Legal Office

The Legal Office sits within Legal and Assurance. The Legal Office supports the operations of JCU in a number of key areas:

Legal Services

The Legal Office has principal responsibility for the management, oversight, coordination and delivery (see Legal Services Policy) of all legal services for and on behalf of JCU.

The Legal Office is committed to providing independent, professional, legal support to all areas of the University and ensuring that the legal service needs of JCU are met in a timely and cost-effective manner. We seek to provide pragmatic solutions to legal issues and reduce the risk of litigation, including by seeking the continual improvement of JCU processes and procedures and mitigating risk in the performance of the University’s daily operations.

Our Services

The Legal Office can provide or arrange for the provision of legal services in such areas as:

• Legal advice;
• Legal drafting and support for the preparation and implementation of JCU policies and procedures;
• Reviewing, drafting and assist with negotiating commercial contracts;
• Responding to court documents, subpoenas and requests from third parties for information (other than requests under the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) – see further below);
• Advice regarding interpretation and application of policy;
• Dispute resolution;
• Claim and litigation management;
• Advising on the interpretation and application of the James Cook University Act 1997;
• Advising on the interpretation and application of external legislation affecting the University and its business;
• Advising on business names and trademarks.

What we don’t do:

• We do not provide personal legal advice to individual staff members or students;
• We do not respond to requests under the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) – Information privacy queries should be directed to the Privacy Contact Officer;
• We do not provide advice on research-related agreements – these should be referred to Research Services.

Requests for legal advice and assistance

All new requests for legal services should be referred to legal@jcu.edu.au.

Your request will be considered and allocated to one of our lawyers for attention, and you will be advised who will be attending to your request.

Staff directory

Shaun Steffensen BA LLB LLM GAICD
University General Counsel
Telephone: (07) 4781 6453 / 0436 648 084
Email: shaun.steffensen@jcu.edu.au

David Eaton LLB (Hons)
Senior Legal Officer
Telephone: (07) 4781 4461
Email: david.eaton@jcu.edu.au

Dominique Tim So BCom/LLB
Senior Legal Officer
Telephone: (07) 4781 5686
Email: dominique.timso@jcu.edu.au

Lescha Lawson LLB (Hons) GradDipLP
Senior Legal Officer
Telephone: (07) 4781 5344
Email: lescha.lawson@jcu.edu.au

Jessica Lawson LLB
Legal Officer
Telephone: (07) 4781 6727
Email: jessica.lawson@jcu.edu.au