Our People
Adrianne Walters
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Adrianne Walters is a respected advocate for human rights and gender equality with more than 15 years’ experience driving legal and policy reform across Australia. Her commitment to community lawyering began at the Top End Women’s Legal Service and North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in Darwin, sparking a career dedicated to challenging unjust laws and policies. She has since volunteered in the women’s legal movement, as an advice line lawyer and then Board member of Women’s Legal Service Victoria.
Adrianne comes to WLSA after nine years at the Human Rights Law Centre, where she led high-impact law reform and accountability campaigns, including the Centre’s successful reproductive rights program. She valued learning from and working in solidarity with First Nations leaders in Australia and Indigenous landowners in Bougainville on a range of projects, focused on economic, health, social and environmental justice issues. Adrianne also brings experience of institutional inquiries, having co-led a review of the role of victim/survivors in criminal trials for the Victorian Law Reform Commission.
Adrianne is motivated by the opportunity ahead for WLSA to elevate the sector’s impact nationally. She is committed to centering lived experience, working collaboratively and pushing for the changes needed to create a more gender equitable society.
Elena Rosenman
BOARD CHAIR
Elena Rosenman is the Chair of Women’s Legal Services Australia and CEO of Women’s Legal Centre ACT. A long-standing advocate of access to justice for women, particularly those at risk of violence and systemic harm, she has been at the forefront of efforts to harness the legal system to improve women’s lives, keep them safe, eliminate discrimination and achieve equality. As Chair of Women’s Legal Services Australia, Elena plays a national leadership role in strengthening legal responses to gender inequality and violence, improving coordination across services nationwide and amplifying women’s voices to advocate for law and policy reform. She brings considerable experience to the role, having previously worked in the Attorney-General’s Department and Amnesty International Australia. Since she became WLSA Chair, women’s legal services have been recognised as a specialist arm of the Australian legal assistance sector, with the Commonwealth Government committing dedicated funding to the national peak for the first time. The inclusion of WLSA as a peak body in the the National Access to Justice Partnership was a historic achievement that marked a critical step forward in meeting the unique legal needs of women.