As a Councillor of our Law Society, I will:

• consult, listen and understand your issues, concerns and professional support needs;

• ensure your interests as practising solicitors are proactively raised and addressed through the Council.

I will actively:

• promote solicitor membership of the Law Society;

• ensure your professional development and support needs are addressed promptly, effectively and in your best interests;

• support your community engagement initiatives

I offer you:

• over thirty years as a legal practitioner

• experience as a lead auditor and audit team leader

• many years of experience serving on Law Society Committees and other leadership bodies

• a lifetime of community service in which I have acquired

o advanced advocacy, representative and lobbying skills

o ability to monitor organisational effectiveness through board membership

o strong governance skills

o ability to chair and lead meetings, committees and working groups

I am well equipped to ensure your voice is heard clearly and effectively at the Council table.

I have over thirty years as a legal practitioner, initially at the NSW Bar where I practised mainly in crime, equity, commercial and family law. I also gained appellate experience the NSW courts, federal tribunals and the Full Federal Court of Australia.

I have subsequently been employed in NSW Government legal roles including as a Senior Solicitor at NSW Police Legal and as a Principal Lawyer at the former WorkCover Authority.

I am currently a Principal Lawyer with the NSW Department of Customer Service.
This year, I have become an accredited nationally as an Accredited Mediator (NMAS).
Throughout my career I have also served in the Army Reserve. Initially, in the Legal Corps where I appeared as counsel in trials by courts-martial. Subsequently, as a Major in the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police, I commanded a Military Police Company and deployed to East Timor in 2002 as a peacekeeper.

More recently I deployed domestically on the ADF’s Operation COVID-19 Assist.
Prior to retirement from Army earlier this year I was a governance and compliance team leader and lead auditor with the Compliance and Assurance Unit.

I proudly hold specialist accreditation in Government and Administrative Law and have, on occasions, assisted with the accreditation process of fellow public law practitioners.

One of the especially enjoyable aspects of my involvement with the Law Society has been active participation as a mentor in the Young Lawyers Mentoring Program. There, I have met some very talented practitioners and endeavoured to assist them in evolving into the lawyers they wish to become.

My earliest involvement with the Law Society dates back to the 1980s when I was sitting on the Young Lawyers Community Assistance Committee. We worked together to help develop the Children’s Court Handbook of the time. In the evenings we used to visit the youth detention centres providing free legal advice and support to young offenders in custody.

Up to and including 2021, I have regularly served on various Law Society Committees with the aim of promoting the work of our profession within the community of New South Wales. I sat for many years on the Government Lawyers Committee and especially enjoyed contributing to the planning of the annual government legal conferences.

I have also sat on the Public Law Committee and taken a special interest in the contributions made by the Law Society to advocate for a human rights act in Australia and a human rights charter for New South Wales.

A special highlight of my involvement with the Law Society was many enjoyable years sitting on the Human Rights Committee. There we contributed to the development of social justice policy papers.

For a number of those years I concurrently sat on the NSW Regional Board of Amnesty International and was consistently impressed by the strong and mutually supportive overlap of the great work in the human rights space by both the Law Society and Amnesty International.

While on the Human Rights Committee, we agreed there was an urgent need to develop a community education program on human rights. In collaboration with the Bar Association’s Human Rights Committee, we approached the Workers Education Association-Sydney (WEA) and offered to design a suitable program. Our offer was enthusiastically accepted. There a regular part of the community education calendar at WEA started with popular programs on human rights, environmental and social justice.

A vote for me means a vote for strong, capable and passionate advocacy for your needs. You will have the benefit of my considerable experience on peak bodies, having sat on the committees outlined above, along with the Board of Shelter NSW, the Board of Cana Communities, both the Board and Council of WEA and, until recently, the Board of Coast Shelter.

I currently serve on the Policy Council of Homelessness NSW.

I am the Vice President of my local RSL NSW Sub-branch and am actively campaigning for new public policy and legal solutions to veteran homelessness.

My Promise to You

With your vote I will be your active listener and your strong, loud, and clear voice.
I will enthusiastically promote the Law Society and you as its valued members as a professional group dedicated to meeting the needs of your clients.

In addition, I will contribute to facilitating the Law Society’s ongoing work as a thought leader in key areas of community life.

Areas of particular importance to me include:

• Nurturing our profession

• Promoting access to justice, alternative dispute resolution and pro bono support to those in need

• Assisting and advocating for a human rights charter in NSW

• Promoting solutions to climate change, including the achievement of Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050

If you would like to know more about my background, you are welcome to visit my website: Howard Bell – Candidate for the Council of the Law Society of NSW (drhowardbell.com)

I look forward to hearing from you at any time if you would like to discuss your interests, goals, aspirations and how I can be of service to you as a Law Society Councillor.