Shirley Southgate
Executive Director
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Laws with Honours
Executive Masters of Public Administration
Shirley Southgate
Executive Director
Shirley is a solicitor who has practised at Legal Aid Western Australia, in community legal centres, in private practice and as a government lawyer.
While at Legal Aid, Shirley was part of the small team that developed and delivered an accredited paralegal training course to Legal Aid and community legal centre staff across WA.
Shirley was the Principal Solicitor at Kingsford Legal Centre (KLC) – a community legal centre that is part of the Law Faculty of UNSW Australia and which runs the UNSW clinical legal education courses. Shirley had responsibility for the general legal practice of KLC, with her particular areas of practice being anti-discrimination law and employment law. Shirley also had responsibility for policy and law reform work.
In government, Shirley worked at the Office of the Information Commissioner New South Wales as manager with responsibility for policy and good practice, review and compliance. This role combined public sector management with building experience in administrative law and regulatory law and practice.
She was also the Director Legal at the ACNC. This role combined government in-house legal work with public sector management, administrative law, regulatory law and practice, and charity law.
Shirley joined Leo Cussen Centre for Law in 2016 as the Director – Practical Legal Training. In 2019 she moved to the role of Executive Director.
