Thursday, 24 September 2020
Elizabeth Carroll elected Law Society President
Elizabeth Carroll has been elected President of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory for 2020-21. Her election was declared at the Society’s AGM on Thursday 24 September 2020.
In accepting the role, she said: “I am truly honoured to be elected as President of the ACT Law Society. The Law Society is a strong voice for its members and the community, supporting fundamental principles of the legal system, the rule of law and access to justice. I feel privileged to continue that tradition.”
Elizabeth is Chief Legal Counsel at IP Australia, contributing to Australian innovation by providing Strategic legal advice and managing the provision of all legal services to the agency. She has over a decade of experience leading the legal teams of three Commonwealth agencies and ten years’ experience in private practice. She was first elected to Council in 2017, and was elected Vice President in 2018. She joined the Law Society's Government Law Committee in 2018, and is currently acting as Chair.
With experience in both government and private practice, Elizabeth is representative of the diverse nature of our local profession, and she is passionate about the role professional associations play in benefitting members and the wider community. From 2015-2019, she was Chair of the Australian Government Legal Network (AGLN), representing over 1,700 Commonwealth government lawyers, and was an AGLN Board member for six years. A strong supporter of the professional development of young lawyers, in 2013 she established the AGLN’s Legal Circles Mentoring Program.
She received the ACT Law Society's Government Law Award in 2016. In 2020 she was recognised in Australasian Lawyer's In-house Leaders List. In 2019 she was listed in Managing Intellectual Property Magazine's 50 Most Influential People in IP. She was also a finalist for the ACC Government Lawyer of the Year Award in 2018 and a finalist in the General Counsel of the Year category for the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards 2019. Her team is currently a finalist in the Government Team of the Year category and she is a finalist in the Government Lawyer of the Year category of the 2020 Corporate Counsel Awards.
Outside the law, Elizabeth recently qualified as a Level 1 Registered Yoga Teacher and she enjoys teaching a weekly class for her work colleagues.
Other members of the newly elected Law Society Council are:
- Elizabeth Carroll, President (IP Australia)
- Sarah Avery, Vice President (Sarah Avery Legal Practice)
- Farzana Choudhury, Vice President (Canberra Community Law)
- George Marques, Secretary (HWL Ebsworth Lawyers)
- Mark Tigwell, Treasurer (Bedfords Legal)
- Chris Donohue, Immediate Past President (Donohue & Co)
- Veena Bedekar, Councillor (Maddocks)
- Rahul Bedi, Councillor (Maliganis Edwards Johnson)
- Tim Dingwall, Councillor (Griffin Legal)
- Annie Haggar, Councillor (Accenture Australia Limited)
- Alan Hill, Councillor (Nelson & Hill Lawyers)
- Gavin Lee, Councillor (Arthur J Gallagher)
- Susan Platis, Councillor (ACT Justice & Community Safety Directorate)
- Kevin Robinson, Councillor (Robinson + McGuinness Family Law)
- David Swanson, Councillor (Department of Defence)
- Angus Tye, Councillor (IP Australia)