Volunteer Profiles

Meet some of the people who travelled to the US as Reprieve interns:

Anna Renou

In September this year I will return to the New Orleans to complete second internship through Reprieve. I am grateful to receive funding from the Sir Rupert Hamer Internship Fund, which would assist me greatly to complete a further internship.

I first heard about Reprieve through my cousin, Bonnie Renou, who had worked at the Justice Centre in New Orleans for approximately two years and had told me about Reprieve and their fight against the death penalty. I shocked by the plight of many of the clients facing the death penalty and inspired by the work of Bonnie and others who had assisted their defence.

During my first internship I worked for an investigator at A Fighting Chance in New Orleans. I arrived in November 2005, only two months after Hurricane Katrina had devastated the city. I arrived to a ghost town. The city was in shambles, the road, telephone, gas, electricity and postal services were patchy across the city and the office and justice system has to adapt to life after Katrina. During my stay in New Orleans the members of the office worked on projects uncovering the botched and failed attempt by the authorities to evacuate prisoners from the New Orleans Prison Complex before the storm. I spent time tracing evacuated prisoners to help to prepare Habeas claims for their release. After Christmas the city and office had settled into an ad hoc sense of normality and I spent more time working on capital cases.

During my first internship I was inspired by the Justice Centre’s client-centered approach to capital defence and am keen to return to be immersed in capital defence work again. I have aspirations to work in criminal defence in Australia and I am excited to work with inspirational investigators and attorneys at the LCAC. I am keen to visit some of the clients I met during my first stay and see how the office, the city and the justice system has rebuilt itself since Katrina.

Matthew Goldberg

Matthew obtained a Bachelor of Arts (English and Politics) and Bachelor of Laws from Monash University. He is currently undertaking a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice. Matthew joined Robert Stary and Associates in March 2009. He recently completed a volunteer internship at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Centre (LCAC), where he assisted in the legal defence of indigent people facing the death penalty. Matthew participated in the panel discussion Stories from the Frontline: The Legal Fight against the Death Penalty as part of the Victoria Law Foundation's Law Week. He is a speaker at the 2009 Western Region Constitutional Convention.

Matthew is a member of Reprieve Australia, the Castan Centre for Human Rights and the Criminal Law Section of the Law Institute of Victoria.

Andrew Small

Andrew has completed four years of a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) degree at the University of Technology, Sydney, and is currently on exchange at University of Ottawa, Canada, studying Common Law during their 2007 Fall semester. While in Australia he worked part-time as a paralegal for Griffith Hack Intellectual Property Lawyers. After finishing his studies in Ottawa at the end of 2007, Andrew completed his Reprieve internship in January 2008.

Alana Woldan

Alana completed a Bachelor of Law/Bachelor of Science (Environmental Science) at the University of Western Australia in 2005. She completed her articled clerkship and practiced as a solicitor at Corser & Corser Lawyers where she managed several client files in general commercial and litigation matters. Alana completed a Reprieve internship at the Gulf Region Advocacy Centre (GRACE) in the beginning of 2008 with a view to sitting the bar exam and practising law in the U.S. in the future.

Rebekah Bessant

Rebekah is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws at Monash University, Melbourne. Throughout her studies, Rebekah has been employed as a Research Assistant at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. She currently volunteers at the Springvale Monash Legal Service Legal Service and Animals Australia. Rebekah is currently in the US on her Reprieve internship with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (LCAC).

John Riordan

John is one subject away from completing a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws at the University of Melbourne. He is a junior assistant for barrister Julian McMahon and is currently working with the legal team who are supporting those in the Bali 9 who have been condemned to death. John completed a Reprieve internship in March 2008 with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (LCAC).

Olivia Henderson

Olivia was part of the first group of ReprieveAustralia Interns. An Arts/Law student at Monash University at the time, she had always been interested in concepts of law and justice and was immediately interested when she saw a flier advertising the internships. With little practical legal experience but an unshakeable opposition to the death penalty, Olivia flew out in November 2001 to spend three months volunteering at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Centre in New Orleans.

During her internship, amongst other tasks, Olivia was responsible for a major review of grand jury proceedings in a nearby parish to prove systematic discrimination in the selection of juries. She also made a number of trips to death row to provide humanitarian support to clients. But aside from the amazing practical experience, Olivia was particularly inspired by her colleagues: people from a range of backgrounds working tirelessly and passionately for people whom society had all but given up on. Olivia left New Orleans inspired to use her law degree for a worthwhile cause.

After completing her law degree Olivia accepted an articles position at mid-tier law firm. After admission she spent time working in intellectual property and commercial transactions whilst also volunteering at a community legal service providing free legal advice to financially disadvantaged members of the community. She left Melbourne in 2006 to undertake a Masters degree in International Human Rights Law at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and, during her studies, worked as project assistant on development projects in Asia and also as a family law researcher.

After the completion of her LLM, Olivia went to China as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development where she worked at the Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research Centre. She has recently returned to Australia and taken up a position at an Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service in Central Australia. Her current work involves travelling to remote indigenous communities providing legal services to indigenous survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault as well as law reform and advocacy. She is enjoying the challenge of her current work and feels passionately about the rights of Indigenous Australians.