The Officers (together with any further persons co-opted in accordance with paragraph 16) are to form the Executive Committee of the Foundation and are, subject to any directions which the Board may give, to have full power to conduct the affairs of the Foundation and act on its behalf and in its name.
The Officers may, from time to time, coopt up to a total of five persons, at least two of whom must be members of the Board, to be members of the Executive Committee; such persons are to be members of the Executive Committee (unless they have previously ceased to hold office) until the meeting of the Board at which the term of office of the Chair comes to an end in accordance with paragraph 13.
A co-opted member of the Executive Committee may attend meetings of the Board but may not vote (unless already a member of the Board).
MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL WALES EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Huw Williams – Chair
Huw is the Chief Legal Adviser, Senedd Cymru – the Welsh Parliament
Educated at Llanelli Boys, Grammar Technical School and Jesus College, Oxford, College of Law, Huw was articled to the firm of Morgan Bruce and Nicholas in Cardiff and then spent nine years as a solicitor in local government with the Mid Glamorgan County Council.
Huw joined the firm of Edwards Geldard (as it then was) in 1987 becoming a partner the following year. He spent his first years with the firm mainly advising the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation and subsequently specialised in planning, compulsory purchase and compensation, highways and local government work, mainly for the public sector in both Wales and England. Between 2008 – 2019 Huw was vice chair of Geldards LLP and senior partner in Cardiff.
Huw has been actively involved in constitutional development in Wales since 1997 and when he retired as a partner with Geldards in 2019 he joined the legal service of the National Assembly for Wales Commission (now the Senedd Commission) as Chief Legal Adviser.
Huw was involved in the founding of Legal Wales and became Chair in 2018. He is the immediate past Chair of Public Law Wales and has also served on the Boards of Trustees of both the National Museum of Wales and the National Library of Wales and was company secretary of the Wales Millennium Centre from 1998 to 2019. He has served as a member of the Law Society’s Planning and Environment Committee (2004-2016) and is currently a member of the Wales Committee.
Frances Edwards – Secretary
Frances left school aged 16 with 6 O-levels but never wanted to go to university. Her first job was as a secretary in a solicitors’ office in Newport. Following a career break to raise her two children; daughter Sian and son Alun, she returned to work. She joined CILEx in 1992 and spent the next 6 years studying at home to become a Chartered Legal Executive in 2000.
Frances has been employed by Caswell Jones, Caerphilly in the Family Department since 1995 conducting a range of divorce, financial and children matters. In recognition of her hard work and dedication Frances was recently promoted to the position of Partner in Caswell Jones. However her contribution to the legal profession goes well beyond her role as Lawyer at Caswell Jones.
Frances has been the secretary of the Legal Wales Foundation since 2018, having previously represented CILEx on the Legal Wales Board. Frances is also a Trustee of the Access to Justice Foundation.
Frances was one of the founder members of the CILEx South Wales Branch when it was re-launched in 2004, becoming treasurer. She was chair of the branch in 2005 and still remains actively involved.
In 2014-15 Frances was the President of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives in England and Wales and was the first Welsh woman practitioner to serve in that role.
Frances teaches Family Law and the Practice of Family to Level 3 CILEx students at Cardiff and Vale College.
Keith Bush QC (hon)
Keith was called to the Bar in July 1977. He left independent practice in order to join the legal service of the Welsh Government in 1999, before going on to serve as first Chief Legal Adviser to the National Assembly for Wales between 2007 and 2012. He has served as a Recorder on the Wales Circuit and was the first President of the Welsh Language Tribunal.
Kith has held an honorary chair and taught Legislation Studies at Swansea University and he currently lectures at the Welsh Governance centre at Cardiff University.
In 2018 Keith became Treasurer of the Legal Wales in 20 and is also the Conference Director of the Legal Wales Conference. In 2014 Keith was appointed Queen’s Counsel in honris causa for his contribution to the development of the National Assembly for Wales as a legislature, as well as contributing to the development of devolved law and to the discussion and study of wider Welsh legal issues. The distinction recognised his lead role in communicating to the judiciary, lawyers, academics, students and the general public, through the medium of both the Welsh and English languages, authoritative information about the legal aspects of devolved law and government in Wales.
Elisabeth hails from Mountain Ash, in the Cynon Valley, and attended the Comprehensive School there. With the support of her French teacher there, she obtained a place to study Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Somerville College, Oxford - the first in her family to go on to higher education.
Having completed a post-graduate conversion course to Law, Elisabeth practised in commercial and employment law with the firm of Theodore Goddard (now Addleshaw Goddard LLP), in the City of London, and with Osborne Clarke and Lyons Davidson in Bristol.
A desire to work on behalf of people who could not afford private legal fees led Elisabeth to move to Gloucester Law Centre, where she spent five extremely rewarding years as the employment specialist.
Elisabeth’s love of languages then inspired a move to France, to work at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for a further five years before returning to take up a post with the Welsh Government Legal Service in the early days of devolution. Constitutional and administrative law, including Human Rights and EU law, have been Elisabeth's speciality for the last 20 years of her career, which culminated in her appointment as Chief Legal Adviser to Senedd Cymru (then the National Assembly for Wales) in 2012.
Elisabeth retired in 2019 and now undertakes a range of voluntary work and individual projects, particularly related to broadening access to the legal profession.
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