The Institute of Law’s activities are overseen by the Board of Governors.
The Board has overall legal and constitutional responsibility for the conduct of the Institute of Law’s affairs in accordance with its constitution.
Sir Timothy Le Cocq - Chair
Sir Timothy Le Cocq was born in Jersey on 9th December 1956 and educated in Jersey latterly at De La Salle College before going to the United Kingdom to further his studies. He obtained a degree in Law and Psychology from the University of Keele in England and thereafter was called to the Bar of the Inner Temple in London as a Barrister of that Inn. He has since become a Bencher of Inner Temple.
Sir Timothy Le Cocq then returned to Jersey where he was employed in local Jersey law firms qualifying as an Advocate of the Royal Court. He remained in private practice specialising in litigation until, in April 2008, he was appointed Her Majesty’s Solicitor General for Jersey and was made a Queen’s Counsel. In November 2009 he became Her Majesty’s Attorney General for Jersey which post he held until end of March 2015.
He was subsequently sworn in as the Deputy Bailiff of Jersey on 2nd April 2015. On 17th October 2019, he succeeded Sir William Bailhache as Bailiff of Jersey. On 1st June 2022 Sir Timothy Le Cocq received a knighthood from Her Majesty The Queen. Sir Timothy Le Cocq has four children three of whom have completed their studies for university degrees and are working and the youngest is at school in Jersey.
Sir Philip Bailhache - Chair Emeritus
Sir Philip Bailhache is a graduate of the University of Oxford, an honorary fellow of Pembroke College, and an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple. He is an English barrister and an advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey. In Jersey, he served successively as Solicitor General, Attorney General, Deputy Bailiff and most recently Bailiff (1995-2009). He was appointed a commissioner of the Royal Court in July 2009 but retired from the judiciary in July 2011. In October 2011 he was elected as a Senator of the States of Jersey. He is the founding editor of the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review and the founder of the Jersey Legal Information Board which publishes a legal information website at www.jerseylaw.je
Steve Baker
Stephen Baker is an English barrister, Jersey Advocate and is called to the Bar in BVI. He is Senior Partner at Baker & Partners.
He specialises in complex international financial litigation including trust and commercial disputes as well as civil fraud.
He is expert in unravelling complex offshore trust structures and resolving the issues which arise from such structuring. He is frequently instructed to advise on the strategic approach to be adopted to cross border litigation.
Stephen regularly acts for foreign governments in asset recovery actions. He acts for the liquidators of the offshore structure used to launder the proceeds of the 1MDB fraud. He has also acted for the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and the Kenyan Ethics Anti-Corruption Commission.
Stephen is an expert on the interaction between the civil and criminal law in fraud cases including those seeking to evade judgement debts.
Stephen was former Chairman of the IBA Anti-Corruption Asset Recovery Sub-committee and is Vice Chair of the IBA Asset Recovery Committee.
Stephen works regularly with the World Bank Financial Market Integrity Division, including the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative. The World Bank book entitled ‘Going for Broke – the Use of Insolvency Tools in Corruption Cases’ was published in December 2019.
Stephen regularly participates in a wide variety of international events with a focus on fraud, asset tracing and anti-corruption.
Irene Blöch - Honorary Secretary
Irene assists the board and the Institute with secretarial matters.
Originally from Vienna but having grown up in Brussels, Irene is fluent in English, French, and German. After completing her undergraduate combined English and French law degree with integrated Master’s in European Law from the Universities of Exeter and Rennes, Irene returned to Exeter to further specialise with a Master’s degree in International Commercial and Maritime Law.
Irene then completed her Legal Practice Course with distinction while working
full time. Irene now works as an Associate in the busy Corporate and Commercial team at Viberts.
Dr Eloise Ellis
Dr Eloise Ellis is currently the Associate Pro Vice Chancellor, Education and Curriculum at the University of East Anglia. She has previously served as the Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching Quality for the Social Sciences Faculty and before that the Law School’s Director of Learning and Teaching. Eloise joined UEA in 2011, having previously lectured in Public Law at King’s College London and Queen Mary, University of London. She is the Course Director for the GDL and M100 Programmes and the Module Convenor for Constitutional and Administrative Law.
Eloise is a Visiting Professor at the University of Salzburg, the Université Catholique de Lille, the Institute of Law, Jersey and the University of London (International Programmes). She is on the Executive Committee of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS). Eloise is also a member of the Academic Panel of Francis Taylor Building Chambers.
After graduating from King’s College London with LLB (Hons) (First Class), and before commencing her academic career, Eloise worked as a political adviser and policy manager for organisations ranging from the Country Landowners’ Association to the London Chamber of Commerce and the British Retail Consortium. She then spent a couple of years at a Government Department, where her roles included working for a Minister. Eloise has been involved with the University of London international programmes for over 12 years and for several years has been the subject guide author for Public Law.
Jeremy Heywood - Vice Chair
Jeremy Heywood is a civil and commercial litigator and has extensive experience in immovable property and planning, contentious trusts, insured risks and commercial and contractual disputes. Jeremy was educated at The University of St. Andrews where he graduated with an MA in Ancient History. He then attended the Inns of Court School of Law to study for his Bar Vocational Course. Jeremy speaks fluent French and enjoys wine, reading and travel. He appears regularly before all the Island’s courts.
Professor Ann Holmes
Professor Holmes has worked in Higher Education as an academic and then as a senior manager from 1984 until 2014. Her last post was Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton.
Ann has also been actively involved in the work of the Quality Assurance Agency since 2003. This has involved undertaking reviews of HE providers both in the UK and overseas, reviewing Degree Awarding powers applications, hearing appeals and investigating complaints.
Since 2014, as well as continuing to undertake work for QAA, she has acted as a HE consultant in the field of quality assurance and enhancement at several institutions, including Goldsmiths, Westminster, Gibraltar and Arden university.
Professor Holmes has also reviewed regulatory and quality assurance processes and prepared institutions for QAA review at a range of Higher Education providers, both public and private. E.g., Liverpool, Gloucester, UWE, Wolverhampton, LJMU, Teesside, Gibraltar, Arden ,Weston College, Manchester Metropolitan University, Goldsmiths.
She is also an approved reviewer for the QAC in Hong Kong and has recently worked with City University in reviewing their quality assurance processes.
Professor Holmes has been an external examiner at 8 different institutions, chaired the advisory board to UK Centre for Legal Education, acted as secretary to the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools and has been a member of the Law Society Committee for legal education.
Paul Marett
Paul Marett is a highly successful IT executive with a strategic focus. He has a strong record of achievement, having managed a substantial IT service delivery business for 25 years, providing services to various industries including finance and Channel Islands’ local government. An active committee member of the Jersey branch of the Institute of Directors, Paul was appointed as Director of Information Technology at Jersey Post in January 2012.
Stephen Whale - Treasurer
Stephen is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. He is the Managing Director of a local trust company and a director of Community Savings Limited, a local charity that aims to promote financial inclusion in Jersey. He also volunteers as a general adviser with Citizens Advice.
Martin Rowley
Martin Rowley is a partner in Deloitte LLP’s US Business Tax group and head of the Jersey Tax practice in the Channel Islands. Splitting his time between London and Jersey, Martin advises on corporate and international tax matters for clients in a wide range of industries. Much of his work involves issues encountered in cross-border transactions and capital flows, including the anti-deferral regimes that are applicable to US taxpayers, and the tax aspects of multi-jurisdictional acquisitions, divestitures, financings, internal restructurings, and intellectual property transfers.
Martin regularly acts for private equity houses, real estate funds, and sovereign financial institutions in the structuring, financing, and execution of their investments, joint ventures, and other M&A activities, as well as fund managers in the structuring of their portfolio investments, financings, earnings repatriation, and disposals. His work in these areas is particularly focused on Europe, China, India, and the MENA region.
Martin is a regular speaker on international tax topics at conferences throughout Europe and at in-house and specialist seminars for clients and professional organisations. He is recognised by Chambers UK: A Client’s Guide to the Legal Profession and by Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading individual in tax. Martin received his LLM in taxation with distinction from Georgetown University Law Center in 1997, his JD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, and his BS in business from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988.
Melissa Pardoe
Mel is an experienced governance professional and qualified data protection practitioner, with a broad experience across the private and public sector. She specialises in delivering bespoke training and advice in privacy law and is currently group DPO for the Highvern Group. Mel’s roles have included providing procedural advice to the Jersey Public Accounts Committee, Head of Governance and Government advisor for Jersey Schools, Data Protection Officer for the Government of Jersey, (advising on preparation for the new data protection legislation in 2018) and Head of Governance for BDO Jersey Group. Her first degree was in History in Politics before qualifying for the LLB with the Jersey Institute of Law.
Fiona Smith
Fiona is Head of Business Management and Governance for the Department for the Economy within the Government of Jersey. Fiona has worked for the Government for over 20 years and is a qualified teacher. She has a MSc in Psychology, a MEd in Leadership and Management, is an International Compliance Association Member with a Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance, is a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. In 2023 she completed the IoD Certificate in Company Direction.
Guillaume Staal
Guillaume is a civil and commercial dispute resolution lawyer and Advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey, with particular experience in matters involving allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty, contractual disputes, enforcement of foreign judgments and associated freezing and disclosure orders.
Guillaume graduated with an LLB English and French Law from King’s College London and a Maitrise en droit (French law degree) from La Sorbonne, Paris. He was subsequently among the very first cohort of Institute of Law alumni where he undertook the Jersey Law Course. Guillaume is also a native French speaker.
Sonia Shah
Allana Binnie
Allana is a Senior Associate Advocate at Mourant in the private client litigation team. She specialises in criminal defence work and family law matters including separation and divorce as well as children and public law children work. She also has experience in mental health law, injunctions and assisted with historical child abuse inquiries in both Jersey and Australia.
Allana was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2011 and the Jersey Bar in 2019 having studied at the Institute of Law.
As well as being a Governor on the Board of the Institute of Law, Allana is also a judiciary panel member on the Discrimination Tribunal and a legal board member on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
Amy Wilson
Amy Wilson is a financial and corporate lawyer at Mourant Ozannes. She advises global corporate and financial institutions on a wide range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, schemes of arrangement, listings and banking and structured finance transactions. Amy studied for both her University of London LLB degree and Jersey Law Course with the Institute of Law.
Alison Fossey
Alison is an honours law graduate and is a Detective Superintendent in the States of Jersey Police.
She has a passion for safeguarding vulnerable people and transformed the Public Protection Unit over the last decade. She was commended for that work and leadership of the Historic Child Abuse Investigation by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry. In 2017 she set up Jersey’s first Sexual Assault Referral Centre and recently played a key role in the overhaul of Sexual Offences & Domestic Abuse legislation as well as introducing the first Victim’s Charter in Jersey.