Isabelle Reinecke
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Isabelle Reinecke
Executive Director & Founder, Grata Fund
Current Positions
Executive Director & Founder, Grata Fund
Isabelle is a prominent leader successfully driving system change on the critical issues of our time, helping build a fairer, safer and more inclusive Australia.
In 2017, Isabelle founded Grata Fund, a leading not-profit based at the University of New South Wales that leverages targeted funding of litigation alongside campaign strategies and advocates for robust democracy to build a country where everyone can thrive, focusing on dismantling systemic gridlocks across three key areas: human rights, climate injustice and democratic freedoms.
As Executive Director of Grata, she leads the strategy and collaboration with some of the nation’s top legal minds, civil society organisations and community advocates to support and design cases to advance and protect rights and freedoms. Grata has collaborated with lawyers and social movements on numerous landmark cases that have set significant precedents and shifted the dial on important subjects, from challenging climate change injustice, to exposing abuse in offshore refugee detention centres, and establishing new rights to humane housing in remote First Nations communities. She has helped facilitate millions of dollars in philanthropic case funding from passionate supporters to communities bringing vital litigation, including in the high profile Australian Climate Case currently underway. Prior, Isabelle had more than 10 years’ experience as a director and lawyer at organisations including Getup, Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, and as a solicitor at Clayton Utz, where she acted for First Nations clients seeking stolen wages reparations in remote East Kimberley.
Isabelle is the author of Courting Power: Law Democracy and the Public Interest in Australia and an expert in the intersection of the law, politics and power. As Australian communities evolve, Isabelle helps government, law makers and decision makers understand key societal shifts in values and expectations and speed up change to avoid the civil unrest and inequalities that impact other countries. She is known globally for influencing the way the law, civil society and social movements work together to create a fairer world.
Isabelle was named the 2022 Emerging NFP Leader in Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards, is a Churchill Fellow, and the 2021 Women's Leadership Institute of Australia Fellow, awarded to women "who are leaders in their respective fields, women who have innovative approaches and the courage, conviction and capacity to create real change".
A mum of one, she is also part of the big conversations about providing more support for working mothers and female leaders.
In 2017, Isabelle founded Grata Fund, a leading not-profit based at the University of New South Wales that leverages targeted funding of litigation alongside campaign strategies and advocates for robust democracy to build a country where everyone can thrive, focusing on dismantling systemic gridlocks across three key areas: human rights, climate injustice and democratic freedoms.
As Executive Director of Grata, she leads the strategy and collaboration with some of the nation’s top legal minds, civil society organisations and community advocates to support and design cases to advance and protect rights and freedoms. Grata has collaborated with lawyers and social movements on numerous landmark cases that have set significant precedents and shifted the dial on important subjects, from challenging climate change injustice, to exposing abuse in offshore refugee detention centres, and establishing new rights to humane housing in remote First Nations communities. She has helped facilitate millions of dollars in philanthropic case funding from passionate supporters to communities bringing vital litigation, including in the high profile Australian Climate Case currently underway. Prior, Isabelle had more than 10 years’ experience as a director and lawyer at organisations including Getup, Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, and as a solicitor at Clayton Utz, where she acted for First Nations clients seeking stolen wages reparations in remote East Kimberley.
Isabelle is the author of Courting Power: Law Democracy and the Public Interest in Australia and an expert in the intersection of the law, politics and power. As Australian communities evolve, Isabelle helps government, law makers and decision makers understand key societal shifts in values and expectations and speed up change to avoid the civil unrest and inequalities that impact other countries. She is known globally for influencing the way the law, civil society and social movements work together to create a fairer world.
Isabelle was named the 2022 Emerging NFP Leader in Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards, is a Churchill Fellow, and the 2021 Women's Leadership Institute of Australia Fellow, awarded to women "who are leaders in their respective fields, women who have innovative approaches and the courage, conviction and capacity to create real change".
A mum of one, she is also part of the big conversations about providing more support for working mothers and female leaders.
Areas of Expertise
ABC News Breakfast
ABC News Breakfast
October 27, 2021
Torres Strait Island leaders launch climate change class action
ABC Breakfast
October 27, 2021
Government facing lawsuit over climate change in the Torres Strait
ABC Online
October 26, 2021
Fears remote Torres Strait islands will be underwater this century
ABC TV 7pm News
October 26, 2021
Torres Strait leaders sue federal government over climate change
The Age
October 26, 2021
Aussie cricketers in India face COBID scare
ABC AM
May 03, 2021
Legal challenges loom after Australian Government bans citizens returning from India
The Guardian
May 02, 2021
Advocates say nation
Pro Bono News
March 15, 2021
Minister Ley to face legal challenge on refusal to grant access to documents on controversial ‘fast tracked’ projects
Mirage
March 09, 2021
Freedom of Information: Coalitions refusal to reveal national cabinet discussions challenged,
The Guardian
March 09, 2021
NT Government to appeal remote tenants rights to ‘humane’ housing
Herald Sun
February 23, 2021
Suing for climate action: can the courts save us from the blackhole of political inaction?
The Guardian
November 15, 2020
NT Government appeals legal standard for housing conditions after Santa Teresa ruling
ABC Digital
October 07, 2020
Victorian plan to etende state of emergency 12 months prompts human rights concerns
The Guardian
August 24, 2020
Suing for climate action
The Saturday Paper
August 01, 2020
Calls grow for police to release guidelines used for covid lockdown rules
7 News
May 14, 2020
How strategic litigation can strengthen our democracy
Pearls and Irritations
April 30, 2020
Covid fines vary across country prompting calls for clearer guidelines
ABC
April 16, 2020
Six minutes with Isabelle Reinecke
Law Society Journal
February 07, 2020
Social change through strategic litigation: NT’s Santa Teresa Community and residential tenancy laws
NSW Community Legal Centre bulletin
November 03, 2019
Australia Fair, letter from Isabelle Reinecke
The Quarterly Essay
June 01, 2019
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