Marilyn Bartole
WLANSW President
Marilyn was employed by the Attorney General's Department of NSW until mid 2004 and is now a sole practitioner. Her main areas of practice have included criminal, personal injury and administrative law. She has practised in metropolitan and regional areas, and has worked in both government and private practice.

Marilyn has held a range of positions at WLANSW. She is past President and Vice-President, and has also been Secretary, Education Officer and Media Officer.

As President of WLANSW, Marilyn hopes to work with members to improve communication, support and expand our membership outside the Sydney Metropolitan region; support the Equitable Briefing Policy concerning Women Barristers; continue to develop mentoring programs for women law students and women wishing to become partners in law firms; build strong relationships between WLANSW and other legal professional bodies, including Australian Women Lawyers.

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Tania Evers
Vice President
Tania is a barrister specialising in crime, especially mental health/intellectual disability and crime. She is the Vice President of Lawyers Reform Association, a committee member of Glebe House, the Intellectual Disability Rights Service, Defence Lawyers Association and International Commission of Jurists, a sub-committee member of the Ethics Committee of the Law Society on Client Capacity, and various other committees. She has three adult children; a lawyer at Legal Aid, an elite athlete who is also studying physiotherapy, and the other works with adolescent girls for DOCS.

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Louise Byrne
Treasurer
Louise is a barrister practising mainly in the areas of administrative law, environment and planning law and native title. Immediately prior to going to the bar she was the research officer for the President of the NSW Court of Appeal, Justice Keith Mason. She holds degrees in science (biochemistry) and in law from the University of NSW.

Louise is currently a member of the NSW Bar Association's Equal Opportunity Committee and is the Bar Association representative to the Law Council of Australia Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee.

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Anna Katzmann S.C.
Anna has been a long-time member of WLANSW. She has practised at the NSW Bar for over twenty years, taking silk in 1997. Anna was a founding director of the Women’s Legal Centre and co-author of the successful submission for Government funding.

Anna has been a member of the NSW Bar Council for eleven years and was recently elected its Junior Vice-President, only the second woman in the history of the organisation to occupy the position.

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Rachel Francois
Rachel is a barrister at the New South Wales Bar. Prior to being called to the Bar in February 2003, Rachel most recently worked for two years as a solicitor at Clayton Utz and four years as a civil litigation solicitor at the New South Wales Legal Aid Commission. Her legal experience includes large commercial litigation as well as consumer protection and human rights litigation.

Rachel has also written several articles and publications and presented seminars in the areas of human rights and consumer protection. She was the treasurer of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights from 2000 to 2003 and has been a volunteer solicitor at Kingsford Legal Centre since 1997.

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Catherine Henry
Catherine is a health and medical lawyer and a partner of the firm Craddock Murray Neumann. She practices from the firm’s Newcastle office and this year has also been lecturing in torts at Newcastle University.

Catherine has helped to establish an active women lawyers group since returning to Newcastle two years ago and was formerly an active member of WLANSW in Sydney. She stood for election this year to the Law Society Council (although unsuccessful on this occasion) and campaigned strongly on issues relevant to the improvement of women in the profession. Catherine has been a part-time Legal Aid Commissioner and for four years was the NSW Branch President of the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association.

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Juliet Bourke
Juliet is a solicitor, Tribunal Member (GREAT), and organizational change expert. She is the Director of Aequus Partners, a highly respected management consultancy on flexibility, diversity and well-being. Juliet's main areas of practice include discrimination law (conducting investigations and training) and the development and implementation of organisational change strategies to progress gender equity, diversity and flexibility.

She has been a committee member of the Law Society Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Committee for the past five years, is President of the NSW EEO Employment Opportunities Practitioners’ Association (2002/2003), and Chair of the EEO Network of Australia (2003). She is the author of Corporate Women, Children, Careers and Workplace Culture (2000, IRRC).

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Elizabeth Maconachie
Liz was admitted in 1994. Her areas of practice include professional conduct and ethics. Liz has had a varied career. Before studying law she was a senior teacher of English and Modern History and is a mother of 4 children. Since graduating, Liz has had the experience of working at a large firm, Mallesons, a very small firm of solicitors, she has worked in legal costing, as an investigative solicitor at the Law Society and until 2003 was the Deputy Director, Professional Conduct at the Bar Association of NSW. She has also combined her teaching and law skills by conducting Professional Conduct workshops for undergraduates in the summer semester at UTS.

Liz is a committee member of the Medico-Legal Society of NSW, the Ethics Committee of the Law Society of NSW, a member of St. James Ethics Centre and a member of International Commission of Jurists.

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Shauna Jarrett
Shauna has been in practice since 1994, and is the Solicitor/Director of Agostini Jarrett P/L, a small business and personal services firm in the Sydney CBD. She is a Councillor of the NSW Law Society, Chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee and the Human Rights Committee at the Society.

Shauna is also a board member of PIAC, PILCH, the Arts Law Centre of Australia, Council of NSW Law Reporting and the Legal Profession Advisory Council.

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Megan Cassidy
Megan is the Manager of Complaints and Litigation at the Attorney General’s Department of NSW. Her main areas of practice are Alternative Dispute Resolution and Government Law. She is yet to be admitted.

Megan is currently a member of the NSW Young Lawyers Business Law Committee.

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Melinda Di Condio
Melinda is a final year law student at the University of Sydney. Her legal interests predominantly concern issues surrounding family law, succession, health law and reproductive technologies.

Melinda is keen to promote mentoring opportunities for students, and raise awareness about the diverse range of career opportunities available to law graduates. Melinda currently works in a city-based general practice.

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Samantha Edwards
Samantha joined the Executive Committee of WLANSW in February 2003, and has filled the positions of Policy Officer and joint Student Issues Officer. She has held positions on a number of Government committees level, including the NSW Premier’s Youth Advisory Council, in 2002-2003. She is a final year law student at the University of Sydney.

Samantha is keen to pursue a career in legal policy, and has particular interests in the areas of anti-discrimination law, mental health and legal issues affecting young people and children. She is currently working at the NSW Sentencing Council.

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Lee-May Saw
Lee-May Saw is a fifth year law student at the University of New South Wales. She currently works at the Intellectual Disability Rights Service, tutors HSC English and is a committee member of the Lawyers Reform Association. Lee-May aspires to become a quality criminal advocate and would like to see more Asian women at the Bar.

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Newcastle/Hunter Region Representative Committee
Catherine Henry, Elizabeth Pinnock, Nada Vujat, Margot McAlary, Nicola Callander, Nicola Ross, Felicity Wardhaugh, Lynette Lucas, Kristina Wooi, Janice Clark, Marina Anderson.

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Kathryn McKenzie
Executive Officer

Kathryn has extensive experience in administration, association and event management. She has worked with small business to large corporates, non-profit organisations and many committees. With senior management experience in a diversity of business sectors, successfully organising numerous events, sponsorships, government and media liaison, she has qualifications in business management and counselling, franchising, mediation, journalism and public relations. Kathryn is also the Public Officer for WLANSW.

Kathryn McKenzie, Principal of Business Angel Services Pty. Ltd., officially took over the responsibility as at 12 August 2003. In welcoming Kathryn, WLANSW would like to thank Anne Stewart and her team at Creative Conferences for their assistance and support as our Executive Officer over the previous five years.