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The Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania is responsible to a board of Commissioners.
Chairperson of the Commission - appointed in July 2005 for a term of three years.
Mr Worrall is in private practice in Hobart specialising in commercial law, estate planning, wills, probate and property. He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1978.
Mr Worrall's current pro-bono projects include work for the Alzheimer's Association, the Menzies Centre and Neighbourhood Watch.
Mr Worrall is a Member of the Business and Commercial Law Committee of the Law Society of Tasmania and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Norman Reaburn is the Director of the Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania.
Representative of the State Attorney-General - reappointed on 15 November 2005 for a term of three years. Prior to retirement Mr Holloway was the Finance Manager of the Department of Justice and Industrial Relations from 1983 to 2001.
He was appointed a member of LACT in June 1992 and has been a member almost continuously since that time. He was employed in accounting and auditing positions in various government agencies from 1970 until joining Justice in 1983, before which he held accounting positions with a chartered accounting firm and in the manufacturing industry.
Mr Holloway is a member of CPA Australia and a Justice of the Peace.
Representative of the Law Society of Tasmania - reappointed on 8 December 2005 for a term of three years.
Mr Brown is a barrister and solicitor who runs his own firm in Launceston. He was admitted in 1986 and works principally in the areas of personal injury and workers compensation, litigation, and criminal law.
He was first appointed as a Commissioner in 1999. He was a committee member of the Tasmanian Bar Association for fourteen years and has been president of the Association since 2002.
Representative of Community Legal Centres - appointed on 25 May 2004 for a term of three years.
Ms Blades was admitted in 2000 and is currently the Disability Discrimination Act Solicitor in Tasmania and co-manages Launceston Community Legal Centre.
She was the previous Disability Discrimination Act Advocate at Roma Mitchell Community Legal Centre South Australia whilst studying law as a mature age student and the previous national co-ordinator Disability Discrimination Act Legal Services and has a background in human rights/community.
Ms Blades is the current President of the Epilepsy Association of Tasmania, Director - Joint Epilepsy Council Australia and Epilepsy Association Australia, Director- Equity Intowork and Board member Launceston On-Line Centre.
Representative of the State Attorney-General - reappointed on 12 December 2005 for a term of three years.
Ms Gelston is a practitioner at Clerk Walker & Stops, practising in the areas of family law, child protection and crime. She was admitted to practice in 1996, after being employed as an apprentice-at-law at the Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania.
Ms Gelston then went on to become one of the state's first two youth lawyers, and established the youth law program in the north of Tasmania. For her work in that position she received the Children's Lawyer of the Year Award from the National Children's and Youth Law Centre. In 2003, Ms Gelston was awarded the Australian Young Lawyers Committee Young Lawyer of the Year Award for her involvement in the legal profession and community.
Ms Gelston is also involved in a number of community organisations including: secretary of the Family Law Practitioners Association; board of management of the Hobart Community Legal Service; Volunteer Legal Advisor at the Hobart Community Legal Service; member of the Tasmanian Pathways Committee; member of CCS advisory group.
Representative of the Law Society of Tasmania - appointed on 12 September 2005 for a term of three years.
Mr Brett is a barrister and solicitor who runs his own firm in Launceston. He was admitted as a solicitor in Queensland in 1980 and as a barrister in Queensland in 1986. He commenced in Tasmania in 1993 and at the independent bar in 1999.
He practices principally in criminal law, family law, planning and general litigation. He also has an interest in mediation.
Mr Brett is currently a member of the Anti-discrimination Tribunal and is the Vice President (northern) of the Tasmania Bar Association.
Staff Representative - appointed on 12 May 2006 for a term of three years.
Ms. Jago is the Criminal Manager, North for the Legal Aid Commission.
She was admitted to practice in 1994 and spent the next 6 years in private practice working in the areas of criminal law and family law. In 2000, Ms Jago joined the Legal Aid Commission, and since then her practice has predominantly involved criminal trial and appellate work.
Ms. Jago is also responsible for the management and professional development of the criminal lawyers employed in the Commission's Launceston, Devonport and Burnie offices.
