Law for Life 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.

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.

Amy Milner - Office manager and executive assistant to the CEO

Amy began her career in administrative roles before progressing into senior executive support at UK Debt Counselling charity CAP where she worked for seven years. During her time at CAP she took on management and leadership responsibilities at CAP in the Fundraising & Marketing department. The combination of her versatile skills and her passion for organisational development has enabled her to shape successful teams and streamline processes.

 Motivated by a profound desire to assist those facing financial and legal challenges, Amy has now found her home at Law for Life. Here, she eagerly combines her wealth of experience with a heart for making a tangible difference in the lives of those in need.

Known for her strategic acumen and innovative approach to problem-solving, coupled with a genuine dedication to improving processes, Amy ensures that our Staff and Trustee team operates at its best, empowering us to continue making a positive impact in the communities we serve.

Tin Myint  - Finance Manager 

Photo and bio to follow

Dragica (Dada) Felja - Head of education and training

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.

Rowan Milligan - Head of housing programmes

Rowan has long worked on independent grassroots projects advocating for the rights of tenants, residents, and homeless people in London. She has previously volunteered with Citizens Advice providing advice on a range of issues from benefits, migration, and domestic abuse, through to a variety of housing issues. She is currently working on a PhD exploring the gendered ramifications of the housing crisis in the UK.

At Law for Life she is part of the Education and Training team and is currently involved in the creation and delivery of a series of housing rights legal education workshops for grassroots and community organisers.

Genevieve Ryan - Education and Training Officer 

Genevieve recently returned from studying in Houston, Texas where she completed an MSW as a Fulbright student. During her time there Genevieve focused on legal and social justice, especially around issues such as child removal and alternatives to criminalisation. Genevieve has a background in advocacy working alongside Gypsies, Roma and Travellers and has family experience of navigating the legal system as a litigant in person. 

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 Law for Life’s digital transformation strategy to make digital work better for all of our users. (Photo to follow)

Mary Marvel - Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Communications

Mary specialises in translating the law into accessible and engaging materials, drawing on her experience delivering public legal education and advice on the ground in student, community and mental health settings. Mary is a highly skilled writer and has designed, written, and evaluated a wide range of legal information materials - from awareness raising materials, to step-by-step guides,  films and automated self-help tools.

Mary produces information and interactive tools to help users better manage their welfare benefit problems, family law issues, and help for those who have to represent themselves in court or tribunal.

Mary co-authored the Better Information Handbook, and provides information consultancy to help other organisations better meet the needs of their users, and training to staff at other organisations about how to produce more effective legal information, digital support, and self-help tools.

As our Head of Communications, Mary is also responsible for promoting  Law for Life and Advicenow, and writes press releases, articles for publications, and manages our social media.

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.

Niamh Meehan - Information and Social Media Officer 

Niamh developed a passion for creating compelling and informative narratives through her undergraduate degree in English Literature. She continues to apply those skills in the digital domain and pursued further study in Digital Media, Innovation and Enterprise. She believes media platforms are a powerful tool to share information, raise awareness and catalyse positive change. Having honed her skills in strategic media and communication across diverse areas including arts and cultural heritage, tertiary education, community engagement and the charity sector, Niamh also continues to work as a freelance content creator and partners with organisations to develop digital strategies, hone their identity and expand their audience. She is an advocate for leveraging media and communications to drive social change with stories, information and advice that educates and empowers.

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 Law for Life, 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.