LawWorks Trustees

The Board of Trustees of LawWorks meets every other month. 

Jointly with the Bar Pro Bono Unit, the Board is regulated by a Code of Governance which provides for (amongst other things) appointment and term of office of trustees, composition of the Board, administration of Board meetings, role of Chairman and the objectives of the charity. 

An away day is held once a year and the AGM takes place in June. 

The Chairman of the Board is Paul Newdick CBE. 

Board of Trustees:

Susan Adams

Susan is Head of Legal, West, at Standard Chartered Bank and manages lawyers aross Europe, the Middle East and Americas.  She has global responsibility for legal risk management for Standard Chartered.  Susan has previous charity board experience in a number of small London charities.

Baron Bach of Lutterworth 

Willy Bach served as a member of Her Majesty's Government from 1999 to 2010 and was the Shadow Minister of Justice from May 2010 to May 2012 where he led the opposition to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) in the House of Lords.  He was the Minister for Legal Aid between 2008 and 2010.

Lord Bach practised as a barrister on the Midland and Oxford Circuit between 1972 and 1999, specialising in criminal law.

Lord Bach's interests include running, literature and American crime writing.  He enjoys all sports, especially football and cricket: he is a  keen supporter of Leicester City FC and Leicester CCC.

Randal Barker

Randal is Vice President of Group Legal at BHP Billiton.  He was previously General Counsel and Company Secretary of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation plc and Group Legal Director and Group Company Secretary at Resolution plc.

Randal is a member of the Executive Committee of the GC 100 (The Association General Counsel and Company Secretaries of FTSE 100 companies) and leader of Executive Committee's Standing Group on Corporate Responsibility and Health.

Randal is a UK, US and Canadian-qualified lawyer and an alumnus of Harvard University, McGill University and INSEAD.

Claire Carless

Claire took a degree in Jurisprudence from Lincoln College, Oxford, and then attended The College of Law in Chester.  She had articles with Allison & Humphreys (who are now part of Field Fisher Waterhouse). 

She moved to Stephenson Harwood in London, and then spent three years with Stephenson Harwood & Lo in Hong Kong.  On her return to the UK, Claire left London for her first in-house role with National Power in Swindon, travelling the world bidding for and buying power stations.

Claire held various roles at National Power, culminating in Head of Legal for the International Division.  In 2000, she joined Vodafone at its HQ in Newbury. Her roles have included Head of Commercial Law, Head of Legal Marketing Team and Legal Director, Commercial, managing a diverse, multi-national team based in the UK, Germany, Luxembourg, US and New Zealand. She spent nine months in New Zealand (2007/08), exploring new work and life opportunities. Claire is now UK General Counsel and Company Secretary for Siemens.

Claire is passionate about pro bono, horse-riding, and red wine and chocolate (together).  She is married with two teenage sons, a dog, five chickens, and six pigs.

Dinah Crystal OBE

Dinah started her professional career in private practice between1976 and1991.  She joined Manchester University in 1992 as Academic Admissions tutor for Undergraduate & Postgraduate Law courses. Dinah is responsible for setting up the Manchester University Legal Advice Centre in 2000 and the Legal Advice Centre in East Manchester in 2009. She is now Director of External Relations and Clinical Education as well as Academic Head of Undergraduate & Postgraduate Admissions.

In addition to her commitment to LawWorks, Dinah is Chairman of North West Legal Support Trust; a member of the College of Law Pro Bono Advisory Board; a member of the Chester College of Law Advisory Board; a member of the Personal Support Unit Advisory Board and a Trustee of the National Youth Organisation.

Her specific research interests include Clinical Education, matters relating to ProBono work, Family Law, the Legal Profession and training for the profession.  Dinah's teaching areas are Legal Project Courses and Skills Programmes.

Julie Dickins

Julie Dickins trained and qualified as a solicitor at London law firm Rowe & Maw, where she specialised in property litigation for almost 20 years. Since 1998, she has been the partner responsible for UK pro bono and community work at first Rowe & Maw and now its successor firm, Mayer Brown, and devotes most of her time to co-ordinating these activities and organising charitable events.

Julie established and chairs the firm’s UK CSR committee and European pro bono committee, as well as helping to formulate policy on the firm’s global pro bono committee. Julie is an Advisory Council member of the Public Interest Law Institute.

Amanda Finlay CBE

Amanda Finlay recently retired from the Ministry of Justice. She is a Council Member of Justice, a member of Lord Bach's Public Legal Education Strategy Group, a public governor of Oxleas NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust and a member of the Civil Justice Council.

Amanda was until recently the MOJ Director responsible for legal services reform and for legal aid strategy. She led the arrangements to set up the Legal Services Board, headed the Fundamental Review of Legal Aid, chaired the Working Group which recommended reforms to the conduct of public law children cases, and negotiated a settlement of civil legal aid issues  with the Law Society following their successful Court of Appeal judgement.

During her time as Director responsible for family and administrative justice, Amanda introduced customer focussed changes for children and families experiencing relationship breakdown, instituted a review of delay in Children Act cases and took forward the programme of work to establish the Unified Tribunal Service. She worked jointly with the Home Office, the judiciary and lawyers to speed up asylum appeals and decisions.

Amanda led the work on the Human Rights Act in the Lord Chancellor's Department, working with human rights lawyers to ensure that the scheme of the Act was workable in the courts and leading ten all day "walkthroughs" to test out compatibility with judges, lawyers and human rights experts in courts from the magistrates up to the Court of Appeal. She was Secretary to Lord Woolf's Inquiry "Access to Justice", working with the judiciary, lawyers, academics  and lay people to devise improvements to the civil justice system.

Earlier in her career she was engaged in work to open up legal services to more competition, including work with the Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct on rights of audience applications from solicitors and employed lawyers, and the establishment of the Legal Services Ombudsman. Amanda was secretary to the Legal Aid Advisory Committee; worked with Richard White and Cyril Glasser (founder members of the Legal Action Group) on their report on unmet need for legal services in the 1970s and was engaged in the work to set up the Crown Court and the Court Service following the Courts Act 1971.

Paul Gilbert

Paul Gilbert is the Chief Executive and founder of LBC Wise Counsel, a specialist management consultancy for law firms and in-house legal teams with a particular focus on change management, relationship management, strategic planning and personal development.

LBC Wise Counsel predominantly acts for in-house teams in the UK and Europe with some activity in North America too. In addition Paul regularly works with law firms at partner conferences, at training events and in a consulting capacity on topics such as business development and relationship management.

LBC Wise Counsel is the company behind the ground-breaking LBCambridge spring and summer schools for in-house lawyers at Queens’ College Cambridge.
For six years Paul was a Council Member of the England & Wales Law Society and was elected to the Society’s Main Management Board.

Paul now writes and lectures widely on the changing face of the legal profession, including the threats and the opportunities following the passing of legislation in the UK that will facilitate significant change in the way legal services are organised and delivered.

Previously Paul was General Counsel in two major UK financial services companies and he has also held positions as chairman and chief executive of the national in-house lawyers Commerce & Industry Group.
Paul is a successful author with four books (soon to be five) and over sixty published articles in the UK, Europe, The U.S. and South Africa.

Des Hudson

Des Hudson is the Chief Executive of the Law Society.  He graduated in law from the University of Leeds in 1977.  He qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and worked in private practice until 1987. During that time he became a partner in a major provincial law firm in the north west of England, specialising in crime and child protection work.

In 1987 Des joined the Yorkshire Building Society as an assistant solicitor and held a number of positions becoming Director of the Society during five years there.

Des joined the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in September 2004 as chief executive designate, subsequently becoming chief executive.

On 4 September 2006 Des took up the position of chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson is Chief Executive of AdviceUK, the umbrella body for independent voluntary organisations that provide free advice. Many of AdviceUK’s 900+ member organisations provide a base or gateway for pro bono legal help. He has over thirty years’ experience of voluntary and community sector management and governance at local and national levels.

Steve is currently also a trustee of the Advice Services Alliance, the School for Social Entrepreneurs and the Access to Justice Foundation and he is a member of the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee.  

Sejal Karavadra

Sejal Karavadra is a Director and the Head of the Immigration Department at DBS Law Ltd. As a qualified Solicitor Advocate, Sejal has a number of years’ experience in the immigration field and has represented a large number of individuals and organisations.  Sejal started her career at the Home Office in the Immigration Directorate and is able to draw upon this experience and expertise to advise on all aspects of immigration law.

Working closely with the DBS Heart project, Sejal has set up free legal advice clinics around the UK
advising on immigration issues, in partnership with the local Citizens Advice Bureaus and the local community.

Sejal also sits on committees of the charitable organisations including UK Asian Women’s Centre and IHWO.

Robin Knowles CBE QC

Robin was called to the Bar in 1982 and practises at the Commercial and Chancery Bars. His particular specialisations are in financial law, contract law, company law (including insolvency), the law of professional negligence, and insurance law. He is regularly instructed in cases where there is a reputational aspect as well as a financial one. As well as appearing in the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and the appellate courts, and overseas, he has represented parties at over 36 mediations.

From 2005 to 2007 Robin was Chairman of the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR), the professional association of the Commercial Bar of England & Wales.

Robin was closely involved in work to re-cast the Commercial Court Guide with the advent of the Woolf Reforms. More recently he has served on the Aikens working party on “supercases” and commercial court procedure generally.

Robin sits part-time as a Deputy High Court Judge, and as a Recorder in the Crown Court. He is authorised to sit in the Chancery Division and in the Queen’s Bench Division. In the Crown Court he is authorised to hear cases involving serious sexual offences.

Robin also has a long-standing commitment to legal pro bono work, and to the coordination of that work. He was awarded the CBE for services to pro bono legal services in the 2006 New Years Honours List. Among other pro bono roles and in addition to his commitment to LawWorks, he is the Chairman of the Bar Pro Bono Unit, a member of the Advisory Council of Advocates for International Development, and a member of the Attorney General’s National Pro Bono Coordinating Committee (and of its International Committee).

Robin chairs two legal advice projects serving the diverse community in the East End of London. He also chaired the cross-sector working party on the establishment of the Access to Justice Foundation.

Robin is a member of the Bar Council’s General Management Committee. He is a Bencher of Middle Temple, and also a member of Gray’s Inn.
Outside the law, Robin is the Chairman of Trustees of Richard House Children’s Hospice, which was London’s first hospice for children who are unlikely to live into adulthood.

Kathryn Ludlow

Kathryn is a litigation partner at Linklaters. She joined the firm as a trainee solicitor in 1986, qualified into the litigation department in 1988  and became a partner in 1997. Her career has involved two short spells in Hong Kong and a great deal of variety in contentious work, working for banks, corporates and accountancy firms on major disputes. Her work has often taken her to interesting foreign jurisdictions including places as far afield as Mauritius, Korea and the Sudan.

As well as doing commercial litigation work for clients, since early 2009 Kathryn has been the firm's Global Pro Bono Partner looking after the overall firm's pro bono work and strategy. As well as being a trustee of LawWorks she has for many years been a trustee of the RCJ Citizens Advice Bureau and is on the Advisory Board to Advocates for International Development. 

 Anne Marie Morris MP

Anne Marie is Member of Parliament for Newton Abbot in Devon. She has a particular passion for championing micro businesses and has established a cross party lobbying group which has already had some successes. Before she entered Parliament in 2010 she ran her own marketing and executive coaching consultancy specialising in professional and financial services businesses and the health sector.

Anne Marie qualified as a solicitor in 1982 and specialised in corporate and asset finance practising in London and Singapore. In 1990 she became Head of Education and Training at Allen and Overy and transitioned into a career in education,marketing and management, with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young and latterly with Linklaters.

Anne Marie chaired the National Legal Education and Training Group, was a member of the Lord Chancellors Advisory Committee on Legal Education, was a specialist university assessor for HEFCE,was awarded a fellowship by the Chartered Institute of Marketing for her contribution to professional services marketing, was a board member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and now sits on a number of boards of companies representing the interests of small businesses.

Paul Newdick

Paul is a partner at Clyde & Co where he has worked since 1982. He leads Clyde & Co's Employment team and heads up the firm’s Dispute Resolution Group.  Paul chairs on the firm’s Community Council, which co-ordinates the firm's charitable giving, pro bono activities and community volunteering.

Paul is a founding trustee and current chair of LawWorks.  His involvement in pro bono started when he set up a student clinic at Leeds in the 1970’s.  Since then he has volunteered at NCCL (now Liberty), North Kensington Law Centre, Tottenham Law Centre, Peckham CAB and the Royal Courts of Justice CAB.  On the organisational side of pro bono, prior to helping to set up the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (now LawWorks), Paul founded the Cablinx initiative with Citizens Advice and sat on the Management Committee at Tottenham Law Centre.

Paul received a CBE for his legal pro bono work in the 2008 Queen's Birthday honours.

Bob Nightingale MBE

Bob is Chief Executive of the London Legal Support Trust and a Trustee of Lawworks, The Access to Justice Foundation and the RCJ Advice Bureau. He was Co-founder of “Prisoners Abroad” in 1978 and Chair of the Law Centres Federation from 1998 to 2002.

Bob has over 35 years’ experience of running legal advice centres and “scrounging favours from lawyers on behalf of the community”.

Bob’s work has always entailed developing services using a mixture of paid specialist staff and extensive pro bono support. Bob originated the “Pro Bono Protocol” and instigated the Lawworks Clinics service. He was awarded an MBE in 2000 for “Services to Justice” and the Lawyer lifetime achievement award in 2002.

Since then Bob has created and developed the London Legal Support Trust and its London Legal sponsored walk, helped to develop similar trusts across England and Wales and assisted with the development of the Access to Justice Foundation.

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff

Mental health and human rights lawyer Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is the managing partner of  Scott-Moncrieff Harbour and Sinclair, a virtual law firm which operates online and acts for legally aided and privately paying clients.  The firm specialises in representing detained patients, life sentence prisoners and vulnerable children and young people.

Lucy was elected to the Law Society Council in the summer of 2002 and before that, maintained a long connection with the Law Society through her membership of the Mental Health and Disability Committee over the last 24 years.  Lucy also sits on the Society's Regulatory Affairs Board, Access to Justice and Education committees.

Lucy sits as a Mental Health Tribunal judge and provides training for those applying for membership of the Law Society's Mental Health Panel.  In 2005 she won the Mental Health Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award.  She is acknowledged as a leader in her field in the Chambers Directory and the Legal 500 and many of her cases have been reported over the years.

Jacky Sellers

Jacky Sellers has been a volunteer on the individual and mediation projects of LawWorks since April 2005, and she joined the board of trustees in July 2009. 

She qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and worked for Cameron McKenna in its litigation department for 6 years, before taking a career break.  Jackie undertook a two year LLM in Labour Law at the LSE before joining LawWorks. 

Elliot Shear

Elliot Shear is a partner in the Corporate Group at Nabarro LLP.  He is also head of Nabarro's pro bono and volunteering team.  Elliot specialises in mergers and acquisitions for public and private companies and undertakes a full range of transactional and advisory work for corporate clients and financial institutions.  His experience also includes advising on corporate law, flotations and joint ventures.  Elliot's sector expertise is particularly in the defence industry and financial services.

Elliot was included in the "The Lawyer" magazine's "Hot 100" lawyers of 2009.  He is also contributing authour of the book "A Practitioner's Guide to Directors' Duties and Responsibilities" (4th Ed.), which is the leading text in the area.  Elliot's role heading pro bono and volunteering at Nabarro has led to the establishment of a highly successful weekly advice clinic with IPR under LawWorks' guidance.

Roger Wiltshire

Roger is Chief Counsel and member of the Programmes and Support Board at BAE Systems.  BAE Systems is a global company engaged in development, delivery and support of advanced defence and aerospace systems in air, land and sea. 

Roger manages a central hub team of lawyers based in Farnborough that also supports international operating groups and central functions such as finance and treasury, procurement, commicial and engineering.  Legal work of the central team includes employment, litigation, property and knowledge management.

Roger's expertise includes banking, corporate finance, aircraft leasing and financing, pensions and PFI.