Our dedicated Trustees bring a rich variety of skills and life experience to our Board. They are responsible for governance and steering our strategy.
If you are interested in becoming a Trustee, please contact: [email protected]
| Gareth Thomas – Chair Gareth is a retired Law Professor, having spent much of his working life at UEA in Norwich, where he specialised in employment and discrimination law. While at UEA, Gareth set up the award-winning UEA Law Clinic, where students help to provide free legal advice and assistance to the local community. Gareth served on the steering group for Suffolk Law Centre in 2012 in his capacity as a trustee of the Eastern Legal Support Trust. More recently, he was elected to the Executive of the Law Centres Network, which supports Law Centres across the UK. Gareth has lived in NE Suffolk since 1987. In his retirement, he enjoys pottering in his garden, tinkering with machinery in his workshop, and playing with his grandchildren. |
| Andrew Donnelly – Treasurer Andrew is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has worked as a finance professional for over 30 years. He is the Financial Controller at The Barnes Group Limited where he has worked for 15 years. He is also joint Treasurer for Stowmarket ASD Saturday Clubs a charity that provides social activities for children and teenagers with autism spectrum disorders. When not crunching numbers, Andrew is an enthusiastic chess player. He is the current Bury St Edmunds chess club champion and also plays for the county. |
| Carole Parry-Jones – Vice Chair Carole has been involved as a volunteer with ISCRE and then Suffolk Law Centre providing legal advice and support in the field of family law for approximately 10 years. Until her retirement in late 2017, Carole practised as a barrister in family law as part of East Anglian Chambers where she also served on its management committee as Treasurer and later as Head of the family Team. Since Carole’s retirement she set up an advice and support service with Suffolk Law Centre for litigants in person attending their first hearings at the local family court. From time to time she has provided in house training and support in advocacy to staff dealing with court presentations. |
| James Sandbach James Sandbach is Town Councillor in Suffolk and is also London Citizens Advice Development Manager. James was previously Director of Policy and External Affairs for LawWorks and has held other management and policy roles in the advice sector including with the Advice Services Alliance, Citizens Advice and the Legal Action Group. |
| Jemma Jones Jemma is a Solicitor at Birkett Long, specialising in Residential Conveyancing. Jemma has been a solicitor since 2015 and assists a variety of clients, offering the full range of residential property advice. Jemma became a solicitor later in life, having studied at the UEA as a mature student. Prior to becoming a solicitor, Jemma worked for a Local Authority in their Youth Offending Team. This gave Jemma an interest in law and she experienced, first-hand, the importance of good legal advice. While studying to be a solicitor, Jemma also worked in a firm practicing criminal and family law, where she saw the benefit of Legal Aid for the community. |
| Monica Kurnatowska Monica Kurnatowska is an employment lawyer and partner at Baker McKenzie. Monica is a member of Baker McKenzie’s London Management Committee and Co- Lead of the EMEA Employment Practice. Monica also leads their Global DE&I client initiative. Monica trained as nurse, and then worked for HMRC in Ipswich before deciding to become a lawyer. Monica went on to study law as a mature student at Essex University, before completing her training at Baker McKenzie. Monica lives in the Tendring area of North Essex. Monica is married with two children and too many dogs. In her spare time she enjoys swimming, running, yoga and reading. |
| Samantha Gallagher Samantha is a Risk and Compliance Consultant with a background in conveyancing and regulatory compliance. Samantha worked in private practice for a number of years before joining the Solicitors Regulation Authority and spending over 10 years undertaking regulatory inspections. As an independent consultant, Samantha now supports legal practices with meeting their ever growing regulatory obligations. She is also an a Lexcel Assessor and Consultant for the Law Society and a Specialist Quality Mark Auditor, auditing legal services providers that are seeking to hold a Legal Aid Agency contract. Although Samantha now lives in Northamptonshire, she was born and raised in Harwich and she still spends time in the area. She is very aware of the lack of access to legal services in North Essex and Suffolk and sees how the work of Suffolk Law Centre is vital to the area. |
| Stevan Stratton Stevan is a Partner at Ellisons solicitors and heads up their Injury Services Team. Stevan is a solicitor specialising in Claimant Personal Injury litigation and has been helping injured clients from all over the region in recovering compensation and securing private rehabilitative treatment for over 15 years. Stevan has volunteered as a legal advisor at Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE) / Suffolk Law Centre since 2013 and has always been concerned about people being able to access justice, something which appears to be getting harder each year. Stevan has lived in Ipswich for over 20 years having grown up in Suffolk. Stevan and his wife have 3 young children and care deeply about this community. In his spare time, Stevan enjoys playing/coaching/watching football and playing the guitar. |
