The Honourable Philip Cummins, President
Philip was co-opted to the Board in December 2009 upon his retirement from the Supreme Court of Victoria. He was a Judge of the Supreme Court for 21 years . He was the Principal Judge of the Criminal Division of the Court and also sat in all its jurisdictions. He is a member of the Law School of Melbourne University and holds the degrees of Master of Laws and Master of Science (Psychiatry) as well as other degrees. He is also Chair of the Victoria Law Foundation.
Brian Barrow, Vice President
Brian recently retired from the position of Deputy Chief Magistrate. He was a Registrar of the Magistrates’ Court for 25 years before his appointment as a Magistrate in 1985. Brian is now an Acting Magistrate and continues to pursue his interest in law reform.
David Spiegel, Treasurer
David, a principal at WHK Howarth, has worked extensively with small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) for over 25 years. In that time he has built a breadth of knowledge and experience in the areas of taxation and management accounting particular to the needs of SMEs. His interest in domestic and international tax as well as company law gives David major strengths in assisting clients with financial modelling and structuring and he has a very loyal client base as a result. He sits on boards of advice and has been instrumental in optimising the financial and taxation positions of many clients over the years.
Rosemary Syme, Secretary
Rosemary worked in Human Resources and, for the last ten years of her career as a teacher of Economics to VCE students. She was on the Board of the National Heart Foundation for four years and is an Honorary Life Member of the Voluntary Guides National Gallery of Victoria where she was President in 1990/1991. In 2011 she became President of the Australian Association of Lyceum Clubs, representing Australia's five Lyceum Clubs at overseas meetings of the International Association of Lyceum Clubs. Rosemary is also currently Secretary of the Board for another not for profit organisation. Rosemary has been a Court Network volunteer since 2000, first at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court and for the past five years at County Court.
Patricia Lo Cascio
Patricia is a forensic psychologist with significant experience in the legal and counseling field and in criminology. Patricia works with victims of crime and offenders within the court and penal system. She is bi-lingual and has a particular interest in working with non-Australian born people.
Evi Kadar
Evi has 26 years experience working with both offenders and victims of crime. This includes roles as Manager of the Dame Phyllis Frost Women’s Prison, CEO of the Melbourne Juvenile Justice Centre and the Statewide Forensic Service. Evi has also been a manager of Victims Services at VSA. As a student she was a Court Network Volunteer. Evi is currently the CEO at County Court.
Win Swanton
Win trained as a Networker at the time of the commencement of the service in Mildura in 2005. She is a former Health Professional who, after her initial training as a Nurse went on to hold progressively senior positions in Nursing Administration and Education, and general Health Service Administration, in both north west Victoria and far western New South Wales. She is experienced in all aspects of business and people management particularly from a regional viewpoint with its own unique challenges.
Garry Roach
Garry is a director of a business providing management consultancy to the public and community sectors. Prior to establishing his consultancy firm Garry was a senior public sector manager. He has experience in the areas of advocacy, disability, mental health, homelessness and drug and alcohol services. He has lectured in disability and contemporary human service practice at the tertiary level and currently provides criminal justice training to disability staff. Garry has a strong commitment to volunteer based organisations having worked as a legal guardian, advocate and coordinator of the Community Visitors Program at the Office of the Public Advocate.
Julie Steel
Julie is the Executive Director of the Supreme, District and Land Courts Service in Queensland. Julie brings significant experience with a diverse perspective from being a solicitor in private practice, to a parole officer with probation and parole, to a variety of roles within the courts and was the Director of Operations in the implementation of the access Courts service.
Therese Fitzgerald
Therese joined Victoria Police in 1993 and has worked in a variety of operational areas including Rosebud, Frankston, Mildura and Prahran. She qualified as a police prosecutor in 2000 and has been attached to the Legal Services Department since this time. She has worked as a police prosecutor at Dandenong and Melbourne and has a particular interest in the Children's Court jurisdiction. She also worked for a number of years as a Coroner's Assistant at the State Coroner's Assistants' Unit (now known as the Police Coronial Support Unit). From 2004 to 2006 she was seconded to the Australian Federal Police as part of the International Deployment Group. During this period she worked with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Prosecutions Section and managed the Prosecutions Support Unit in Honiara, Solomon Islands. She is currently the officer in charge of Victoria Police Prosecutions Division Research and Training Unit. Therese is looking forward to making a meaningful contribution to the justice process through her appointment to the Court Network Board.
Jennifer Evans
Jennifer commenced as a Court Networker at Sunshine Magistrates Court in May 2009 and currently works at Ringwood. Her social work career spanned twenty years in Welfare (child protection, adoptions, family services, disability) and Health (managing a hospital social work team, training staff in advance care planning, community education). Now also experienced in the Justice system, Jennifer is enjoying bringing her practice wisdom and commitment to the Court Network Board.
David Munro
David’s background is in law and corporate governance. During his time as Secretary and General Counsel of MIM Holdings Limited, David served as a director of subsidiary companies and a publicly listed Canadian company in which MIM had an interest. David was as state councillor of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries, of which he is a Fellow, and a Queensland Director on the National Bank of the Australian Mining and Petroleum Law Association. David has a Doctorate in Counselling and is currently a corporate governance consultant. In addition to being a Court Network Volunteer in Brisbane, David is a volunteer crisis counsellor.