General > News > Legal Practice Board New Chair and Deputy Chair

Legal Practice Board New Chair and Deputy Chair

28 Apr 2023

Matthew Howard SC was elected as the new Chair of the Legal Practice Board effective today, 28 April 2023. John Syminton was appointed as Deputy Chair at the Board’s meeting held on 5 April 2023.

The new Chair Matthew Howard SC joined the Board as Senior Counsel in 2009. He was a member of  a number of Board committees between 2009 and 2021. Mr Howard SC is a former President of the Australian Bar Association and WA Bar Association, Director and Chair of Law Access, former Chair of the Mental Health Law Centre, former Acting Parliamentary Inspector, former Councilor of the Law Society, and is an Adjunct Professor of the UWA Law School.
 
“I would like to pay special tribute to former Chair, John Fiocco”, Executive Director Libby Fulham said.

“Mr Fiocco was an involved and enthusiastic Chair of the Board. He was appointed Deputy Chair in 2018, Acting Chair from Nov 2020, and confirmed as Chair in April 2021. A barrister in commercial practice, Mr Fiocco is a well-known and well respected member of the legal profession in Western Australia. I wish Mr Fiocco every success and thank him sincerely for the enormous contribution he has made to the Board and to the legal profession.“

Mr Fiocco was a member of the Board continuously since 2005 to 5 April 2023, but has now retired from the Board. Mr Fiocco was Convenor of the Professional Affairs Committee from 2015, a member of the Admissions and Registration Committee from 2010, and member of the Management Committee from 2017. He was also a member of the (then) Legal Profession Complaints Committee from 2006 to 2013.