Our Board
Debora Colvin
Chairperson
Debora was a partner at law firms Freehills and Pynt & Partners before moving into human rights advocacy. As the Chief Mental Health Advocate in WA she was responsible for protecting the rights of people detained on mental health wards including children. Since retiring she has Chaired the group reviewing the Mental Health Act 2014 and was on the Graylands Reconfiguration and Forensic Taskforce advising Government on the future of Graylands and mental health needs of people in custody. She believes access to good quality legal representation is essential for a just and equitable society, and particularly for children and young people as they are the future and small decisions in the throes of youth can change lives dramatically.
Andrea McCallum
Deputy Chairperson
Andrea currently sits on the Mental Health Tribunal as a sessional legal member. She is also a former senior sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal. Andrea is committed to the rights of children and young people, dealing with both children and adults under the Mental Health Act 1994. She sat on the State’s Child Death Review Committee as part of leading the transfer of that jurisdiction to the WA Ombudsman. She has worked extensively with Indigenous people throughout Australia and also as part of her Master of Laws degree in Canada and appointment as a consultant to the Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal peoples.
Eileen Newby
Treasurer
Eileen became a CA in 1977 and a CPA in 1981 and has spent the majority of her working life in the government and corporate sectors. Currently she is an accountant at a legal firm, a director of a number of private companies and also a director, vice-chair and finance committee chair at the NFP organisation The Nulsen Group. Eileen has previously served on the boards of superannuation and insurance companies and Outcare Ltd, chairing the finance committees of all these organisations. She is especially interested in assisting disadvantaged young people to achieve self-sufficiency.
Malcolm Bradley
Board Member
Malcolm has a broad education with university degrees in science, sustainability, various social sciences as well as law. He has variously worked in the iron ore industry and spent significant time volunteering within the not for profit sector including at Murdoch University, MIDLAS and Peel Community Legal Service. Since being admitted as a lawyer in 2016 Malcolm has worked variously within front line family violence roles in the community legal sector, as a criminal lawyer in private practice, and currently works at Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre.
Mara Barone
Board Member
Her Honour Mara Barone SC
Mara is a Judge of the District Court of Western Australia. Before being appointed Mara was a criminal lawyer. She worked at Legal Aid WA and the Aboriginal Legal Service before starting her own law firm and then moving to Francis Burt Chambers. She has previously been a board member of the Tenants Advice Service. Mara first became involved with the Youth Legal Service in the late 1990’s as a student volunteer and is looking forward to once again assisting the dedicated and passionate YLS staff achieve the goals of the organisation.
Madeleine Ogilvie
Board Member
Madeleine serves as the Chair-elect of ECU Academic Board and the Director International
in the School of Business and Law (SBL). She has worked in the tertiary sector across a
variety of leadership and teaching roles including as Associate Dean Teaching and Learning
(SBL) and Acting Head of School, Marketing Tourism and Leisure. She provides a depth and
breadth of academic knowledge in business and international education and is a registered
TEQSA Expert and judge for the national Australian Awards for University Teaching.
Andrea Surman
Chief Executive Officer
Andrea joined YLS as the Chief Executive Officer in March 2025. Prior to this, she held senior leadership roles at People with Disabilities WA and the National Disability Insurance Agency, where she gained valuable insights into the disability sector. Before these roles, Andrea served as the Executive Officer of C3 Church Fremantle for over 25 years where she was responsible for several large community development initiatives including the charity PortCare. PortCare assists over 20,000 people annually.
In 2009, Andrea was invited to Liberia, West Africa, where she developed and implemented community development programs to support people recovering from the effects of the civil war. These programs proved to be so successful they were later adopted in Sierra Leone and the Philippines.
In her spare time, Andrea provides free consultancy services to church organisations on mergers and transitions. She holds a Bachelor of Behavioural Science from the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle.
Our Board
Effective 1 April 2026, Youth Legal Service (YLS) have officially merged with Wheatbelt Community Legal Centre (WCLC) and Encompass Legal and Community Services (ELCS).
This strategic merger brings together specialised youth advocacy and regional legal expertise into a single, resilient organisational framework. To ensure continuity of governance, the Chairpersons of both YLS and WCLC have joined the ELCS Board of Directors.
The strategic oversight for all three service branches is now managed by the unified ELCS Board.