EDO Organisational Chart

Jeff Smith

Director

Jeff is the Director of the Environmental Defender’s Office. He is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW with a Masters of Law from Sydney University (majoring in Environmental Law and Policy). He has taught and researched in environmental law and policy, criminal law and litigation at the University of NSW and Macquarie University.

Jeff has written extensively in the fields of environmental law, criminal law and litigation.

Prior to joining the Environmental Defender’s Office he was involved in drug law reform and criminal justice work at the Attorney General’s Department, as well as working in strategic policy for the Environment Protection Authority.

Jeff sits on the Boards of the Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law, the Environmental Planning and Law Association, and the Combined Community Legal Centre Group. Jeff is also a member of the Special Purpose Assessment Committee for the Contaminated Land Management Program administered by the Environmental Trust. He has previously been on the Board of the Total Environment Centre for many years and the Steering Committee for the Climate Action Network Australia.

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Kirsty Ruddock

Principal Solicitor

Kirsty joined EDO-NSW as the Principal Solicitor in October 2006. Kirsty graduated with Arts(Honours)/Law(Honours) from the Australian National University in 1995. She also has a Graduate Diploma in Arts (writing). In 1996, she commenced work at the Australian Government Solicitor's Office in Sydney where she worked in trade practices law, administrative law, environmental law, intellectual property law and native title.

In 2002 she decided she needed a change and spent a year working in the Office of the Attorney-General in Samoa on civil litigation, commercial work and criminal prosecutions as part of the AusAid program, Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development. This lead to work in the Public Solicitor's Office in the Solomon Islands where she appeared as an Advocate in criminal and civil cases, including on behalf of a number of customary landowners who were trying to stop logging on their land.

Pursuing the tropical lifestyle, Kirsty moved to work as a Solicitor (part-time) at EDO-NQ in August 2004 and a Legal Officer at the Cape York Land Council (part-time). During her time at EDO-NQ she was involved in a number of judicial review and merits review cases including the first climate change case brought under the EPBC Act on behalf of Wildlife Whitsunday. She also taught Environmental Law to science students at James Cook University in Cairns.

In her spare time Kirsty likes reading, writing, walking, bushwalking and travelling. She also has a long involvement with local groups of Amnesty International and will be hoping to continue her involvement from afar with various environmental and indigenous groups in North Queensland.

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Jemilah Hallinan

Legal Outreach Director

Jemilah is the Legal Outreach Director at the Sydney office. She is responsible for the development and delivery of community legal education which includes legal workshops, seminars, conferences and a range of plain English publications.

Jemilah is also responsible for coordinating the many legal volunteers that assist the work of the office. She has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) from the University of Western Sydney and is admitted as a lawyer in NSW.

Jemilah is also a member of the Management Committee of the Total Environment Centre.

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Rachel Walmsley

Policy and Law Reform Director

Rachel Walmsley is the Policy and Law Reform Director at the Environmental Defender's Office, and works mainly on legislative law reform. Rachel has a Masters in Environmental Science and Law from University of Sydney; a Bachelor of Laws with Honours in international environmental law; and a Bachelor of Arts from ANU.

Rachel has also lectured on environmental law at UNSW, and sits on the Biobanking Ministerial Reference Group and the NCC Water Advisory Committee. Previously Rachel was the Environment Liaison Officer (ELO) for the peak environment groups of New South Wales (NSW). Prior to that, Rachel was a Research Assistant at the Australian Centre for Environmental Law (ACEL) at ANU in Canberra. Rachel has also worked for a British conservation organisation in London and Tanzania, doing biodiversity survey work and local environmental group capacity building.

Rachel is currently on maternity leave.

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Nari Sahukar

Acting Policy and Law Reform Director

Nari Sahukar is the Acting Policy and Law Reform Director while Rachel Walmsley is on maternity leave. Nari has a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from Macquarie University, Sydney, and is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales. His academic studies focused on politics, environmental studies, international relations and environmental law, and all of these interests continue to date.

Prior to joining the EDO NSW, Nari was a Deputy Director of Policy at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the national regulator for privacy protection and freedom of information. He has also worked with the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (a native title representative body), and LawAccess NSW (state Attorney-General's Dept).

In his spare time Nari enjoys good music, good food, reading, writing, languages and racquet sports. He is also a devotee of ABC TV's Insiders program on Sunday mornings.

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Tanya Wansbrough

Scientific Director

Tanya is the Scientific Director at the EDO. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Sydney has over eleven years' experience as an environmental scientist. Before joining the EDO in 2009, Tanya worked for a variety of consulting, government and non-government organisations, including Sinclair Knight Merz, The Ocean Alliance, EPA Victoria, CSIRO Publishing and the Natural Resources Commission. Her work has generally focused on water resources and natural resource management, but has also included research on sperm whales, sailing the high seas and teaching yoga.

Tanya enjoys spending her free time in the ocean, or camping or traveling to her second home in the Rocky Mountains.

Tanya is currently on maternity leave.

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Jessica Wood

Senior Solicitor

Jessica is a senior solicitor employed with the EDO's Northern Rivers office in Lismore. She holds a Masters of Environmental Law, Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Honours).

Before she joined the EDO, Jessica worked as a solicitor in private practice in environmental and planning law and construction law. She has also worked as a tipstaff at the NSW Land and Environment Court and the NSW Court of Appeal.

Jessica has a particular interest in federal environmental matters and she has had carriage of a number of cases against the Commonwealth in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Federal Court.

Jessica is currently on maternity leave.

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Ian Ratcliff

Senior Solicitor

Ian is a Senior Solicitor at the EDO Northern Rivers office. He has a Bachelor of Laws-European (Honours) from the University of Warwick in England and a Masters of Environmental Law from Macquarie University.

Before joining the EDO, Ian was Principal Legal Officer at the NSW Department of Local Government. He has also worked as a Legal Officer at the Refugee Review Tribunal, research officer for the Environment, Planning and Local Government branch of a City law firm and the editor of local government and environmental law publications for a legal publishing company.

Away from the office, Ian has a long-standing interest in ornithology and is a member of Birds Australia. He spent several holidays in England doing conservation work with the BTCV and RSPB. His other diverse interests include choral singing, swimming and cookery.

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Sue Higginson

Senior Solicitor

Sue is a senior solicitor at the EDO Northern Rivers. She has a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours.

Before joining the EDO Sue worked as a solicitor in private practice in Lismore in a number of areas including property and criminal law. Her work has included acting inside and outside the Courts at the intersection of environmental protest and the criminal law. She has also taught Environmental Law at Southern Cross University in Lismore.

Before becoming a solicitor Sue worked in the environment movement for a number of years. She has done extensive work in relation to forest conservation in North East New South Wales. She was an active campaigner and spokesperson for the North East Forest Alliance. Sue's particular area of interest in environmental law is biodiversity and threatened species conservation.

Outside of work Sue is usually playing somewhere in the Northern Rivers region with her two brilliant daughters or in the garden.

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BJ Kim

International Programs Officer

BJ is the International Programs Officer at the EDO. BJ graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University and is currently completing a Master of Laws (majoring in Environmental Law and Policy) at the University of Sydney.

Before joining the EDO, BJ worked in private practice for over 5 years in the areas of corporate and commercial law, government and public law, and commercial litigation.  BJ has also worked in-house in a major publicly listed company as well as having spent a year as an adviser on an AusAID project with the Attorney-General's Department in Papua New Guinea.

BJ loves surfing, making sculpture and markets - especially food markets.

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Natasha Hammond-Deakin

Solicitor

Natasha is a solicitor with the Environmental Defenders Office (NSW) and has 8 years’ experience in environment and planning law in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Natasha was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW in 2006 and as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 1999. She holds a Masters of Environmental Law from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Laws/Arts from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Natasha’s practice at the EDO involves running litigation, providing legal advice and writing and presenting on a wide range of environmental law issues at State and National level, and this has recently included such matters as forestry, water, planning and local government law, renewable energy, mining and biodiversity offsetting. Natasha has published and presented on the NSW BioBanking scheme and on forestry law. Natasha’s recent litigation includes merits and judicial review proceedings in the Land and Environment Court (NSW), Federal Court and Court of Appeal proceedings.

Prior to joining the EDO, Natasha worked in private practice with a mid-tier Sydney firm for two years. There she was primarily involved in merits review litigation in the Land and Environment Court and preparing planning and environment advices, and she also ran property litigation in the Supreme Court of NSW. Natasha has worked as in-house solicitor for the London Borough of Harrow council specialising in litigation and planning law, and as legal editor of environment and planning publications with a publishing company in New Zealand.

Natasha is a keen organic gardener and cook, practices yoga, and she loves spending weekends outdoors with her two beautiful children, encouraging their appreciation of the natural environment.

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Chris Ball

Science Officer

Chris joined EDO in 2010 as the Science Officer. Her role is to assist EDO solicitors interpret scientific data for litigation and policy work, and provide general science advice as required. She also looks after the science interns and helps manage the EDO’s expert register. Chris has a Bachelor of Environmental Science from Sydney University, and an Honours degree in Antarctic Studies from the University of Tasmania. Before coming to EDO she worked with the Victorian state government (EPA and Parks Victoria) and in the private sector in Tassie. She has also lived and worked in Korea, Lao PDR and Indonesia.