Current Foundation board members

Chair:

The Honourable P. D. Cummins - nominee of the Chief Justice (2009)

Nominated Members:

Mark Woods - nominee of the Law Institute of Victoria (2009)

James W S Peters SC - nominee of the Victorian Bar (2009)

Brendan Sydes - nominee of the Federation of Community Legal Centres (2009)

Specialist Skills-based members:

Sally Finlay (2009)

Sophia Panagiotidis (2009)

Kim Webster (2009)

More about our Board

The Honourable P. D. Cummins was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria for over 20 years and was senior Trial Division judge and Principal Judge of the Criminal Division of the Court. He has been a member of the Law School at the University of Melbourne for over 30 years and is a member of the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, where he is conducting research into child abuse. He holds the degrees of Master of Laws and Master of Science (psychiatry) from the University of Melbourne in addition to other degrees. Prior to his judicial appointment he was a Queen's Counsel for ten years, Chairman of the Victorian Bar, and Senior Vice president of the Australian Bar.

Mark Woods is an accredited specialist in criminal law and family law practising in regional Victoria. He joined the Victoria Law Foundation Board in 1995, when serving a term as President of the Law Institute of Victoria. Since then he has been reappointed by successive governments, and has seen many changes to the structure and objects of the Foundation. Mark is a passionate advocate for greater access to justice. He serves on the Australian Legal Assistance Forum (as immediate past Chairman), is a board member of the National Pro Bono Resource Centre, and a member of the Victoria Legal Aid Community Committee. He remains a Council member of the Law Institute, and currently chairs the Access to Justice Committee of the Law Council of Australia as well as the Victorian Legal Assistance Scheme. He serves as a board member of the Leo Cussen Institute for Continuing Legal Education.

James Peters SC is a member of the Victorian Bar with extensive experience in complex commercial litigation at trial and appellate level in the Supreme and Federal Courts. He has acted for many private litigants, public bodies, liquidators and financial institutions in commercial litigation at the Supreme and Federal Court and in artbitrations since 1987 in areas including joint venture disputes, commercial disputess, trade practices, banking/insolvency, property and regulatory authority issues. He is also a member of the Victorian Bar Ethics Committee.

Brendan Sydes is principal solicitor with the Environment Defenders Office (Victoria), a community legal centre specialising in environment law. His work at the EDO involves providing legal advice and representation to community groups and environment NGOs working to protect and enhance the environment, policy and law reform work and overseeing the EDO's community legal education activities, which include workshops and web publishing. Brendan has volunteered as a legal adviser and committee member at community legal centres in Victoria and NSW and is presently Chair of the Committee of Management of the Federation of Community Legal Centres, Victoria.

Sally Finlay is Senior Manager, Financial Inclusion at the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Sally worked previously as aspeech writer at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission where she was responsible for ensuring often highly complex and technical legal and economic concepts were effectively communicated to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. Other roles include Communications Manager at the Victorian Law Reform Commission; as Public Affairs manager at the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance; as Senior Media Adviser in the Office of the Premier of Victoria; as a journalist with The Age; and at a number of newspapers in London as a sub-editor.

Sophia Panagiotidis has extensive experience and knowledge in social security, family assistance and administrative law. Sophia is currently a member of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal; Medical Practitioners board of Victoria; Mental Health Community Legal Centre Management Committee; and the Victorian Institute of Teaching's Disciplinary Panel. Previously, Sophia worked at Victoria Legal Aid as the Manager of the Community Legal Education Section for nearly 10 years and was involved in developing and implementing community legal education programs and initiatives across Victoria. She also has a background working in community legal centres in community legal education and teaching at Swinburne University. She is a past member of the editorial dcommittee for the Fitzroy Legal Service Law Handbook and is a current contributor to the Social Security Rerorter.

Kim Webster is currently a Program Manager in the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation's Participation and Equity for Health Unit. Kim has worked in the health sector for over 20 years and has extensive advocacy, project managerment and policy development experience. Over her career, Kim has also been the principal or co-author of many publications, research papers and journals on the topics of health inequalities, women's health and cultural diversity.