ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Business Development at Citizens Advice
Andrew is the Director of Business Development at Citizens Advice, the national membership organisation supporting the local Citizens Advice offices in England and Wales.
With a background in social welfare advice of over 20 years, beginning as a volunteer adviser, Andrew has worked within the advice sector on a range of projects, programmes and initiatives. As Director of Business Development, Andrew works with statutory, corporate and voluntary partners and funding to develop and fund new services to individuals and communities that address the ever increasing information, education, advice and advocacy needs that the Citizens Advice Service responds to through its network of over 3000 outlets in England and Wales.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chief Executive Officer
- Joint Chief Executive
Clare Carter is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Access to Justice Foundation. Clare is responsible for ensuring the sustainability of the Foundation's charitable activities.
Dame Maura McGowan is a High Court Judge in the Queen's Bench Division. She is the Lord Chief Justice's appointed representative on the ATJF.
She was chair of the Bar Council in 2013. She is involved in judicial and advocacy training, nationally and internationally. She is a Guardian of the ‘Support Through Court' organisation and is committed to promoting access to justice for all groups and individuals.
Job Titles:
- Head of Littleton Chambers
Gavin Mansfield QC is a barrister and is Head of Littleton Chambers. He specialises in employment and partnership disputes and related areas of commercial law.
Gavin sits as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Queen's Bench Division and in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He is a former Chair of the Employment Law Bar Association and is a Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple.
Job Titles:
- Learning Manager at the Access
Ildephonse Nzabahimana is the Data and Learning Manager at the Access to Justice Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Solicitor at McCue & Partners
Joe Snape is a human rights and environmental solicitor at McCue & Partners. He has previously worked in corporate law and in several NGOs, and also has experience of climate change litigation in the UK and Latin America.
Joe has several years' experience of working across a number of organisations providing access to justice to vulnerable individuals and is also a governor of Oldfield Primary School.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Solicitor
Laurence is a solicitor who has practiced in the area of commercial litigation all his career.
He was one of the founder partners of the London office of the international law firm of Cooley. He advises Governments, large corporates and high net worth individuals in complex commercial disputes. Prior to joining Cooley, he had been a Managing Partner of a UK firm, and then the Deputy Managing Partner of a large US law firm.
He is a solicitor-advocate and a Crown Court Recorder. Laurence joined the Board of the Foundation in 2012 and was appointed the Foundation's second Chair in succession to Peter Goldsmith in September 2020
Lord Goldsmith acts for a variety of clients in arbitration and litigation around the world. As the UK Attorney General, he represented the government in numerous cases in UK and international courts. He also argued as counsel in the House of Lords two of the 15 cases regarded as the most important British cases of the last 150 years.
Lord Goldsmith has a strong history and life-long support for pro bono assistance to bring legal advice to the disadvantaged. As a young lawyer, he started a legal advice center in the East End of London and, later in his career, founded the Bar of England & Wales' Pro Bono Unit (of which he remains President) and the Attorney General's pro bono coordinating committees. Amongst other recognitions, he was awarded the Lifetime Award for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of Pro Bono Culture in Europe at the 2014 PILnet European Pro Bono Forum.
He was one of the founders behind the Foundation and became the first Chair of its Trustee Board, a post he held until September 2020 when he became the Foundation's President.
Job Titles:
- Development Director
- Director of Development at the Access
Lynne Squires is the Director of Development at the Access to Justice Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Network Director - the Network for Justice
Martha leads the Litigant in Person Network as Network Development Manager, focusing on supporting the access to justice sector to work together more effectively, communicate more easily and work more strategically. She initiated the innovation workstream with a focus on data, design, tools and technology. A law graduate, she has previously worked in fundraising and business development across a number of access to justice organisations and has seven years' experience in the sector.
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Non - Executive Director
Nicola is a portfolio non-executive director with over 30 years of business experience. She is a qualified chartered accountant and her business experience has covered a wide variety of sectors including legal services, technology, telecommunications, retail, media, financial services, regulation, housing and charities.
In addition to her role at ATJF she is currently chair at Milton Keynes Development Partnership, chair at CHP Ltd, a board member of the Bar Standards Board, a trustee of the charity Changing Faces, a member of the Managing Partners Forum advisory board and an advisor to LegalTech firm Legl.
Job Titles:
- Finance
- Operations Manager
- Finance and Operations Manager at the Access
Peter Fruin is the Finance and Operations Manager at the Access to Justice Foundation. Peter is responsible for the Foundation's Financial records and operations, as well as Legal & Governance matters.
A CIMA-qualified accountant, Peter has extensive experience working in both Finance and Compliance at the trading arm of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Job Titles:
- Director of Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education at the University of Edinburgh
Rebecca Samaras is the Director of Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education at the University of Edinburgh. Rebecca is responsible for the strategic development and leadership of the Edinburgh Law School's pro bono activity.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer at the Access
- Joint Chief Executive
Ruth Daniel is the Chief Executive Officer at the Access to Justice Foundation. Ruth is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the charity.
Sarah currently works for the United Nations as a civil society and social justice advisor, specialising in grant management, project evaluation and capacity building.
She previously worked as a litigation solicitor in London then specialised in human rights law and access to justice in low income countries. She is passionate about justice sector reform and for the past 25 years has worked as a founder, and advisor on access to justice projects in the UK, Asia and Africa.
Simon Davis was appointed in May 2021 as trustee of the Access to Justice Foundation.
Simon joined Clifford Chance in 1982 and became Partner in 1994, retiring from the firm in 2020. He was Head of Commercial Litigation in Clifford Chance's London office and a member of the firm's Partnership Council.
He is a former President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and President of the Law Society of England and Wales, still a member of the Council of the Law Society, Committee member of the City of London Law Society, member of the Court of Appeal Mediation Panel and an accredited CEDR mediator. Simon conducted ‘the Davis Review' of the FCA in 2014. Simon was a trustee of Law Works in 2019/2020.