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Welcome to our new members of the Panel of Independent Reviewers

We bid farewell to Janine Hebiton, who will retire shortly, after her current three-year term expires on 12 December 2024. We welcome new members to our Panel of Independent Reviewers.

Published:
Friday, 22 November 2024 at 4:24 pm

After three years of service, we bid farewell to Janine Hebiton, Chairperson of the Panel of Independent Reviewers, when her current term expires on 12 December 2024.

Janine is the founding director and principal lawyer at Hebiton Legal. She previously served as special counsel with the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office, demonstrating her extensive experience in administrative decision making and review.

We thank Janine for her dedication and commitment to the legal assistance sector and wish her well for the future.

The Attorney-General recently appointed Erin Hill and Olaf Ciolek to the panel.

Erin will replace Janine Hebiton as Chairperson for a three-year term commencing on 13 December 2024. Olaf has been appointed as a Panel member for a three-year term commencing on 7 October 2024.

Both Erin and Olaf have a wealth of experience in administrative law and are currently practising at the Victorian Bar.

Erin joined the Victorian Bar in 2012 and has appeared led and unled in summary and indictable criminal matters for both the prosecution and defence and has also appeared in a range of other practice areas, including common law, family law and family violence intervention order matters. She has sat on several committees, including the Victorian Bar Council, Victorian Bar Committees and the International Commission of Jurists (Victorian branch) and was recently Counsel Assisting in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality.

Olaf joined the Victorian Bar in 2015 and has appeared in multiple matters in the Supreme and Federal Courts and has provided written contributions to multiple publications. He was recently junior counsel for the Premier of Victoria in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

The Panel of Independent Reviewers has responsibility under section 19 of the Legal Aid Act 1978 (Vic) for reviewing our decisions to:

  • refuse to provide legal assistance of the nature or to the extent applied for
  • impose conditions on a grant of legal assistance (in some circumstances)
  • vary or terminate a grant of legal assistance
  • allocate the conduct of a matter.

Erin Hill and Olaf Ciolek join Emily Latif, Maya Narayan, Min Guo and Steven Brnovic on the panel.

More information

Read more about independent review of decisions.

For queries about the independent review process, please email grants@vla.vic.gov.au

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