to our clients about how to conduct effective workplace investigations to ensure that risk is being managed appropriately. We are very excited about our plans to drive further growth in the workplace relations team.’