Council & Executive

With a career spanning over 30 years, David is a principal at LK Law and practises in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Insolvency.

David was admitted to practice in 1991, after graduating from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Economics (1986) and from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (1990). David commenced private practice in 1991 with Corrs and has subsequently been a partner at Thomson Playford, Kelly & Co, HWL Ebsworth and principal at Lipman Karas and LK Law.

David has been involved in and led significant insolvency litigation proceedings across Australia, including in the Western Desert Resources, Arafura Pearls, Candetti Constructions and Noelex Yachts liquidations and the Warren Anderson Group receivership.

David has been a member of the Law Society continuously since 1991 and of its Council since 2022. He is also a member of the Law Council of Australia Insolvency and Reconstruction Committee (SA), a SA/NT Committee member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) and a member of INSOL. David is also a board member of the Real Estate Institute of South Australia.

David's personal interests include wine, horseracing and football. He is the Chairman of the Football Federation SA Disciplinary Tribunal.

Raffaele currently practises at the South Australian Bar, having previously worked as a Federal Prosecutor in the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and as a defence solicitor in the Criminal Law Practice Division of the Legal Services Commission of South Australia.

Raffaele has been a member of the Law Society since 2015 and is currently a member of the Advocacy, Corporate Governance and Criminal Law Committees, and is Chair of the Human Rights Committee. He is also a Law Society nominee to the Law Foundation, Law Council of Australia Business and Human Rights Committee and Joint Criminal Rules Advisory Committee.

He was named the 2023 Young Lawyer of the Year (alongside Zainab Al-Sweedy).

Raffaele also has an interest in sports discipline law, and is a member of the Disciplinary and Appeals Committee for Football South Australia and the Internal Sports Tribunal for Volleyball Australia.

Fraser Bell is a Partner at Thomson Geer. He leads the group focusing on all aspects of environmental and planning law, climate change, and contaminated land.

Fraser was admitted to practice in 1988 after graduating from the University of Adelaide. Prior to joining Thomson Geer in 2007, he was a partner at Finlaysons.

In addition to his role as Treasurer of the Law Society, Fraser is: Chair of Bellberry Ltd; Chair of East Waste; a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) SA/NT Council; a current Executive Committee Member of the SA Branch of the Waste Management Association of Australia (President 2002 – 2003).

Fraser was a Member of the Law Society Council from 1988 to 1989 and re-joined the Council in 2018.

Away from the law, Fraser enjoys playing tennis and golf and enjoys music and the arts.

Alex joined the bar in 2004. As a solicitor he has worked in a large national practice with Minter Ellison, a small boutique commercial practice with Johnson Lawyers, and in government with the Attorney General’s Department.

He has been actively involved in the profession, both in terms of committee involvement and the regular publication of CPD papers on topics including unconscionable conduct, caveats, voidable transactions, and setting aside transactions to defeat creditors.

Alex was the President of the Law Society of South Australia in 2024, is the Chair of the Civil Litigation Committee, and has been on Council for both the South Australian Bar Association and Law Society of South Australia.

Alex is an accredited AMDRAS mediator, and a panel mediator for the Panel Mediator, Department of Industry Tourism & Trade NT and the Magistrates Court of South Australia. He has appeared as counsel in a range of Courts in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, and Tribunals from Magistrates Court and Tribunal level to the Court of Appeal, Federal Court, and High Court. Alex also sits as a senior sessional member at the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Justin Stewart-Rattray is the Principal of Stewart-Rattray Lawyers. He was admitted to practice in 1993 and has over 30 years of experience, of which approximately 22 years has been as a practitioner either alone or in small practice. Justin has established a solid practice in all aspects of business law, specialising in debt collection and litigation; both commercial and in insolvency. He has worked for a broad range of businesses across a range of industries both State and national, big and small.

Justin has been a Member of the Society’s Council since January 2019 and was the Law Society President in 2022. Justin’s motivation to seek election and ultimately act as President in 2022 was to give something back and help the Society ensure the wellbeing of the profession in South Australia. He is keen to maintain the viability of the South Australian profession, especially in the current uncertain times from the perspective of sole practitioners and smaller firms.

Justin has been since 2022 and remains the South Australian director of the Law Council of Australia. This year he was appointed to the Law Council’s Finance Risk and Audit Committee.

Away from the law, Justin is an avid cyclist both on the road and mountain bike. He completed the Flinders Ranges outback epic Mountain bike race in 2018 - a very long 15.5-hour day in the saddle. A former twice ironman triathlete, he has also been known to don running shoes and compete in off road runs such as the local Yurrebilla Trail ultra-marathon, also finishing this worthwhile and challenging event three times. Earlier this year Justin successfully completed an ascent of Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa, the world’s highest free-standing mountain.