The Officers (together with any further persons co-opted in accordance with paragraph 16) are to form the Executive Committee of the Foundation and are, subject to any directions which the Board may give, to have full power to conduct the affairs of the Foundation and act on its behalf and in its name.
The Officers may, from time to time, coopt up to a total of five persons, at least two of whom must be members of the Board, to be members of the Executive Committee; such persons are to be members of the Executive Committee (unless they have previously ceased to hold office) until the meeting of the Board at which the term of office of the Chair comes to an end in accordance with paragraph 13.
A co-opted member of the Executive Committee may attend meetings of the Board but may not vote (unless already a member of the Board).
MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL WALES EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Jonathan Elystan Rees KC has been the Chair of Legal Wales since 2022.
Jonathan is a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge and was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 2000, taking silk in 2019 and becoming a Bencher of Inner Temple in 2020. Practicing from chambers in Cardiff, London, Chester, and Manchester, Jonathan specialises in serious crime, fraud, professional misconduct and international criminal law.
He has recently appeared before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers sitting in The Hague. Jonathan sits as a Recorder in the Crown Court.
Elisabeth hails from Mountain Ash, in the Cynon Valley, and attended the Comprehensive School there. With the support of her French teacher there, she obtained a place to study Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Somerville College, Oxford - the first in her family to go on to higher education.
Having completed a post-graduate conversion course to Law, Elisabeth practised in commercial and employment law with the firm of Theodore Goddard (now Addleshaw Goddard LLP), in the City of London, and with Osborne Clarke and Lyons Davidson in Bristol.
A desire to work on behalf of people who could not afford private legal fees led Elisabeth to move to Gloucester Law Centre, where she spent five extremely rewarding years as the employment specialist.
Elisabeth’s love of languages then inspired a move to France, to work at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for a further five years before returning to take up a post with the Welsh Government Legal Service in the early days of devolution. Constitutional and administrative law, including Human Rights and EU law, have been Elisabeth's speciality for the last 20 years of her career, which culminated in her appointment as Chief Legal Adviser to Senedd Cymru (then the National Assembly for Wales) in 2012.
Elisabeth retired in 2019 and now undertakes a range of voluntary work and individual projects, particularly related to broadening access to the legal profession.
Hannah qualified as a solicitor with Morgans Solicitors in Cardiff in 2007, specialising in Family Law. During her time at Morgans Solicitors, Hannah was responsible for the firm’s contracts with the Legal Aid Agency in the areas of Family, Employment, Housing, Debt and Welfare Benefits.
Hannah subsequently worked for Jacklyn Dawson Solicitors in Newport and Monmouth as a Family Solicitor, before joining the University of South Wales (USW) in 2016 as a Lecturer in Legal Practice based in the School of Law, Accounting and Finance.
In May 2018, Hannah was appointed as the Director of the Legal Advice Clinic at USW, which is a student led, pro bono clinic offering legal advice to members of the public, students and staff.
Hannah is a member and trustee of the Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO), and is actively involved in a number of community based projects including Streetlaw and ELiPS (Employment Litigant in Person Scheme).
Hannah sits on the LawWorks Cymru Advisory Group and is currently serving a one year term as a member of the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Regional Advice Network steering group.
Huw was the Chair of Legal Wales 2018-22 and is the present Chief Legal Adviser at Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament (holding that office since 2019).
Prior to that Huw was Head of Public Law and Vice-chair at Geldards LLP where his practice encompassed the law on planning, the environment, compulsory purchase, devolution, local government and State aid. Huw acted for many public bodies and local authorities in England and Wales.
After graduating from Jesus College, Oxford and nine years in local government practice with the Mid Glamorgan County Council, Huw joined Geldards (at that time called Edwards Geldard ) in 1987 where his practice was initially focused on the regeneration of Cardiff Bay notably the construction of the Cardiff Bay Barrage and the Wales Millennium Centre.
Huw has served as a Trustee of both the National Museum of Wales and the National Library of Wales, and is presently a Member of the Law Society National Board for Wales.
- The Executive Committee
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Jonathan Elystan Rees KC - Chair
Elisabeth Velina Jones – Secretary and Access Scheme Co-ordinator
Hannah Menard - Treasurer
Huw Williams - Co-Opted Executive Committee Member
