As industries from engineering to construction continue to grapple with gender imbalance, IPS Managing Director Sascha Kurz says it’s time to move beyond awareness and start designing career pathways that work for women.
The stage is set for one of Brisbane’s most entertaining professional events next year, when Team Engineers and Team Lawyers face off in a decider for the third annual Engineers v Lawyers ‘Mock’ Debate title, co-hosted by Helix Legal and IPS.
The 2025 debate lived up to the hype as the teams tackled the provocatively phrased topic: ‘Rules are always absolute, not advisory’.
Arguing the affirmative case, the engineers focused on the story of the Three Little Pigs to highlight what can happen when the rules of construction are not followed to the letter. There were also a few well-intentioned jibes thrown at the lawyers, with one speaker pointing out that “gravity doesn’t care about your precedent” and “one profession builds bridges and the other bills when they fall”.
The loquacious lawyers used wit and logic to argue that some rules just shouldn’t be followed, such as the fact “you can be jailed for up to a year for cleaning up seabird poo without a licence”.
They also won the audience over when declaring “rule breaking is just more desirable – it’s just sexier” and drove home the advantage with this line: “the engineers made all these references to the Three Little Pigs story … they’ve been able to charge for three separate designs when only one of them is fit for purpose”.
Presiding over the free event once again was Andrew ‘Chappy’ Chapman, CEO of the Queensland Major Contractors Association (QMCA), who donned a trapper hat in a forlorn attempt to keep both sides to at least follow the rules of debating.
“The votes are in, the lawyers have won,” Chappy declared after the crowd vote, which was followed by the victors serving mock subpoenas to the defeated engineers.
Congratulations to both teams – Barbara van Heerden, Tim Dempsey-Jones and Archford (Archy) Kahondo for the engineers, and Earl Tan, Riley Roberts and Kirsty Dykes on Team Lawyers – on a great performance.
Helix Legal CEO Janelle Kerrisk said the lawyers were thrilled to bounce back from their 2024 defeat with a decisive victory this year.
“Our team was extremely well prepared with plenty of clever, interesting arguments that demonstrated our superior powers of persuasion. Bring on 2026!”
IPS Managing Director Sascha Kurz said the event once again demonstrated the respect and camaraderie between the two professions.
“We congratulate the lawyers, confident in the knowledge that we will prevail next year!”
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