Chief Executive Officer - Elayne Hill Expand Elayne has led the law centre as its chief executive officer since 2022. She is responsible for setting the vision of the organisation; its strategic direction and development; and growing its impact. She is also the law centre's senior solicitor and oversees the senior leadership team, which includes the finance director and the impact & development director. Having qualified as a solicitor in 2003, Elayne joined the law centre in 2004 and prior to becoming its chief executive was the director of operations with responsibility for the daily management of the organisation, ensuring it complies with its legal and regulatory requirements as well as working closely with the heads of the legal teams to manage the delivery of its services. She previously represented clients in the Employment Tribunal and County Court covering all aspects of employment and discrimination law and in 2013 she was appointed as a fee-paid employment judge.
Director of Finance - Paul O'Donnell Expand Paul has worked in the voluntary sector as a finance director for over 30 years. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant, he also holds an ICAEW Diploma in Charity Accounting. He works closely with the finance team to ensure that the charity complies with it’s statutory obligations including, charity law, company law, and tax law. Paul also has a keen interest in computing having overseen the I.T. department in previous employments.
Director of Service Development and Impact – Claire Stern Expand Claire has worked for the law centre since 2015. She is the director of service development and impact with responsibility for managing and developing external relationships in order to build stronger service delivery partnerships. She represent the law centre to influence policy and practice for the benefit of its clients and is also responsible for leadership of the Rights in the Community strategy implementation and oversight of the information systems that demonstrate the impact of the law centre's work and create the insights to inform its service development. Additionally, she also leads on the development of proposals and applications to external funders and grant management. Claire has worked in paid and voluntary roles in the charity and not for profit sector for over 15 years including periods at the HIV/AIDS Alliance, Refugee Action, Bristol Refugee Rights, Refugee Women of Bristol and the University of the West of England in project management and organisational development roles. She has a particular interest in how the legal sector communicates and works with the public to improve legal capability in society.
Head of Employment and Discrimination - Katherine King Expand As well as leading the Employment Team, Katherine coordinates volunteers across the Law Centre. In this role she works closely with university partners in supervising student advice clinics in Coventry and Birmingham. Katherine is a qualified solicitor since 2013, and she has several years’ experience working in the voluntary sector providing general advice on social welfare law and specialist advice and representation in welfare benefits, family and employment law matters. She has a particular interest in pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Katherine is also an experienced university lecturer teaching postgraduates and has a particular interest in social policy campaigning.
Head of Family – John Hickey Expand John is a qualified solicitor with 20 years’ experience as a Family Solicitor in private practice. John has extensive experience in a wide range of family matters and is a member of The Law Society Accredited Advanced Family Panel. He specialises in providing advice and assistance to victims of domestic violence and abuse and to parents involved in Care proceedings.
Head of Finance - Wendy Stanyon Expand Wendy manages our Finance Team and is responsible for ensuring management of our finances and risk management processes. She ensures the correct recognition of and accounting for all of the funds that we have, as well as compliance with Charities Commission Guidance and Company law. Wendy has worked in voluntary sectors for many years and has been at the Law Centre now for 10 years and has guided us through a period of growth and the many changes that we have experienced in our funding sources as well as the numerous changes to Legal Aid.
Head of Health and Social Care – Megan Ward Expand Megan has many years of experience in social welfare law. Having joined the law centre in 2013, she has worked predominantly in community care law and since 2022 has led the health and social care team, which provide advice and representation for people who require care, support, services and/or accommodation from Social Services, the NHS or central government.
Head of Housing – Hugh Wilkinson Expand Hugh has worked on legal aid housing cases for most of his career. He joined the Law Centre in 2019 from private practice in London, and since April 2022 has supervised the Law Centre’s housing team. He is experienced in a wide range of housing cases, including possession proceedings, homelessness appeals, injunctions and committal proceedings, and appears regularly as duty solicitor in Coventry and Nuneaton County Courts as well as undertaking advocacy on most of his own cases.
Head of Immigration and Asylum – Robert Bircumshaw Expand Robert is an experienced immigration and asylum law solicitor and heads up a dedicated team across Coventry and Birmingham as well as handling his own case load. Robert has substantial experience in representation at the Immigration and Asylum chamber (First-tier and Upper-tier) and is regularly instructed on cases in the higher courts. Robert is accredited both to the Level 2 and Supervisor Legal Aid Agency standards. He works with many of the leading barristers in the field of immigration and human rights law and has gained the respect of chambers throughout the Midlands and London. Robert also trains Citizen’s Advice volunteers throughout the UK in immigration law and teaches various modules for CILEX students at Coventry University Group.
Head of Legal Casework and Compliance - Lydia Nash Expand As head of legal casework and compliance, Lydia's role is to lead and manage our casework service to ensure that we continue to provide a high-quality legal advice service to our clients in line with our service delivery plans and that we comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. Lydia has been with the law centre since 2012 and qualified as a solicitor in 2013. Before becoming head of legal casework and compliance Lydia was the head of housing for the law centre and has extensive experience of representing clients facing housing issues including possession matters, homelessness, disrepair and anti-social behaviour.
Head of Public Law and Human Rights - Karen Ashton Expand Karen joined the Law Centre in 2015 and leads on our public law and human rights work. She qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and worked for 4 years post-qualification in an inner city legal aid practice. Karen developed her public law expertise in her 5 years at the Public Law Project, first as Project Solicitor and then as Director of the organisation. She was one of the founding partners of Public Law Solicitors in Birmingham before joining the Law Centre. Karen has particular experience in the health and social care fields, having specialised in this area for over 20 years. Karen is an experienced trainer, and writes for a number of specialist legal journals.
Head of Services Birmingham – Michael Bates Expand Michael is a community care and public law caseworker. He worked for the old Birmingham Law Centre for 17 years before its closure in August 2013 and specialises in the area of law where immigration status affects entitlement to social and welfare support. He has experience of representation in the First-tier and Upper Tribunal as well as Judicial Review and has taken several cases to the Court of Appeal.
Head of Welfare Benefits - David Beckett Expand David has been employed by the Law Centre since February 2012 as a welfare benefits specialist and as well as leading the team represents clients across the spectrum of benefits including first tier tribunal and upper tribunal. David has been involved in welfare rights since 1985 and came to the Law Centre from Birmingham Tribunal Unit where he worked as a tribunal representative.
Office Manager - Narinder Shergill Expand Narinder is the law centre's longest-serving staff member, having started as its receptionist in 2001. She was promoted to manage the administration team and again promoted into the new role of Office Manager, for which her responsibilities include managing the front-of-house service and the administrative team, which supports the law centre's solicitors and case workers to work efficiently. Additionally, she holds responsibility for the law centre's IT and HR functions, as well as managing the two office locations in Coventry and Birmingham.
Programme Manager IGNITE – Emma Bates Expand Emma is the Programme Manager for IGNITE, a partnership with Grapevine, Childrens' Services and Whitefriars Housing. Emma has worked in a variety of operational roles for the third sector including Voluntary Service Overseas Kazakhstan, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and a Stroke Survivors Project in Hackney. She also worked for Coventry as Young people’s manager at the New Deal for Communities in Wood End and as Care Act Implementation Manager. The Ignite role combines Emma’s enthusiasm to find solutions to some of our most difficult social problems with the need to strategically encourage others around the change needed in public services if we are to help people earlier and more effectively in overcoming difficulties and preventing crisis.
Rights in Community Strategy Lead - Emma Austin Expand Emma is an experienced Community Care and Public Law solicitor, having represented clients in several high profile challenges to cuts in services and support for disabled people and in cases focused on securing adequate support for children. Since joining CELC in 2016 her work has been focused on public legal education projects including the RIPPLE Project, the MAC Project (Mother and Child Project) and the Rights in Peril Project. She now leads on the development, implementation and integration of CELC’s Rights in Community Strategy, working within CELC and externally with partnership organisations to improve legal rights knowledge and effective use of legal rights within our communities.