Katherine McKernan (pictured left) comes to RLC with a wealth of social justice experience, including seven years as Chief Executive of Homelessness NSW, and leadership positions in policy and strategy at NSW Health and the Department of Family and Community Services.
Katherine brings to the Centre significant expertise and strategic nous in a range of important areas that align with RLC’s core values and work, and – most importantly – an innate passion to support people facing disadvantage and vulnerability.
On behalf of the board and staff, we welcome Katherine and congratulate her on her appointment. We are so excited for this next chapter in RLC’s history.
Celebrating Jo Shulman
The past 12 years have seen significant growth for RLC. Jo leaves behind an impressive legacy of innovation, advocacy for systemic change and collaboration resulting in increased access to justice for people experiencing disadvantage.
During her tenure, Jo has forged many long-lasting partnerships, and has championed RLC’s proud tradition of identifying legal need and plugging gaps in the legal assistance available to create lasting change.
In 2010, Jo was responsible for leading an organisational review resulting in the diversification of RLC’s generalist legal service into a range of specialist legal areas – a defining feature which remains a hallmark of RLC’s success to this day. This also saw the reinvigoration of RLC as an authoritative voice in law reform and systemic advocacy.
As well as ushering in specialist state-wide practices in areas including police accountability, and international students, Jo oversaw the introduction of RLC’s Health Justice Partnership with Sydney Local Health District. This groundbreaking service offers priority legal assistance to First Nations people at multiple health sites to people who would otherwise not access legal help.
Under Jo’s leadership, RLC also introduced technological solutions including Australia’s first multilanguage interactive legal assistance app for international students, established NSW’s first specialist state-wide financial abuse service, and a legal service for migrants and other vulnerable workers, in collaboration with two other CLCs.
More recently, under Jo’s watch, RLC further increased its casework to First Nations people, established a new First Nations Justice Unit and employed a dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Access Worker.
Jo has deftly steered the Centre through periods of great instability, overcoming sector-wide limitations imposed by the threat of successive funding cuts and short-term contracts. Her work to diversify funding has resulted in our services not merely surviving, but growing, and continuing to thrive.
In 2018 the Attorney General chose RLC as the site to announce new funding measures for the entire CLC sector, a decision which reflected the reputation of our Centre, maintained in no small part by Jo’s hard work.
Jo leaves RLC in a formidable position. RLC has more staff and pro bono volunteers on our books than ever before, which is a direct result of Jo’s leadership in diversifying the Centre’s funding portfolio to include a mix of corporate, government and philanthropic sources.
with Support from City of Sydney, Created by Boomali artist, Sharon Smith (2020)
Jo has been instrumental in driving change and innovation at RLC, and in creating a collaborative, and thriving staff and volunteer cohort. Her work has been greatly appreciated by the Board and her dedication to increasing access to justice remains an example to us all.
I will miss Jo, who has been a fantastic support to me and the board, and a person of significant integrity, intellect and who is someone that has made my years at RLC enjoyable and rewarding. I know that everyone who has worked with Jo would say the same.
We wish Jo the very best with her next steps, and look forward to welcoming Katherine when she commences as CEO in April 2022.
Kerry O’Brien
Chair of the RLC Board
