Enduring Powers of Attorney and Financial Abuse
Presented by UTS Law in collaboration with Dementia Australia.
This webinar is the fourth in a series designed to build dementia capability in the legal profession. Join this webinar to advance your understanding of:
the risk factors for abuse in enduring power of attorney arrangements;
establishing and managing enduring power of attorney arrangements;
preventative strategies to reduce the risk of financial abuse; and
initiatives to protect older people and people living with dementia from financial abuse.
Earn 1 CPD unit in Professional Skills, where eligible.
Dementia Capability for Lawyers Webinar Series
Why does dementia capability matter for the legal profession?
As the Australian population ages and more people are living with dementia, legal professionals have a pivotal role in advising clients on planning for the future in a way that promotes autonomy and safeguards rights.
Having the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with clients living with, or at risk for, dementia, are important professional attributes – and an expanding area of specialist expertise.
Each webinar in this series features expert legal and health insights, alongside perspectives from people living with dementia or with experience supporting a person with dementia. You will gain a real-world understanding of the issues and take away practical strategies and resources to implement in your practice.
The webinar series is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories. The next webinar is on Enduring Powers of Attorney and Financial Abuse at 1pm AEST on Tuesday 23 February 2027.
Recordings of the webinars are not currently available.
Speakers
Robert Fitzgerald AM, Age Discrimination Commissioner
Robert Fitzgerald AM was appointed as Age Discrimination Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission in April 2024. In that role, Robert has recently established the Financial Abuse of Older Persons Action Collaborative. Robert is committed to reducing ageism in our society and service systems and addressing discrimination experienced by people of all ages. A lawyer by profession, Robert was the inaugural NSW Ageing and Disability Commissioner, having served as a Commissioner on the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He has been extensively involved in safeguarding for children, people with disability and older persons including as NSW Community and Disability Services Commissioner. He was previously an Australian Productivity Commissioner and conducted numerous national inquiries including into the Not for Profit Sector, Care of Older Australians and the Australian Health Workforce. Robert was the inaugural Chair of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Advisory Board having served on NGO boards for over 40 years including as President of the Australian Council of Social Services. He was previously an Adjunct Professor with the University of Western Australia and the Australian Catholic University.
Lauren Absalom
Lauren is an Accredited Specialist in Elder Law and is a Special Counsel at boutique firm, Mourd Evans Lawyers. She is an experienced elder law and wills and estates lawyer with a specialisation in complex estate planning and has accrued experience in both the government sector and private practice. Lauren attained Specialist Accreditation in Elder Law as part of the inaugural cohort in 2026. She qualified with a Masters of Applied Law majoring in Wills & Estates in 2026. This follows a Master of Laws majoring in both Dispute Resolution and Corporate & Commercial Law in 2017. Lauren is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Lauren has been a Councillor of the Law Society of NSW since her election in 2020 and subsequent re-elections in 2023 and 2026. Her involvement with the Law Society includes having had the privilege of serving on several different policy, practice and regulatory committees since 2017. She was also involved with NSW Young Lawyers for over 10 years. Lauren has a particular passion for her role on the Elder Law, Capacity and Succession Committee, where she has been a member since 2018 and now serves as one of the Co-Chairs. Lauren is the current NSW representative on the Law Council of Australia’s National Elder Law, Succession and Capacity committee.
Andrew
Andrew is a Dementia Advocate with Dementia Australia and the sole carer for his father, who lives with dementia. He brings a lived experience navigating Enduring Powers of Attorney, untangling complex debt and financial matters, and addressing financial abuse - including successfully overturning an unfair reverse mortgage through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). Drawing on the added complexities of supporting parents from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, Andrew actively advocates for stronger legal and financial safeguards, systemic literacy, and honest awareness of the realities facing family carers.
Dr Nola Ries (Chair)
Dr Nola Ries is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is an experienced legal and social science researcher with expertise in: law, health and ageing; legal aspects of health system reform; and the ethical and legal governance of health research. Nola is a co-founder of the Dementia Law Network, Co-Theme Leader (Law, Ethics & Regulation) for the UTS Ageing Research Collaborative (UARC), member of the UTS Law, Health, Justice Research Group and a member of the UTS Medical Research Ethics Committee. Professor Ries has a strong focus on applied research, community engagement and interprofessional collaboration between legal and health sectors. She leads a program of research on: legal issues for people living with dementia, their carers and family; dementia capability for the legal profession; and legal and policy frameworks for a dementia-inclusive society. Nola has expertise in qualitative research with professional and consumer participants. She has over 100 publications, research reports and related outputs, including more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 25 book chapters. Nola also teaches Research Methodology, Elder Law and Law & Medicine. Formerly a solicitor and barrister in British Columbia, Canada, Nola is also admitted as a solicitor in NSW.
Opportunity to contribute to research improving dementia-capability
The Dementia-Capability for lawyers webinar series includes an opportunity to be part of UTS research project HE-2026-0856. Participation is entirely optional and attendees may attend the webinars without taking part in the research.
A copy of the Participant Information Sheet for this project is available at https://www.uts.edu.au/events/planning-ahead-for-healthcare-decision-making-webinar/contentassets/webinar-participant-information-sheet.pdf. Please follow this link for further information.
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