President – Ralph Bönig

Ralph holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide. He commenced his legal career at Baker McEwin (now Minter Ellison) in 1980, becoming a Partner in 1988 and remaining with the firm until 1993. With John Fountain, Ralph was a founding partner of Fountain+Bönig in 1993.

On 1 August 2011, Ralph joined Finlaysons as General Counsel.

Ralph has had extensive involvement with Law Society of South Australia since 1995 having been a Member of Council since June 2005, a Member of Executive since 2006 and the roles of Treasurer, Vice-President, President-Elect leading up to his current position as President. He is currently serving a second year as President. He has been the Society's Director of the Law Council since February 2011.

Ralph has also been the Law Society's representative on the Law Council of Australia's Professional Indemnity Insurance Working Group since 2008. From 2009, he was the Chair of the Society's Committee that considered the Society's position in relation to the National Legal Profession Project.

For more than 20 years Ralph has specialised in the area of Professional Indemnity Insurance, medical malpractice and public liability. Ralph has represented a variety of clients in complex medico-legal matters including coronial enquiries representing both private insurers and government agencies.

Married to Jez, Ralph has two teenage sons, Karl and Erik. His personal interests include outdoor activities with an extensive history of coaching junior sport at a variety of levels, including football and cricket.

Vice President – Morry Bailes

Morry holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide and was admitted to practice in 1987, having earlier that same year commenced employment at Tindall Gask Bentley as a final-year law student.  Following his admission he commenced working in the field of workers’ compensation law, and later in criminal law and later, industrial and employment law, including practice in disciplinary tribunals, civil litigation and associations law.  For the last 10 years, Morry has been the Managing Partner of Tindall Gask Bentley which has grown significantly in that time.

Morry has been an active member of the Society since joining in January 1988.  He has been a member of Council since 2009 and was elected Treasurer in 2010.  He has also been a member of the LawAsia Committee since 2003 and is currently a member of the Audit and Risk Management Committee of the Society.

During 2009 Morry chaired the Society’s “Regulatory Framework” sub-committee and was also a member of the “Act as a Whole” sub-committee. In those capacities he made a significant contribution to the formulation of the Society’s response to the National Legal Profession Reform Project.

Morry has acted for a range of Association clients and their members for over 20 years, and gives a broad range of legal and business advice to his clients.  He is also:

• Principal Legal Advisor, Police Association of South Australia
• Principal Legal Advisor, Correctional Officers' Legal Fund
• Principal Legal Advisor, South Australian State School Leaders Association
• Principal Legal Advisor, Nunkuwarrin Yunti
• Principal Legal Advisor, Aboriginal Sobriety Group
• Principal Legal Advisor, CFS Volunteers Association
• Vice President Football Federation of South Australia
• Member of the Australia Institute of Company Directors
• Member of the Australia China Business Council.

 

Morry has a young family, loves travel (particularly in Asia), soccer and the Sturt Football Club.

Treasurer - Rocky Perrotta

Rocky holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Adelaide.  He was admitted to practice in 1985 after completing his articles of clerkship with Lempriere Abbott McLeod.  Thereafter, for the most part, Rocky was with Elston and Gilchrist (Adelaide and Darwin) until joining the Australian Government Solicitor’s Office in 1988 (Darwin and Townsville).  In 1990 Rocky joined the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) in Adelaide where he remained until 2010. 

Prior to joining the DPP Rocky had a general practice which included criminal and civil litigation, commercial law and wills and estates work.  At the DPP Rocky specialised in fraud and in commercial prosecutions, particularly under the Corporations Act (and its predecessors).  Rocky has had several high profile cases and has been to the High Court on several occasions.  The one that attracted the most interest (nationally and internationally), however, was the war crimes prosecution (Polykhovich) in the early 1990s. 

Rocky has been a member of the Law Society Council since 2008 and has this year become a member of the Executive.  In 2010 Rocky worked on the National Legal Profession Reform Project in his capacity as the chair of the Society’s “Admissions” sub-committee and as a member of the “Regulatory Structure” sub-committee.

Rocky is presently the Co-Chair of the Society’s Criminal Law Committee, a member of the Public Sector Lawyers’ Committee and one of the Society’s representatives on the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Council of Australia. 

Rocky is a keen follower of sport, particularly football (AFL and SANFL), cricket and soccer.  His role as a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of South Australia allows him to combine his sporting and professional interests.  As a participant, Rocky plays competitive squash and social tennis.

Rocky is married with two children in primary school.

David Caruso - Fisher Jeffries

David is a lecturer in the Adelaide University Law School, special counsel to Fisher Jeffries Barristers and Solicitors, and an associate with the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies.

He has previously served as an associate to The Honourable Justice J R Sulan, interned for the Justice Strategy Unit of the Attorney General's Department and lectured in the Law School of the University of South Australia.

He has assisted the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry, the 'Thinker in Residency' term of Ret. Judge P F Hora and the Bail Process Improvement Project.

David practises in commercial and civil litigation, particularly trade practices, industrial law, infrastructure and government business. He has presented and published papers on trade law and the functioning of justice systems in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States, and together with The Honourable Justice T A Gray and Martin Hinton QC, Solicitor-General for South Australia, he is co-author and editor of Advocacy (to be released in 2012).

David first joined the Law Society as a student member. Since then he has been a member of the Administrative Law Committee, Industrial Relations Committee and continues as a member of the Lawasia Committee. He has served on Council since 2007 and joined Executive in 2011.

Shelley O'Connell - Barr Lawyers

Shelley graduated from Adelaide University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts and in 2004 with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours).

Upon admission at the beginning of 2005, Shelley commenced working in a general country legal practice where she practised primarily in family law but gained experience in areas as diverse as criminal law, intellectual property, licensing, civil litigation, and wills and estates.

After deciding to make family law her specialty, Shelley moved to a large commercial firm in Adelaide and joined their dedicated family law team. She then moved to her current firm, Barr Lawyers, in October 2009, a firm committed to all areas of family law.

Shelley has been a Member of the Law Society since her GDLP year (2004) and served on the Country Practitioners Committee from 2005 until 2009. She has been a member of the Women Lawyers Committee since 2006 and has been its current Chair since 2010. She is also the current President of the Women Lawyers Association of SA.

Shelley has served on the Council of the Law Society since 2008 and is a current member of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia.

Shelley and her husband live in the beautiful Adelaide Hills with a lovable Rottweiler named Ben and a neurotic cat named Delilah.