Board members – 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024

Craig Smith – Chair

Dip Law (BAB), Dip Crim (SYD)

Attended six of six meetings

Craig Smith was appointed by the NSW Attorney General as Chair of the Legal Aid NSW Board in February 2013. Mr Smith has been reappointed until 26 September 2025.

A solicitor and former judicial registrar of the District Court of NSW, Mr Smith has four decades of experience in the administration of justice in NSW. He has worked in various government legal and policy positions, including senior positions with the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He was a director of court services and then director of judicial support before his appointment as a judicial registrar in 2010.

Monique Hitter – Chief Executive Officer

BSW, Dip Law

Attended six of six meetings

Monique is currently the CEO of Legal Aid NSW and was appointed to the role in July 2022. Prior to this she was the Acting CEO from November 2021. Monique was our Deputy CEO from November 2018 to November 2021 and prior to that was the Director, Civil Law for 11 years.

Monique has been practising law since 1997 and has also served as a senior member of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division.

In over 30 years working in social justice, Monique is especially proud of having established the Civil Law Service for Aboriginal Communities and the Children’s Civil Law Service, and of expanding the reach and scope of the Legal Aid NSW Civil Law Program, such that the Productivity Commission in its landmark Inquiry into Access to Justice Arrangements stated that it set the national benchmark for the provision of civil law services.

More recently in her role as Deputy CEO, Monique led a process to establish new policies in response to sexual harassment and unacceptable behaviour, the development of the Family Law Blueprint and the Legal Aid NSW response to the pandemic.

Peggy Dwyer – Board member

BA LLB (ANU), PhD (University of Edinburgh)

Attended four of six meetings

Peggy Dwyer was appointed as a representative of the NSW Bar Association by the NSW Attorney General and has been reappointed until 26 September 2025. Dr Dwyer was called to the bar in 2010 after more than 10 years as a solicitor, specialising in criminal law and later coronial law and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2023. She previously worked for the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) in the Northern Territory and the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office. Dr Dwyer was an Associate to Justice Michael Kirby in the High Court of Australia between 1995 and 1996.

As a barrister, Dr Dwyer appears in a wide range of criminal matters, including jury trials, appeals, Children’s Court of NSW matters and State Parole Authority hearings. She has a busy practice in inquests, Commissions of Inquiry and medical disciplinary law. She appeared as Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into the Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse and as Counsel for NAAJA in the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. Dr Dwyer is Senior Counsel Assisting the Northern Territory Coroner in a series of domestic violence deaths, and the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker and was recently appointed Senior Counsel Assisting the NSW State Coroner in the inquest into the deaths at Bondi Junction.

Ainslie van Onselen – Board member

LLB (UWA), MAppFin, GDipAppFin (Finsia), GAICD

Attended five of six meetings

Ainslie van Onselen was appointed by the NSW Attorney General as a representative of consumer and community interests. Ms van Onselen has been reappointed until 26 September 2025.

For more than 20 years, Ms van Onselen enjoyed a parallel career as a law partner and non-executive director before progressing into senior executive roles at Westpac, including Managing Director of RAMS Home Loans and running its retail deposits portfolio. Ms van Onselen has been the Chief Executive Officer of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) since May 2020.

Ms van Onselen is passionate about social justice, inclusion and diversity. She is the former Global Director of Women’s Markets, Inclusion and Diversity for Westpac and currently serves as Chair of Kambala Girls School and Chair of Chartered Accountants Worldwide. She is a non-executive director of Global Accounting Alliance, Chartered Accountants Worldwide and share registry company Automic. She is also the former Deputy Chairperson of the Insurance Commission of Western Australia.

A member of Chief Executive Women Australia, an Australian Financial Review Women of Influence winner and a former 40 under 40 WA Business News and University of Western Australia Award winner, Ms van Onselen was invited to represent CAANZ and the accounting and auditing professions at the Australian Government’s 2022 Jobs Summit.

As well as steering CAANZ’s strategy and digital and data transformation, Ms van Onselen drives CAANZ’s inclusion and diversity agenda and is a prominent advocate for global sustainability and environmental, social and corporate governance standards.

Michael Coleman – Board member

M Comm, B Comm, FAICD Life, FCA, FCPA

Attended six of six meetings

Michael Coleman was appointed as a representative who, in the opinion of the NSW Attorney General, possesses skills and experience that would benefit Legal Aid NSW. Mr Coleman has been reappointed until 26 September 2025.

The Board also appointed Mr Coleman as Chair of the ARC from 29 June 2016.

Mr Coleman is a chartered accountant. He retired from KPMG in 2011 following a career that included 30 years as an audit partner and practice leader.

Mr Coleman sits on several other boards and audit committees and was a board member of Macquarie Bank Limited, having been a director and Chair of the audit committees of Macquarie Group and Macquarie Bank from 2012 until 2022. He was Chair of Bingo Industries Limited from listing in 2017 until its takeover in 2021, was a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s audit committee and previously held several significant roles with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr Coleman is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales Australian School of Business, Deputy Chair and Audit Committee Chair of Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, a Governor and Chairman of the Risk and Audit Committee of The Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology and a director of the Bionics Institute. He is also Chair of the Advisory Board of The Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife.

Richard Henry – Board member

AM, MB BS, MD, FRACP, Dip Clin Epi

Attended five of six meetings

Richard Henry was appointed as a representative who, in the opinion of the NSW Attorney General, possesses skills and experience that would benefit Legal Aid NSW. Dr Henry has been reappointed until 26 September 2025.

Dr Henry is an Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He was a Professor of Paediatrics at both the University of Newcastle and UNSW and has held senior leadership roles in both the university and health sectors. From 2006 to 2012, he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Vice-President at UNSW.

Since his retirement from UNSW, he has worked as a consultant in health and higher education. He is currently Professor of Health Leadership in the Macquarie Business School at Macquarie University. Dr Henry’s current unpaid roles include Director of the Children’s Cancer Institute and Director of Luminesce Alliance. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for service to paediatric respiratory medicine as a clinician, researcher, educator and mentor, and for serving in a range of roles with professional medical organisations.

Sue Gilchrist – Board member

LLM, BA LLB (Hons)

Attended six of six meetings

Sue Gilchrist was appointed as a representative who, in the opinion of the NSW Attorney General, possesses skills and experience that would benefit Legal Aid NSW. Ms Gilchrist has been reappointed until 26 September 2025.

Ms Gilchrist is a senior disputes partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, specialising in intellectual property and tech. She has been a lead support partner for the firm’s pro bono team. She is experienced in all areas of intellectual property, including patents, designs, copyright, trademarks, passing off, and confidential information. She is regularly recognised in the top ranking of legal profession directories for intellectual property litigation.

Ms Gilchrist has strong management experience, having previously served as the Regional Managing Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills for Asia and Australia. She is a member of the Global Council for Herbert Smith Freehills and on its Audit and Risk Committee. She has also been the Chair of her firm’s global governance body for Pro Bono and Responsible Business. Ms Gilchrist is Co-Chair of the firm’s Reconciliation Action Plan Steering Committee. She is also a member of the Finance Audit and Risk Committee of the Art Gallery of NSW.

Anna Cody – Board member

PhD (UNSW), LLM (Harvard), GDip LP (UTS), LLB (UNSW), BA (UNSW)

Attended one of six meetings (resigned 15 September 2023)

Anna Cody was appointed to the Board from 23 June 2016 by the NSW Attorney General as a representative of bodies providing community legal services. Dr Cody resigned from the Board in September 2023 when she was appointed as Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner.

Before this, Dr Cody had a distinguished career as an academic, as a lawyer specialising in discrimination and as a passionate advocate for human rights.

Dr Cody was previously the Dean of the School of Law and Professor at Western Sydney University for four and a half years, leading education and research impact within the school to better reflect the diversity of the community and the intersection of law and justice.

She was the Director of the Kingsford Legal Centre at the University of New South Wales, where she worked for over 20 years, providing leadership in clinical legal education, discrimination law and human rights.

Dr Cody was the Chair of Community Legal Centres Australia and a Director of the NSW Legal Aid Commission Board and Advisory committee of LawAccess NSW.

Anna Cody has worked in human rights in Mexico, specialising in disability and migrant rights, in international development work in East Timor and Indonesia, and for two years was with the Centre for Economic and Social Rights in New York developing their program on the right to health, focusing on mining and human rights issues.

Alison McRobert – Board member

BA LLB (Wollongong University)

Attended five of six meetings

Alison McRobert was appointed by the NSW Attorney General as a representative of Unions NSW and has been reappointed until 26 September 2025.

Ms McRobert is currently the legal counsel and manager of legal services at the Public Service Association of NSW. She has specialised in employment and industrial law in the NSW public sector for over 20 years and previously worked at several employment law firms including McNally Jones Staff and Haywards Solicitors. Ms McRobert previously served as a Director at Federation Law Pty Ltd from 2013 to 2016. In November 2020, Ms McRobert was appointed as an advisory member of the Rule Committee of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales.

Jacqueline Dawson – Board member

MA, LLB (University of Sydney), GAICD

Attended six of six meetings

Jacqueline Dawson is the Principal of Sexton Family Law and an Accredited Specialist in Family Law. Admitted to practice as a solicitor in 1994 and an Accredited Specialist since 2001, Ms Dawson began practice in early 1995 with the firm then known as Robyn Sexton & Associates and remained as a principal of the firm when Judge Sexton was appointed to the Federal Magistrates Court.

Ms Dawson is a Councillor of the Law Society of NSW. Within the NSW Law Society, she is presently Chair of the Specialist Accreditation Board, Co-Chair of the Family Law Committee, Chair of the Professional Conduct Committee and a member of the Audit Risk and Finance Committee.

She also serves as a committee member of the Sydney University Law Extension Committee and the Legal Qualifications Committee of the Legal Profession Admission Board.