Our Staff

Jireh Akandwanaho, Sr. Grants Officer

Shabana Aslam, Grants Director

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Bhavini Bhatt, Development Director

Sirintiya Booth-Roberts, Sr. Grants Manager

Lawrence Brisc-Roots, Grants Manager

Jireh supports operational delivery of grants as well as communication with our grantees.

Shabana is responsible for our grant giving operations. She previously worked in local government facilitating community partnerships and managing grant programmes to the voluntary and community sector.

Bhavini is responsible for growing and diversifying donations in support of our work. She has previously raised funds from trusts and foundations, companies, and individuals for local, national, and international charities.

Sirintiya supports operational delivery of our grants and is particularly interested in equitable access to justice for minoritised communities. She previously worked in administration and compliance while volunteering for legal advice charities.

Lawrence supports the operational delivery of our grants. He has previously worked in the charity sector in London, with experience of safeguarding, governance and the management of grant programmes.

Clare Carter, Chief Executive

Martha de la Roche, Insights & Engagement Director

Peter Fruin, Finance & Operations Manager

Ruby Luter, Development & Operations Officer

Colin Miller, Finance & Operations Director

Clare oversees all of our work, with a particular focus on long term sustainable funding. She has experience in legal aid work and in legal charity management. 

Martha focuses on building relationships with our partners and other key stakeholders. She previously worked in partnerships and development across a number of access to justice organisations.

Peter is responsible for our financial records and supports operations and legal and governance matters. He is a CIMA-qualified accountant with extensive experience in financial compliance.

Ruby provides operational support across the organisation and works with the foundation’s Development Team. She has previously worked as a Paralegal.

Colin provides oversight for our finance and operations functions and supports on organisational governance issues. He previously worked for the Open Society Foundations and in the civil service in the United States.

Urmi Pindolia, Grants Officer

Eve Slater, Development Officer

Mary Ward, Development Officer

Urmi supports the operational delivery of grants and communication with our grantees. She previously studied law and volunteered at a legal advice centre.
Eve supports our development work by building donor pipelines to raise awareness for equitable access to justice and managing donations from residual client balances.

Mary supports and develops fundraising efforts by expanding income streams, managing events and promoting awareness of the Foundation’s work. She previously studied law and has volunteered with human rights and prison reform organisations.

Our Trustees

Gavin Mansfield KC, Chair

Gavin Mansfield KC is a barrister and is Head of Littleton Chambers. He specialises in employment and partnership disputes and related areas of commercial law. 

He is a former Chair of the Employment Law Bar Association and is a Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple.

Ruth Daniel

Ruth is the Director of the Hadley Trust, a grant making charity. Prior to that she was the CEO of the Access to Justice Foundation for 13 years.
 
She is a solicitor and holds a postgraduate diploma in charity accounting and financial management. Ruth is also a trustee of a local charity working with disadvantaged communities near her home.

Simon Davis

Simon was Head of Commercial Litigation in Clifford Chance’s London office and a member of the firm’s Partnership Council.

He is a former President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and President of the Law Society of England and Wales, still a member of the Council of the Law Society, Committee member of the City of London Law Society, member of the Court of Appeal Mediation Panel and an accredited CEDR mediator.

Sara Fowler

Sara is a CILEX Lawyer and a senior Leader in the NHS. She has worked in private practice and at the NHS (nationally & for a London trust). She is currently the President of CILEX and a member of the Chartered Management Institute. Her expertise is in clinical negligence litigation, healthcare law, change management, and performance improvement. She is passionate about equitable access to justice, social mobility, and accessibility in the legal profession.

Audrey Haaxman

Audrey is currently Director Internal Audit and Risk for British Council, the UK’s international organisation for education and cultural relations.

She is a chartered accountant and a qualified internal auditor and holds a Masters degree in Economics. She has 20 years of experience in governance, risk and assurance in the commercial, public and third sector including education, technology and financial services.

Cassandra Harrison

Cassi has been the Chief Executive of Youth Access – the national network for youth advice and counselling services – since November 2020. She’s worked for over a decade in the children and young people’s sector, advancing variety of issues including safeguarding, youth justice, and the care system. Cassi has held senior roles at the Local Government Association and Barnardo’s, and she served as the first Director of the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse.

Anne Molyneux

Her Honour Anne Molyneux is a retired judge – having served as a Circuit Judge, a Diversity & Community Relations Judge, a Judicial Member of the Parole Board, a Deputy High Court Judge, an Additional Judge of the Court of Appeals (Criminal Division), and a Senior Circuit Judge.

Anne was first admitted as a Solicitor in 1983, and has also served as the Director for Serious Sexual Offences at the Judicial College.

Golam Morshed, Treasurer

Golam Morshed is the
Chief Executive of Charity Accounting Services, a specialized organisation providing accounting and financial management support to charities and not-for-profit organisations. With a career spanning roles in financial management for development agencies such as Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, CAFOD, and FARM Africa across the UK, Africa, and South Asia, Golam has extensive experience in driving operational efficiency and strategic
planning. He is an MBA graduate and Chartered Public Finance Accountant.

Des Pullen

Des Pullen is a former senior HR director, spending 15 years as Group HR Director of Associated British Foods plc, a FTSE 30 international food and retail group.

Having stepped down from full time executive life at the beginning of 2020, he is now a Trustee of 2 other charities – Concordia, which focuses on providing international volunteering opportunities and development courses for young people and Charityworks, which recruits and develops graduates for the UK charity sector.

Sacha Rose-Smith

Sacha spent over 10 years at the National Lottery Community Fund and was responsible for end-to-end grant making for London and Southeast England.

Sacha previously served a five-year term as Chair of the London and Southeast Grant Making Committee for Children in Need. Sacha is a trustee and chair of the quality and impact committee for GFS and a Clore Social Leadership Fellow.

Rebecca Samaras

A former litigation solicitor, Rebecca specialised in family law and the additional support needs (SEN) of underrepresented vulnerable individuals, and charities throughout her career.

She sits on the Law Society of Scotland’s Access to Justice Committee and the Scotland Committee for the Access to Justice Foundation. She is also Chair of the Scottish University Law Clinic Network (SULCN) and a Trustee of the Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO).

Andrew Seager

With a background in social welfare advice of over 20 years, beginning as a volunteer adviser, Andrew has worked within the advice sector on a range of projects, programmes and initiatives.

Andrew has worked with statutory, corporate and voluntary partners and funding to develop and fund new services to individuals and communities that address the ever increasing information, education, advice and advocacy.

Joe Snape

Joe Snape is a human rights and environmental solicitor at Leigh Day. He has previously worked in corporate law and in several NGOs, and also has experience of climate change litigation in the UK and Latin America.

Joe has significant experience of working to increase access to justice to vulnerable individuals across a number of different sectors both internationally and domestically.

 

Sarah Stephens

Sarah currently works for the United Nations as a civil society and social justice advisor, specialising in grant management, project evaluation and capacity building. 

Previously a litigation solicitor, Sarah specialised in human rights law and access to justice in low income countries. She is passionate about justice sector reform working as a founder, and advisor on access to justice projects around the world.

James Willan KC

James Willan KC is a barrister practising from Essex Court Chambers in London, specialising in commercial law.  He has supported legal advice and rights charities throughout his career, and he is also a trustee of a national charity which supports children experiencing difficulties with speech and language.