Board of Directors

President
Sarah Hill

Sarah Hill

Sarah Hill has practised as a barrister in NSW since 2004. She holds a BA/LLB (Hons) from the University of Sydney. She has a broad ranging equity and commercial practice covering such areas of the law as contracts, corporate law, insolvency, equity, property, trusts and wills and estates. Sarah has given presentations in many of these areas at industry conferences and to various legal bodies. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW, the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia in 2003. Sarah was appointed to the Board of Directors of the CLA in 2018 and was elected President of the CLA in 2022.
Vice President
Professor Gerard Ryan

Professor Gerard Ryan

Gerard is a Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA). He graduated from the University of Sydney with First Class Honours in Economics and Law. His Masters of Law included an Honours thesis in competition law. Gerard was admitted as a solicitor in 1991. He was a partner in a large city commercial law firm, specialising in commercial work in the energy sector (including electricity derivative transactions, large energy infrastructure projects and regulatory advice).  From 2008 to 2012 he was Dean of the School of Law, Sydney at UNDA. His main areas of teaching are contracts, commercial practice, commercial drafting, ethics, corporations law and property. He has supervised research students in contracts, competition law and other areas. Gerard and his UNDA colleagues have conducted the CLA’s annual CPD presentation on ethics, practice management and professional skills since March 2011. He joined the CLA Board of Directors in 2018.
Treasurer
Norman Donato

Norman Donato

Norman has practised since his admission in 1987 in corporate finance and corporate commercial law. His qualifications include Bachelor degrees in Law and Economics, as well as a Master of Laws. Norman has extensive corporate and finance experience obtained from advising national and international clients including government bodies, major banks, public companies, SMEs and entrepreneurs. He is associated with a number of industry bodies. Norman was appointed to the board in 2008 and was the President of the CLA from 2015 to 2022. He is currently the Treasurer of the CLA.
Directors
Stephen P McMahon

Stephen P McMahon

Stephen is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia (Finsia). He is the principal of McMahon Worth Forensic Accountants. He specialises in forensic and investigative accounting, litigation support, business valuations, investigating complex financial and business issues which require the application of a combination of accounting and detective skills. Stephen's interests are in the commercial law and finance sectors. He was appointed as a Director of the CLA in 1998 and currently serves as the Membership Chairman.
Sally Moten

Sally Moten

Sally Moten was admitted as a Solicitor in NSW in 2005. She has a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Hons), and Bachelor of Commerce, both from the University of Sydney. Sally specialises in all aspects of employment and safety law and has spent several years working in large commercial laws firms, Blake Dawson (now Ashurst) and Henry Davis York (merged with Norton Rose Fulbright). She also spent time working in-house at a large NSW Government Agency.  Sally joined Landers and Rogers Lawyers in November 2017 as Special Counsel. She was appointed as a Partner in 2018. Sally provides advice on matters ranging from performance management and disciplinary matters to defending unfair dismissal and discrimination claims, managing industrial disputes, advising on restructuring of organisations, defending WHS prosecutions and providing WHS advice on compliance and safety legislation. Sally joined the CLA’s Board of Directors in 2016.

Alison Haly

Alison Haly

Alison is an international and local mediator aiming to make a difference in the way we manage conflict and engage in dialogue. She was the first woman to establish a mediation practice in Australia in insurance, commercial and international law, is cited as a leading mediator in Doyles International Guide and has been honoured by her peers as a Lawyer of the Year on multiple occasions in the AFR Best Lawyers List. In her life prior to commencing her mediation practice, Alison had a long history of practice in commercial and insurance litigation when a partner at the world’s largest Commercial law firm, DLA Piper, and prior to that, as a solicitor in commercial litigation at Feez Ruthning which became Allens.
James Biady

James Biady

Jim Biady is an experienced commercial lawyer who has practiced for over 35 years. He advises clients in a number of specialty areas including structuring of entities, employment law, commercial litigation, dispute resolution, sales & purchases of businesses, sales & purchases of property, commercial leasing and Wills and Probate. Jim also has a keen interest in SMSF’s, trusts and assisting business owners to resolve difficult issues. He focuses on understanding each client’s business and finding appropriate commercial solutions. Jim is a Business Law Specialist accredited by the Law Society of New South Wales.
Christine Lithgow

Christine Lithgow

Christine is an experienced senior executive and legal adviser, with a keen interest in effective government service delivery. Most of her career has been in infrastructure and services delivery for public and private sector entities where she has specialised in end to end project legal services for major infrastructure, including regional and metro road, rail, water infrastructure. Christine supports projects from concept through to completion and operations, focusing on governance, structures, ethical procurement, contract design, efficient and effective contract management and services contracting for operations and maintenance. She acts for both government and private sector, largely within the civil engineering and infrastructure sectors where she has deep expertise.Christine has significant public sector experience, including during the last decade, leading a significant legal portfolio and team delivering a once-in-a-lifetime investment in road and rail infrastructure and implementing significant change for the State Government.
Chief Executive Officer James Koulouris

James Koulouris
Chief Executive Officer

James Koulouris has over 30 years of senior executive experience delivering major reform and organisational transformation, and leading complex service delivery across government, the private and the not-for-profit sectors. He has held senior executive appointments as a Deputy Commissioner, Acting Director-General and Chief Operating Officer across a range of complex human services and justice agencies in the Commonwealth and state public sectors. Across these roles, James has led workforces of more than 7,000 people, managed billion-dollar operational budgets, and overseen major ICT and infrastructure programs exceeding $4 billion. James holds a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Economics (Social Sciences) from the University of Sydney, as well as a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Macquarie University. He currently serves as a Director of Epilepsy Australia, Epilepsy ACT and Partners in Aid, and has previously served on several boards in the public, sporting and not-for-profit sectors.
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