Council and Executive

Tony Rossi - President

Tony is the Principal of Rossi Legal.

Tony graduated with an Honours Degree in Bachelor of Laws in May 1982 and has been admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of South Australia and Federal and High Courts of Australia from December of that year.

He is a senior member of the profession with extensive experience as both solicitor and counsel in most civil jurisdictions. He has appeared as counsel for Rossi Legal and a number of other law firms in the High Court, Federal Court, Supreme Court, District Court, Workers Compensation Tribunal, Industrial Court of South Australia, Fair Work Australia, Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Equal Opportunities Tribunal.

Tony has been involved in many of the leading cases in the areas of common law damages claims for personal injury, defamation, workers compensation and industrial law. Tony is a member of the following:

• The Law Society of South Australia Litigation Assistance Fund Advisory Board

• Limitation of Liability Scheme Committee of the Law Society of South Australia

• Accident Compensation Committee of the Law Society of South Australia (Chair)

• Investment Committee of the Law Society of South Australia

He is also a public notary able to certify documents for use overseas.

Tim Mellor - President-Elect

Tim Mellor has been in practice since admission in 1981 having graduated with a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Adelaide.  

Since then he has been in practice in the firm of Mellor Olsson and its predecessors.  Tim’s practice is largely in the area of planning, development and environmental law.  He is also largely focused on rural issues, including acting for a large number of pastoralists and fishing licence holders in relation to native title claims.  The balance of Tim’s practice is in commercial and estate litigation.
 
Since 2005 Tim has been a member of the Council of the Law Society of South Australia including a period of 4 years as a member of the Executive.  He is also a member of the Planning, Local Government and Environment Committee and the Aboriginal Issues Committee. 

Away from the law, Tim is the father of five children and an enthusiastic participant in various outdoor pursuits, music, and all forms of the arts.  He is a happy spectator of all sporting endeavours.

 

Tim White - Vice-President (Male)

Tindall Gask Bentley Lawyers owner/partner Tim White has been with the firm for 20 years. In that time he has built a client base as diverse as Australian society itself. He attends TGB’s offices in SA, WA and the NT.

He has particular expertise handling personal injury claims in which he has helped thousands of clients including defence force members, Commonwealth employees, state-based workers under the WorkCover schemes, and people with motor vehicle claims. 

His military clients include current-serving members who have been injured physically or psychologically, and veterans who have left the military but need assistance with their compensation claims. These include veterans from World War 2, Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East. He has tackled historic and complex claims on behalf of veterans exposed to atomic bomb tests at Maralinga in the 1950’s and the bombing at Hiroshima. 

Tim is a member of the Air Force Reserves, in which he serves as a Legal Officer with the rank of Squadron Leader. This pursuit has inspired him to become one of the very few lawyers in Australia to specialise in representing defence force personnel and their families.

Pursuing difficult class-action claims is one of Tim’s specialities. Recently he helped hundreds of South Australian breast cancer sufferers who were tragically misdiagnosed. He was also the driving force behind an international class action relating to faulty PIP breast implants.

His tenacity in helping his clients is also on show outside of work where he is a keen runner and cyclist. He has completed in more than 15 marathons and cycled in a number of long-distance events including the Police Legacy WA event /ride from Karratha to Broome.

Amy Nikolovski - Vice-President (Female)

Amy is a Partner at Duncan Basheer Hannon.

Amy was admitted to practice in 2007, graduating from the University of Adelaide with degrees in Arts and Law.

In 2006 Amy worked as an Advocate for the Australian Workers Union before moving to Duncan Basheer Hannon in 2007 where she practices in the areas of workers compensation, motor vehicle accidents, public liability and general civil litigation.

Amy has been an active member of the Law Society since her admission in 2007 and is a former Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee. 

Amy’s positions for and on behalf of the Law Society include:

• Member; Accident Compensation Committee
• Member: Well-being and Resilience Committee
• Member; Gender Equity Working Group
• Member: Crash! Seminar Committee
• Panel Member:  Litigation Assistance Fund
• Board Member:  Litigation Assistance Fund
• Member:  Young Lawyers' Support Group
•Member: Audit and Risk Management Committee

Amy has been a member of the Law Society Council since 2012 and joined the Executive in 2015.

David Caruso - Immediate Past President

David practises, researches and teaches in domestic and international private and public law.
 
He is the Foundation Director of the Litigation Law Unit (LLU) and formerly the Director of the Advocacy and Justice Unit (AJU) of the University of Adelaide; the Chief Executive Director of the China Australia Research Centre for Judicial Civilisation (CAPJC) and Associate Executive Director of the International Association of Evidence Science (IAES). The LLU, CAPJC and IAES collaborate with domestic and international partners in the public and private sectors to conduct comparative and interdisciplinary programs that examine and develop litigation systems across Australia, China, the USA, the UK, Switzerland and India. The LLU is party to multiple MOUs with government and industry which facilitate research and professional consultation programmes. MOU partners include the Chief Justice of SA and the Courts Administration Authority, the Forensic Science Service of SA, Charles Darwin University Law School and ATSILS Qld Ltd.

David has presented and published in Australia, East Asia, South East Asia, India, Europe, the UK and the United States, on litigation systems, structures and methods. His work covers and compares common law, civil inquisitorial law and developing legal systems. It is based on evidence and procedure reforms and takes an interdisciplinary approach. David is the lead and convening author of South Australian Criminal Law: Review and Critique (Lexis Butterworths, 2014); the lead and convening author of the second iteration of that work, South Australian Criminal Law and Procedure (Lexis Butterworths, 2016); the convening author and editor of Proof in Modern Litigation (Barr Smith Press, 2017, forthcoming) and co-convening author and editor of Essays in Advocacy (Barr Smith Press, 2012). 

David has published and presented in Australia, Europe and South East Asia, on international trade law. He has given expert evidence in Australian legal proceedings on foreign and international law. He is an Executive Member of the International Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and the Co-Chair of its International Trade and Business Committee.

David is a Senior Lecturer in the Adelaide Law School in the University of Adelaide. He is the Course Coordinator and Principal Lecturer of the Laws of Evidence. He is a Principal Lecturer in the Laws of Crime. He convenes specialist courses on trial, appellate and post-conviction law and procedure. He also lectures in ethics and advocacy. David supervises PhD and Masters by Research candidates and undergraduate research dissertations. He is a Member of the Joint Rules Advisory Committee of the Courts Administration Authority for the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts of South Australia.

He is an Adjunct Professor with the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. David has convened specialist courses in China for postgraduate students, practitioners and the judiciary, on Australian Federal expert evidence, trial advocacy and common law appellate review. David is a Visiting Fellow of the University of Lausanne Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration. David has convened specialist lectures and short courses for the University of Lausanne on Australian criminal justice and forensic process. David was an Invited Scholar of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Studies in Cambridge, UK and a Visiting Scholar of Nottingham University. He is an Executive Member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychology, Psychiatry and Law.

David is Special Counsel to Fisher Jeffries | Gadens where he practises in commercial advising and litigation. He specialised in banking and financial services, including mortgage and commercial lending disputes, intellectual property protection and hospitality sector management, including hotel and gambling sectors. David has conducted matters in the Magistrates, District, Supreme and Full Supreme Courts of South Australia. David is a Consultant to the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies where he provides principal legal research to the Centre on gambling sector regulatory and law reform projects. 

David was President of the Law Society of South Australia in 2016. The Law Society is the peak Regulator and Membership Body of the South Australian legal profession, being an Incorporated Association by Statute. He is a Director of the Law Council of Australia and the Chair of the Legal Education Committee (LCA LEC) of this National Council of the Constituent Societies, Institutes and Bars representing the Australian legal profession across all States and Territories. The LCA LEC principally works to ensure appropriate admission standards for legal practice and post-admission education standards for Australian lawyers to ensure their capacity to provide comprehensive and expert legal services domestically and in international markets.

David is the Foundation Chair of the Reconciliation Action Committee of the Law Society of South Australia, which developed and authored the inaugural Reconciliation Action Plan for the Society, introduced for 2014-2016. In 2016, the RAP was expanded and elevated to form part of the Society’s 2016-2020 Strategic and Operational Plan.  

David has given evidence to several Parliamentary Inquiry Committees on law reform issues. He serves on a number of domestic, national and international research and professional bodies.

Rebecca Sandford

Rebecca is an Associate at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers in the litigation team, with a particular focus on intellectual property, media, defamation and competition law.  Rebecca's background also includes building and construction law, corporations law, property law and contractual disputes. She is admitted as a barrister and solicitor in the Supreme Court of South Australia and the High Court of Australia.

Rebecca was admitted to practice in 2011, graduating from Flinders University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance).  In June 2015 Rebecca completed her Masters of Law (Applied Law) with the College of Law, majoring in Commercial Litigation. 

Rebecca has been an active member of the Law Society since her admission in 2011, becoming a Junior Member of the Law Society Council in 2011.  After her two year term concluded at the end of 2013, Rebecca had a one year break from Council before becoming a Metropolitan member of the Council again in 2015, and became a member of the Executive of the Council in 2016.  Rebecca’s other Law Society positions include:

•              Member, Governance Compliance (now Corporate Governance) Committee;
•              Member, Gender Equity Working Group of Council;
•              Former Member, Chair, and Deputy Chair, Women Lawyers Committee; and
•              Former Member, MCPD Regulatory Committee (prior to that Committee’s disbandment).

Rebecca is also a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, the Women Lawyers' Association of South Australia, the YWCA of Adelaide and the Spence Club.  Rebecca was the scholarship participant in the YWCA’s 2015 SHE Leads Program, and has also previously been a member of the YWCA’s Nominations Committee and a member of the WLASA Committee.

Rebecca’s personal interests include reading, yoga (especially Anti-Gravity) and swimming.