Meet our people

Isabelle Reinecke

Executive Director and Founder

Isabelle Reinecke is the Executive Director and Founder of the Grata Fund. Before joining Grata full time, Isabelle was Director of Legal and Governance and Company Secretary of GetUp, Australia's largest campaigning community, where she worked to build the Grata Fund from 2014.

Isabelle started her career as a lawyer at Clayton Utz, where she specialised in corporate law and was deeply involved in their pro bono program, working with Aboriginal communities in the East Kimberley to secure compensation for stolen wages.

In 2015, she was nominated for a Walkley Award for Coverage of Indigenous Affairs and was a finalist in the United Nations of Australia Media Peace Awards for the Promotion of Indigenous Recognition Award. She has served as board member for the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre in Sydney and was Chair of the Grata Fund until stepping into a more hands on role in 2016.

Isabelle is a 2016 Churchill Fellow and holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from the Australian National University, where she was awarded the Dean's Certificate Prize for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Honourable Marcia Neave AO

Director

The Hon. Marcia Neave AO has had a career as a judge, lawyer, academic and public policy maker. She is the Former Chair of the Royal Commission into Family Violence and a former judge of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria.

From February 2015 to March 2016, she was the chair of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. That Royal Commission was entrusted with the task of making recommendations regarding the family violence support system and justice system in Victoria.

Prior to her role as Commissioner, for nine years she was a Justice of the Court of Appeal Division in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Ms Neave has held chairs at Adelaide University, Monash University and the Australian National University. She was also a visiting Professor on three occasions in New York University’s Law School’s Global Law Program. In 2006 she became the first academic in Victoria’s history to be appointed to the Court of Appeal.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1999, Ms Neave was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her services to the law, and in 2001, she was awarded the Centenary Medal.

Jennifer Robinson

Director

Jennifer Robinson is an Australian lawyer. She is Director of Legal Advocacy for the Bertha Foundation in London, where she has created a program to support organisations engaging in strategic public interest litigation in 16 countries around the world. Robinson has acted in key free speech and freedom of information cases before the British courts and the European Court of Human Rights and advised governments and NGOs on media and international law issues. She is best known for her role as a member of the legal team defending Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, but has also provided legal assistance to activists from West Papua for more than a decade. Robinson was educated at the Australian National University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes scholar. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Law Association and is a trustee of Article 19, an international free speech organisation.

Deanne Weir

Director

Media entrepreneur, company director and philanthropist Deanne Weir has more than 20 years’ experience in media and communications, having started her career as a corporate lawyer. Deanne is the Managing Director of Content Acquisition and Wholesale at Foxtel, and chairs the boards of four private companies including Hoodlum, a BAFTA and Emmy award winning production company, and Ai-Media, a global innovator in speech-to-text services for broadcast and education. Deanne is the Chair of the Australian Women Donors Network and is a member of the boards of the Sydney Film Festival and Playwriting Australia.

Dr Peter Cashman

Director

Dr Peter Cashman is a barrister and Professor of Law and Director of the Social Justice Program at the University of Sydney Law School. He has practised in Australia, the UK and the United States, and holds a Law degree and a Diploma in Criminology from the University of Melbourne and an LLM and a PhD from the University of London. He has made significant contributions to law reform through his role as Commissioner with the Victorian Law Reform Commission in charge of the Civil Justice Review, and as a Commissioner with the Australian Law Reform Commission on its reference on class actions (jointly with Justice John Basten). He was the founder and senior partner of Cashman & Partners, which merged to become Maurice Blackburn Cashman (now Maurice Blackburn Pty Ltd). He was the founding director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and more recently has served on the boards of PIAC and the Public Interest Law Clearing House (now Justice Connect). In addition, he has authored many publications about social justice law, class actions and public interest litigation, including a forthcoming book ‘Practising Law in the Public Interest’ (co-authored with Ross Abbs).

Michael Eyers AM

Chair

Michael Eyers has combined commercial legal practice with executive roles in the public sector and experience as an investment banker. Michael has worked extensively as a consultant to Government or on Government projects, particularly during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, in infrastructure and in the preparation of legislation. A solicitor, he has been a partner in a number of firms and is now the solicitor director of General Counsel Pty Limited. Michael has also worked in land and housing policy and administration in Commonwealth and State governments, including as Department of Housing CEO in New South Wales. He has been a Visiting Fellow at UNSW Law School and has held visiting teaching roles in other faculties and other universities. His community service includes involvement with both the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Public Interest Law Clearing House in their early years and more recently has been on the board of the Black Dog Institute and a trustee of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust.

PATRON

The Honourable Gerald Edward (Tony) Fitzgerald AC QC

Tony Fitzgerald is an iconic legal figure who, over the course of his distinguished career as a barrister and judge, has brought about significant reforms to standards of government accountability, transparency and adherence to the rule of law in Australia. He presided over the Fitzgerald Inquiry into corruption in Queensland’s police force and politics. He has been a Member of the Australian Law Reform Commission and was the Inaugural Chairman of the Queensland Litigation Reform Commission. Among his many governance positions, he was the Chairperson of the National Pro Bono Resource Centre and the Chairperson of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW. He now practices in mediation, arbitration, and expert determinations in Australia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, specialising in corporate and commercial law.

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Our Advisory Council is comprised of leading legal academics, non-profit strategic litigators and expert campaigners. Our Council provides advice on our overall strategic direction, cases we should support, and key issues on the horizon that may benefit from legal intervention.