05/11/2025
As the new President of the NSW Regional Women Lawyers I can only add to this post announcement that the baton has been passed from a wonderful leader in Michelle Meares. I look forward to working with a talented, ethical, collegial group of rural and regional women lawyers to represent NSW. ⚖️👩⚖️
Today NSW Regional Women Lawyers held their Annual General Meeting and we welcome the new board for 2026:
• President - Lisa Coates (Lodestone Business Law - Bathurst)
• Vice-President - Emalene Gemmell (Gemmell Family Law - Armidale)
• Treasurer - Barbara-Rose Townsend (Legal Aid - Broken Hill)
• Secretary - Hannah Stenstrom (Hunter Community Legal Centre - Newcastle)
2026 Board Members
1. Emma Boyce (Bartier Perry – Sydney)
2. Rose Charlton – (Kilpatrick Hatton Solicitors - Newcastle)
3. Catherine Henry (Catherine Henry Lawyers – Newcastle)
4. Ayanah Hood (Conditsis Lawyers – Gosford)
5. Danielle Hughes (Blackwell Short Lawyers – Orange)
6. Tory Lynch (Central Coast Domestic Violence Committee- Gosford)
7. Michelle Meares (2 Selborne Chambers – Sydney/Central Coast)
8. Lisa Molloy (Newcastle University)
9. Jennifer Spear (Duffy Elliot – Dubbo)
NSW Regional Women Lawyers AGM 2025 – President Report
2025 has been a strong year for the organisation. We have spent the year bedding down the roots in the bush with the sell out Dubbo Annual Conference and experimenting with new modes of delivery of our high quality CPD events with webinars.
NRWL was setup in Feb 2023 – 2025 – this has been our third year of operations.
The 2025 committee contains many of the founding members and I want to acknowledge their ongoing outstanding volunteer contributions to the rural and regional women working in the law across New South Wales.
1. Jennifer Spear from Duffy Elliot – Vice President – a woman of many talents and her solid support and experience in similar roles has helped build NRWL over last 3 years.
2. Nicole Armitage – Treasurer and Public Officer since inception/founding member – Nicole is the engine room and compliance and regulatory Queen – her tenacious attitude and attention to detail has been fundamental for NRWL. Her business, Econveyancing NSW has provided sponsorship over last 3 year which has been very important to delivery of webinars and other events.
3. Bronwyn Ambrogetti – Secretary and founding member. Bronwyn has been so important in efficient running and her networks throughout CLC helped build bridges and strategic partnerships.
4. Catherine Henry – founding member. Catherine is the brain child of the webinars and has boundless enthusiasm for regional areas. Her business Catherine Henry Lawyers has provided critical sponsorship at start of the organisation providing administrative and design & marketing support including logos/letterheads/website. Catherine organised strategic planning sessions through her networks for the committee in 2023 and again in 2025. Those documents still form the framework of the work of NRWL.
5. Charlotte Egan from Booth Brown Legal – a superstar conference organiser, Charlotte delivered our annual Dubbo conference and assisted with Port Macquarie and Armidale conferences.
Along with these 5 stellar women, I acknowledge the important contributions of Rebecca Hegarty from Bartier Perry as a founding member who retired during 2025. Rebecca’s work in drafting our strategic plan and sponsorship materials was key in obtaining funding and setting the path for the organisation.
6. Other 2025 committee - Lisa Coates from Lodestone Business Law. Lisa assisted with the Dubbo conference and media and networking with academic institutions and students. Barbara Rose-Townsend presented CPDs and made important contributions to the committee.
7. I acknowledge our student members in 2025 including Naomi Davies and Alana Carter (retired in 2025) who assisted with member communications and marketing and student connections.
Whilst there is still significant work to do in strengthening the organisation in regards to membership and achieving goals such as mentoring programs and increasing sponsorship, the organisation’s commitment to delivering high-quality CPD and learning across regional New South Wales was achieved in 2025.
I acknowledge the success of the Dubbo Conference with high quality speakers and strong support in local Central West community. Feedback received by Charlotte Egan, conference organiser was that it was “hands down the best conference ever been to” – “inclusive, welcoming and informative”.
The organisation has held now 4 large conference events across regional NSW since Feb 2023 – Orange (2023) and Port Macquarie (2023); Armidale (2024) and Dubbo (2025).
These events are made possible by the hard work of volunteer committee members and support of speakers to travel and attend. I especially acknowledge support of the courts and judiciary who travel to speak at our events. The conferences have a goal of showcasing the talent of regional and remote women working in the law and provide access to high quality CPD events.
The committee also successfully delivered in December 2024 in Newcastle end of year event in December 2024, which was well attended by the local profession. Guest speaker was local Barrister Lizzie McLaughlin speaking about coming to the bar as a regional woman and equity issues facing women at the bar. Thank you to Nicole Armitage who was responsible for organising that event.
Catherine Henry spearheaded a webinar program that has been trialed in 2025. There is a number of CPD recorded zoom seminars now available on demand for members and the framework for a program to be delivered moving forwards.
Our generous sponsors made these events possible. In 2025, we acknowledge the sponsorship of the Bob Berry Real Estate, Lodestone Business Law, E-conveyancing NSW, Catherine Henry Lawyers (especially thank you to designer Hannah) and Booth Brown Legal.
In 2025, with the assistance of Catherine Henry and Rebecca Hegarty, we have furthered our strategic partnerships with other legal organisations including the Law Society of NSW and Legal Aid NSW. We intend to continue to work with these and other legal organisations together into the future to further our strategic goals.
Lisa Coates has engaged with the media in 2025 on behalf of the organisation. We have received coverage by the ABC, Law Society Journal and other media outlets.
I was fortunate to be invited to speak at the RRR CLC summit in Port Macquarie and represent the organisation. Previously I represented NRWL at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law forum in Melbourne to address the attendees on the organisation and work that we have done.
Thank all the committee members who have served with me in my time as President.
It has been an honour to serve in this role in the founding years and I have greatly enjoyed travelling all around the state and meeting law students and lawyers from all across NSW.
90% of Danish people part of an association or not-for-profit group. It is no surprise Danish people score no 2 on the World Happiness Index after Finland. Close community connections are so important for mental health in the law and very important for those working in rural and remote areas.
According to an old saying, when two Danes meet they shake hands and when three Danes meet they form an association. Similar to 3 or 4 regional women lawyers!
As lawyers we serve an important role in a democratic society and it has been a pleasure to serve on the board and serve the members and women working in the law across the state of New South Wales.
Michelle Meares
Retiring President NSW Regional Women Lawyers 2023-2025
www.nrwl.org.au
