Staff
Dr Lisa Wintersteiger - Chief Executive
Lisa’s early career was in the advice and community sector including legal aid casework, youth and community development and regeneration programmes. She has been a policy consultant and researcher and more recently has been leading public legal education research and programming. She specialises in access to justice interventions both in the UK and abroad. Her expertise is in bringing together theory and practice, policy development and designing programmes to meet the needs of marginalised communities. In 2011 she co-founded Law for Life (as we were called then).
She was awarded an LLB and PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London. Her research and teaching interests intersect law and social justice, Frankfurt School Critical Theory and education. She has taught at Birkbeck, University of London where she co-convened clinical education, and is currently honorary research fellow at the University of Warwick. She is co-investigator on a Nuffield Foundation grant for an intensive legal needs and early intervention study in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mary Marvel - Deputy Chief Executive
Mary takes the leads on information and advice service design and manages the information and advice team. As the Deputy CEO, Mary supports the CEO with the strategic direction and effective management of the organisation. Mary is also responsible for promoting the organisation, writes press releases and articles, and manages our social media team.
Mary has 20 years of experience in producing and testing effective legal information content and co-created the first handbook for producers of legal information, the Better Information Handbook, which has been adapted for use in Australia, Canada, and China. She has provided training and consultancy for many organisations and individuals to help them to improve the efficacy of the content they provide including We Are Digital, Bar Standards Board, The Leasehold Advisory Service, Shelter Scotland, and the Legal Aid Service of China. Before focussing on information, Mary was a welfare benefits adviser working in mental health, community, and student settings. Mary is also the trustee of a small development charity, The Nick Webber Trust, which works to support some of the most marginalised people in Malawi.
Mary is passionate about the need to reform the welfare system and court processes to make it fairer and more accessible to everyone.
Dragica (Dada) Felja - Head of Education and Training
Dada oversees our education programmes, including research, design, and delivery of training, organising strategic events for NGOs and grassroots initiatives to explore legal and non-legal mechanisms that can be used to achieve change, networking and liaison with external stakeholders, research, fundraising, and monitoring & evaluation.
Dada started her career working with refugees and asylum seekers at the Refugee Council. For fourteen years, she worked with the Roma refugee and migrant communities in the UK at the London-based charity Roma Support Group. Her work included advice and advocacy for Roma families, mentoring and education support for vulnerable young Roma. She also supported statutory and non-statutory organisations working with the Roma communities across the UK through training, consultancy and capacity building support. Dada has contributed to various research projects, articles and publications related to Roma issues in the UK. Dada is also a trustee of the Roma Support Group (Roma-led NGO supporting Roma migrants in the UK).
Lucy Ashman - Head of Content & Digital
Lucy is a digital strategy, content and transformation specialist. She has over 16 years experience in health information and charities. Her past roles include Head of Digital Experience at Macmillan Cancer Support and Digital Content Strategist at the Scouts. She has always been an advocate for user-led and inclusive content that makes the best use of digital to inform, support and empower.
She is responsible for how we grow our reach and impact through our digital content, implementing Advicenow's digital transformation strategy to make digital work better for all of our users.
Amy Milner - Office Manager and Executive Assistant to the CEO
Amy is responsible for the operations and governance of the charity, ensuring the smooth running of daily activities. This includes coordinating projects, providing HR and finance support, fundraising, maintaining systems, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. Known for her strategic acumen and innovative problem-solving approach, Amy is dedicated to improving processes. She ensures that our staff and trustee team operate at their best, empowering the entire team to make a positive impact in the communities we serve. Amy is a member of the charity's senior leadership team.
Amy has worked in business administration for the past 15 years, beginning her career in logistics operations before transitioning to the charity sector over the last nine years. Starting in administrative roles, she progressed to management and leadership responsibilities. Her versatile skills and passion for organisational development have enabled her to shape successful teams and streamline processes. Amy is working towards a CIPD Level 3 Foundation Certificate in People Practice.
Driven by a deep desire to assist those facing financial and legal challenges, Amy eagerly combines her extensive administrative experience with a genuine passion for making a tangible difference in the lives of those in need.
When not working, Amy is busy being a mum to three children. Balancing her professional responsibilities with her family life is important to her, and she values the support the charity provides in achieving this.
Dr Rowan Milligan - Head of Housing Programmes
Rowan leads on the development and delivery of our housing rights training courses and programmes. These courses and stand-alone workshops are designed for frontline workers and community activists who may not have received formal housing law training. She is responsible for consulting with relevant organisations, developing modules and resources, and delivering the training alongside our legal associates.
She has worked in housing justice roles for many years, previously at Citizens Advice and the Advisory Service for Squatters. She currently volunteers as part of the advocacy team at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, alongside working at Advicenow.
She recently completed a PhD at the University of St Andrews, focusing on gender, class, and power dynamics among those precariously housed in London. She is passionate about supporting those facing housing and homelessness issues and survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse.
Beth Kirkland - Head of Legal Information and Pro Bono
Beth is a non-practising solicitor with over ten years’ experience of working in family law, primarily advising and representing legally aided clients. She has worked as a pro bono solicitor at Avon and Bristol Law Centre and at HMP Eastwood Park assisting vulnerable women prisoners. She also has some experience in Court of Protection work.
She is now responsible for researching the law, designing, writing and updating a range of legal information resources for the Advicenow website. To support this she works to foster and support pro bono and legal sector relationships. She is also responsible for managing and developing the involvement of volunteers within all of Law for Life’s work.
Dr Wendy Eades - Research and Evaluation Officer
Wendy specialises in mixed methods research, particularly measuring how social policy affects the daily lives of vulnerable people. She has undertaken independent research for Central England Law Centre and Coventry Independent Advice Service. Her experience of working with benefit claimants in the public sector led her to study for a PhD in Law at Warwick University on the impact of welfare reform and austerity policies on the human rights of individuals. She has taught at the University of Warwick.
She leads on the monitoring an evaluation of the wide range of interventions and projects undertaken by Advicenow, and is researching the changing legal needs emerging under Covid-19, in particular focusing on identifying the barriers and difficulties that some groups experience in accessing justice.
Niamh Meehan - Information and Social Media Officer
Niamh supports the delivery of public legal education in the information team by updating resources, producing impactful content, and curating social media to engage our community online. With expertise in media and communications across diverse areas such as arts and cultural heritage, tertiary education, community engagement, and the charity sector, she is passionate about leveraging digital platforms to share information, raise awareness and catalyse positive change. She also freelances as a content creator, partnering with organisations to develop digital strategies, refine their identity and expand their reach.
Niamh is interested in the transformative role of digital storytelling in amplifying voices, educating audiences and inspiring meaningful progress.
Genevieve Ryan - Education and Training Officer
Genevieve works within the Education team as Education & Training Officer. She works on the development and evaluation of training courses, as well as running the social media for the team.
Genevieve has worked in advocacy, as a union organiser and in a number of organisations working with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people. She has family experience of navigating the legal system as a litigant in person.
She feels strongly about disability justice and the rights of parents and carers facing social services involvement.
