Our Board
We are governed by our Board. The current members of the Board are:
Mick Sheehy, Chair (he/him)
Mick is a legal industry transformation leader and innovator. Mick is a Partner at PwC and lead of PwC’s Australian and APAC NewLaw practices, providing strategic consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions to legal functions.
Mick is also a member of the PwC Legal Business Solutions Global Leadership Team. Mick founded and chaired the Australian chapter of Corporate Legal Operations Consortium and is a Member of the External Law Advisory Committee at Swinburne University of Technology. Mick serves as Deputy Chair and is a past FLS volunteer lawyer. Mick was appointed to the Board in June 2020.
Karri Walker (she/her)
Karri is a proud Nyiyaparli woman, whose family is from the East Pilbara region of Western Australia, and has grown up living on Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Country. Karri is the Senior Lawyer at the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria working on the nation’s first Treaty process.
Prior to joining the Assembly, Karri worked as a commercial lawyer at Arnold Bloch Leibler. Karri is a member of the Advisory Council of the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub at the University of Melbourne Law School. She recently completed a Master of Laws at Harvard Law School as a John Monash scholar.
Monique MacRitchie (she/her)
Monique is an experienced senior manager with a legal and international business background. Her senior leadership experience includes leading high-performing teams across borders, change management and stakeholder engagement.
She has worked in a range of not-for-profit organisations and is currently a practicing lawyer for a boutique family law firm. Prior to that Monique worked for two years as a Legal Associate in the then Family Court of Australia including in the Chambers of the Chief Justice. She also has experience at a leading London-based family law firm and at the Court of Appeal, Royal Courts of Justice and the Office of International Family Justice in the United Kingdom.
Monique combines her professional experience with a commitment to delivering high level services and programs that enhance opportunities and empower communities.
Monique was appointed to the Board in November 2022.
Tony Macvean (he/him)
Tony is the Managing Partner of leading law firm Hall & Wilcox, where he is responsible for driving the firm’s strategy, leading the firm’s people, managing the firm’s relationships with its key clients and representing the firm publicly.
During his time as Managing Partner, Tony has led the transformation of Hall & Wilcox into a leading national law firm.
Prior to and during his time as Managing Partner, Tony has represented clients on a number of substantial merger and acquisition, capital markets and corporate transactions.
Tony plays a leadership role in the firm’s pro bono and community program, and is passionate about community and social justice. He is the Chair of Australian Business Community Network (ABCN) and serves on the Board of the Committee for Melbourne.
Tony was appointed to the Board in April 2021.
Michelle Batsas (she/her)
Michelle is a senior executive with broad and diverse experience across management, strategy, governance, events, communications, and policy. She is currently the Executive Director of Future Mobility at the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning.
In this role Michelle oversees the transport and customer strategy, research and innovation functions of the department. Previously Michelle was the Executive Director of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) in ANZ before becoming the inaugural CEO of the Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand, where she advocated for best practice public transport and sustainable mobility solutions for the region, focusing on issues related to customer experience, liveability, and sustainability of communities.
Michelle has held senior roles at Public Transport Victoria, VicRoads, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice in program management, policy, and communications. In the early years of her career, Michelle worked as a corporate lawyer and at Justice Connect (the former Public Interest Law Clearing House).
Michelle was appointed to the Board in April 2023.
Gerard Brody (he/him)
Gerard is Commissioner and Chair of the Essential Services Commission (ESC), appointed in August 2024. A leading consumer rights lawyer, Gerard has deep consumer policy, regulatory and legal experience, and a longstanding passion for improving the consumer experience.
Prior to his role with the ESC, Gerard was CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, an independent, not-for-profit consumer organisation, and served as Chair of both Community Legal Centres Australia and the Consumers’ Federation of Australia. Gerard has also served as a Director for the Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Gerard holds degrees in Arts, Law and Public Policy from the University of Melbourne and is a graduate of the AICD Company Directors course.
Prashanti Manchikanti (she/her)
Prashanti is a general practitioner and public health policy leader and has over 15 years' experience addressing intersecting health and social challenges within government, not-for-profit and community-controlled settings.
She has previous experience as a Board observer to the Consumer Action Law Centre and an adviser on the City of Melbourne's Homelessness Advisory Committee. Prashanti has an extensive background collaborating with communities, clinicians, legal and social services, policymakers, academia and not-for-profit organisations to lead high-performing teams to address health inequities.
Lisa Ward (she/her)
Lisa is a trusted voice in the justice and human service sectors, with over 30 years’ experience in youth justice, adult corrections and legal services. She is passionate about bringing the evidence to bear and delivering integrated services and has operated her own legal and human services consultancy business for more than 20 years.
Lisa was Chair of the Victorian Child Death Review Committee, Deputy Chair of the Sentencing Advisory Council of Victoria and a member of the Victorian Adult Parole Board and the Women’s Correctional Ministerial Advisory Committee. Lisa is on the Board of VACRO and recently sat on the Independent Expert Review Panel advising the Victorian Government on reform to the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility.
Michael Kingston (he/him) - Board Observer
Michael, an FLS life member, will attend Board meetings as an observer before replacing Jeremy Levine in the middle of the year. Michael was a long-time Night Service volunteer at FLS and has also volunteered as a lawyer at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. He served on the Boards of the Human Rights Law Centre, Justice Connect and Community West (formerly Brimbank Melton CLC) for many years.
Michael has extensive experience across his career in the public and private sectors, as a partner at King & Wood Mallesons (then Mallesons Stephen Jaques), the Chief Legal Officer at ASIC and as the Australian Government Solicitor. Michael currently practices at the Bar principally in company and commercial law, as well as in regulatory and governance affairs.
