Ms Jennie Pakula
Lawyer Regulation Expert | Innovation Enabler

Jennie worked in legal services regulation from 1994-2023.  She has been an ethics adviser and complaint handler with the Law Society of NSW, and in Victoria, she has conducted investigations and prosecutions.  From 2010-2018, she managed the team that dealt with the bulk of complaints and enquiries.  In that role, she read and allocated about 14,000 client complaints, pioneered the innovative Rapid Resolution approach to complaint handling, instigated a number of policy initiatives and designed the first iteration of the VLSB+C’s compliance auditing program. 

Jennie’s last role at the VLSB+C was as Manager, Innovation & Consumer Engagement.  In that role, she gained a deeper understanding of the consumer experience of legal services and worked closely with our expert Consumer Panel. Jennie conceived and executed many initiatives designed to overcome barriers to innovation, including devising and running the ‘Innovation In-box’, where legal services innovators receive regulatory guidance on new ways of working.  She was responsible for a series of practical regulatory guidance pieces, the most recent relating to lawyers’ use of generative AI.

Throughout her career, Jennie has seen and deeply understood systemic problems and common issues and has converted these insights into practical guidance for consumers and the profession.  She particularly loves encouraging and helping lawyers who want to do things differently.