Anthony Wood

Partner

Melbourne, Australia

Tony is passionate about workplace reform and has more than two decades of experience advising clients in employment related matters.

Tony is the senior partner in the Herbert Smith Freehills’ Melbourne Employment, IR and Safety team. His practice spans strategic advice and advocacy for employers in relation to collective and individual disputes, equal employment opportunity, bullying, termination of employment, enterprise bargaining, transmission of business/privatisation, termination benefits/Corporations Act compliance, complex workplace investigations and whistle-blower issues.

He advises on employment contracts and the array of employment aspects associated with mergers and acquisitions and is a regular presenter on employment and industrial matters throughout Australia.

Tony has a particular focus on clients from the banking, health, electrical power generation and retail sectors. His clients include the Australian Ballet, Bupa, Coles Supermarkets, Ford Australia, George Weston Foods, National Australia Bank, Snowy Hydro and Vicinity Centres.

Tony is the founding editor of the Hebert Smith Freehills annual legal guide on Employment and Workplace Relations in Australia. He also leads the Employment group’s national training programs and is a regular contributor to the firm’s probono program, assisting clients such as Berry Street, Pinnacle Foundation and Equality Australia.

He is an acknowledged leader and advocate for workplace diversity and consults with clients on a variety of diversity and discrimination issues, including the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work report on workplace sexual harassment. In 2013, Tony was awarded the Australian Workplace Equality Index Executive Leadership Award for his work in LGBTI workplace inclusion. In 2017, Tony was included in the Australian Financial Review’s inaugural list of the top 50 LGBTI business leaders in Australia.

Tony has also been recognised by Best Lawyers as one of Australia’s premier employment lawyers since 2008, and is noted as a leading practitioner in prestigious guides such as Chambers, Doyle’s and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

Background

Tony holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He has worked in the firm’s Sydney and Melbourne offices, and is a member of the Industrial Relations Society of Victoria, the Australian Human Resources Institute and the Australasian Association of Workplace Investigators.

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

advising all three of Australia’s vehicle manufacturers on employment and industrial relations strategies, including the Australian closure arrangements for Ford Australia, Toyota and General Motors Holden
acting for many of Australia’s leading power generators and distributors in relation to employment and enterprise bargaining matters, spanning Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. His clients include AGL, Hydro Tasmania, Snowy Hydro and TransGrid
representing employers and liaising with the Fair Work Ombudsman in underpayment investigations
conducting major litigation in the Federal Court of Australia.
defending a landmark bullying claim against a large Australian business under the national anti-bullying laws
advising on all employment aspects of numerous major Australian M&A transactions, including advice on Australia’s transfer of business laws.