Professor Carolyn Hamilton, Director
Professor Carolyn Hamilton is the Director of the Children’s Legal Centre, a position she has held since 1995. She is a well known child rights lawyer, who has published widely on issues of children’s rights and child law. Professor Hamilton is the Senior Legal Adviser for the Children’s Commissioner in England and the Child and Family Commissioner for the Legal Services Commission. She has acted as a consultant to UNICEF on child protection and juvenile justice in many countries, including in Georgia, Palestine, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Kosovo and to the UN Crime Prevention Branch on juvenile justice, working with the Ad-Hoc Expert Group on the Application of United Nations Standards and Norms. From 2001-2003, Professor Hamilton was appointed as Consultant on Juvenile Justice to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Paulette Lyden, Business & Operations Director
Paulette Lyden joined the Children’s Legal Centre as Business and Operations Director in April 2009. Paulette brings a wealth of experience to the organisation, having held senior roles at Unison and the Arcadia Housing Trust. A graduate in Government from the University of Essex, Paulette has a post graduate management diploma from the Open University.
Kirsten Anderson, Head of Research Policy and Communications
Kirsten Anderson is an experienced socio-legal researcher with a particular interest in children’s rights. She formerly worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School. As Head of Research and Communications, Kirsten carries out research projects in the areas of child rights and child law both in the UK and abroad and undertakes policy work in these fields, including providing responses to UK government consultations. She also oversees the production of the Centre’s publications and media commentary on child rights and child law.
Trevor King, Family Solicitor
Trevor King qualified as a solicitor in 1974 and specialises in Family Law. He has practised in this area of law for over 30 years and has particular expertise in care and adoption proceedings. Trevor became a member of the Law Society Children Panel in 1994.
Kamena Dorling – Legal and Policy Officer, Migrant Children
Kamena runs the Migrant Children’s Project for the Children's Legal Centre. She has worked closely with refugees for several years at the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture, and the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre in Delhi. There she prepared reports and produced guides to Civil and Political Rights for use by human rights activists in India, before returning to England and working at Human Rights Watch in their Advocacy department. She has an LLM in International Human Rights Law.
Elisabetta Valdani, Office Manager
Elisabetta Valdani is Office Manager and joined the Children's Legal Centre in January 2002. She is responsible for the day to day running of the offices in Colchester and London.
