Council & Executive

Marissa is a Principal and General Counsel at Norman Waterhouse and specialises in taxation, banking and finance, bankruptcy and corporate insolvency, administrative law and regulatory litigation. She also has a keen interest in employment and migration law. Marissa was admitted to practice in 2009, following completion of a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice. She has also completed a Master of Laws specialising in Corporate, Commercial and Taxation law.

Marissa has been an active member of the Law Society and has been a member of and is current Chair of the Women Lawyers Committee. In 2018 she was appointed to Council before becoming a member of the Executive in 2022. She has presented numerous CPDs and authored a number of articles for the Law Society Bulletin and also teaches Banking & Finance Law and Corporate & Commercial Practice as part of the Law Society's GDLP program.

Marissa is also President of the Women Lawyers Association of South Australia and a member of the South Australian Bar Association.

Outside of the law Marissa enjoys spending time with her family, running and travelling.

Emma Shaw currently works at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Emma was team leader of the Legal Services’ Commission’s Major Indictable unit, and has been a Member of the Society since 2011. During her time as a Member, she has made significant and meaningful contributions to the Society’s work through involvement on the Executive, Council and a large number of Committees. She has been a Member of the Council since 2018, Ethics and Practice Committee since 2019, Criminal Law Committee since 2017, and joined the Governance Structure Working Group this year. She has been the Society’s nominee on the Board of Examiners since 2017.

Emma was previously a Member of the Executive in 2019, 2020 and 2022, the CourtSA Criminal Practitioner User Group between 2021 and 2022, the GDLP Committee in 2020 and what was then the Administrative Law Committee between 2017 and 2018 and won the Law Society Medal (for meritorious service to the Law Society) in 2023.

Emma is known for her thoughtful and well-considered contributions to the committees on which she is a Member. Her commitment to these roles serves as an inspiring example for others to follow in their pursuit of making a positive impact on the Society and the legal profession generally.

With a career spanning over 30 years, David is a principal at LK Law and practises in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Insolvency.

David was admitted to practice in 1991, after graduating from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Economics (1986) and from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (1990). David commenced private practice in 1991 with Corrs and has subsequently been a partner at Thomson Playford, Kelly & Co, HWL Ebsworth and principal at Lipman Karas and LK Law.

David has been involved in and led significant insolvency litigation proceedings across Australia, including in the Western Desert Resources, Arafura Pearls, Candetti Constructions and Noelex Yachts liquidations and the Warren Anderson Group receivership.

David has been a member of the Law Society continuously since 1991 and of its Council since 2022. He is also a member of the Law Council of Australia Insolvency and Reconstruction Committee (SA), a SA/NT Committee member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) and a member of INSOL. David is also a board member of the Real Estate Institute of South Australia.

David's personal interests include wine, horseracing and football. He is the Chairman of the Football Federation SA Disciplinary Tribunal.

Fraser Bell is a Partner at Thomson Geer. He leads the group focusing on all aspects of environmental and planning law, climate change, and contaminated land.

Fraser was admitted to practice in 1988 after graduating from the University of Adelaide. Prior to joining Thomson Geer in 2007, he was a partner at Finlaysons.

In addition to his role as Treasurer of the Law Society, Fraser is: Chair of Bellberry Ltd; Chair of East Waste; a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) SA/NT Council; a current Executive Committee Member of the SA Branch of the Waste Management Association of Australia (President 2002 – 2003).

Fraser was a Member of the Law Society Council from 1988 to 1989 and re-joined the Council in 2018.

Away from the law, Fraser enjoys playing tennis and golf and enjoys music and the arts.

James was admitted to practice in December 1985. James then worked as a graduate law clerk, Associate to a Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia and a para-legal at a magic circle firm near St Paul's London, and at a boutique firm in Covent Garden. In 1988, James returned to Adelaide to join a long-established Adelaide firm of commercial solicitors.

James became partner in 1996. In 2019, James joined a global law firm as senior partner upon the establishment of that firm's Adelaide office. James has experience in all aspects of commercial litigation with an emphasis on contracts, insolvency and disputes involving land. James has frequently appeared as counsel. James has conducted trials in the Magistrates Court and the District Court.

James has presented argument in the Supreme Court on interlocutory and appellate matters and in the Federal Circuit Court and the Federal Court on interlocutory matters. In 2021, James commenced practice as a barrister at the South Australian independent bar. James was elected to Council in late 2018 and was President in 2023.

Nour is a Senior Associate at Tindall Gask Bentley, having joined the firm in 2018.

Nour has been an active Member of the Law Society since she joined in 2019. In addition to her contribution to Council and Executive, Nour is on the Succession and Elder Law, Ethics and Practice and Corporate Governance Committees.

In 2023, Nour was recognised as a Rising Star in Wills & Estates law in South Australia by Doyle’s Guide, the premier Asia-Pacific Directory of leading lawyers, law firms and barristers. She also teaches Succession Law to final year students at the University of Adelaide.

Raffaele currently practising at the South Australian Bar, having previously worked as a Federal Prosecutor in the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and as a defense solicitor in the Criminal Law Practice Division of the Legal Services Commission of South Australia.

Raffaele has been a Member of the Law Society since 2015 and is currently on the Advocacy, Corporate Governance and Criminal Law Committees, and is Chair of the Human Rights Committee as well as being a Law Society Nominee to the Law Foundation and Joint Criminal Rules Advisory Committee. he was also named the 2023 Young Lawyer of the Year (alongside Zainab Al-Sweedy.

Raffaele is also a member of the Disciplinary and Appeals Committee for Football South Australia, and the Internal Sports Tribunal for Volleyball Australia.

Justin Stewart-Rattray is the Principal of Stewart-Rattray Lawyers. He was admitted to practice in 1993 and has over 28 years of experience, of which approximately 20 years has been as a practitioner either alone or in small practice. Justin has established a solid practice in all aspects of business law, specialising in debt collection and litigation; both commercial and in insolvency. He has worked for a broad range of businesses across a range of industries both State and national, big and small.

Justin has been a Member of the Society’s Council since January 2019 and was the Law Society President in 2022. Justin’s motivation to seek election and ultimately act as President in 2022 was to give something back and help the Society ensure the wellbeing of the profession in South Australia. He is keen to maintain the viability of the South Australian profession, especially in the current uncertain times from the perspective of sole practitioners and smaller firms.

Away from the law, Justin is an avid cyclist both on the road and on a mountain bike. He completed the Flinders Ranges outback epic Mountain bike race in 2018 - a very long 15.5-hour day in the saddle. A former twice ironman triathlete, he has also been known to don running shoes and compete in off road runs such as the local Yurrebilla Trail ultra-marathon, also finishing this worthwhile and challenging event twice.