Nicola Martin is a partner in the Labour & Employment Practice Group. She is a highly regarded lawyer with two decades’ experience advising clients on the full spectrum of employment relations, industrial relations and human resources matters.

Nicola’s focus is on how she can best support her clients in their strategic objectives, while navigating a heavily regulated environment. She is not only reactive to their issues, but also particularly enjoys rolling out proactive training to boards, management, HR teams and employees on employment issues. Nicola often guides clients through discrimination, bullying and harassment issues, as well as the day-to-day aspects of the employment life cycle, including advice around recruitment, managing employee performance and conduct issues, workplace change and redundancies, drafting and reviewing employment and contractor agreements, conducting workplace investigations, restraint of trade queries, drafting collective agreements and advising on terminations. She has a particular interest in global mobility issues and enjoys providing support to the Corporate team, providing advice on the employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions.

Nicola regularly represents clients in a variety of courts and tribunals, including the Federal Court, Supreme Court and Fair Work Commission.

Secondments to a major financial institution, a transport corporation and a multinational infrastructure organisation have provided Nicola with invaluable insights into her clients’ priorities and how to support them achieve their people and culture objectives. Nicola’s practical, commercial advice is valued by senior management, boards and HR teams within multinational corporations, insurers, SMEs and family-owned enterprises in the private sector, as well as government and other public sector clients.

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  • Managed a large-scale global compliance project for a global infrastructure client, which involved coordinating 11 jurisdictions (including across Asia Pacific, the US, the UK and various European countries) to advise on a range of compliance issues, such as discrimination and harassment, privacy, corporate affairs, regulatory requirements, bribery and corruption, and competition issues, while also drafting and advising on discrimination and harassment compliance.
  • Acted for a tech startup in a dispute with a co-founder/shareholder who brought adverse action proceedings when their employment was terminated.
  • Conducted an on-site investigation for a well-known fast food chain in a very sensitive matter, which included bullying allegations, a long-term absence and the interaction of those issues with a worker’s compensation claim.
  • Retained by a large media organisation to conduct an investigation into claims of bullying made against one individual by a team of approximately 12 employees.
  • Acted for a licensee of a global fast food corporation in Federal Court proceedings, defending allegations of coercion, misrepresentation, adverse action and breach of a collective agreement.
  • Acted for a major retail client in defending a public, high-profile sexual harassment claim in which the plaintiff was seeking AU$38 million in punitive damages for harassment and misrepresentation.
  • Acted for a NSW government client in a long-running, complex claim brought by an in-house lawyer claiming his termination amounted to disability discrimination.
  • Successfully acted for a global supply chain operator in injuncting a former employee for breaching non-compete restraints by working for a direct competitor.

Education

  • Glasgow Graduate School of Law, Post-Graduate Legal Diploma, 1999
  • University of Aberdeen, LLB (Hons), 1997

Admissions

  • High Court of Australia, 2009
  • Supreme Court of New South Wales, 2008
  • England and Wales, 2007
  • Scotland, 2002
  • “Nicola Martin (and Erin Kidd) give very practical advice and are fully across the changing landscape of employment law in Australia.” The Legal 500 Asia Pacific
  • “Nicola (and Erin) are my go-to lawyers for great labour law advice. They are responsive, give clear, detailed advice that provides me with a practical way forward, not just an analysis of the law.” The Legal 500 Asia Pacific

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