Our people

Jo Maugham KC founded Good Law Project back in 2017, without a single big backer and no staff. Under his leadership, the organisation has gone from strength to strength, raising millions of pounds to fund strategic litigation and winning landmark constitutional cases.

A tax barrister by trade, Jolyon became a Queen’s Counsel in 2015. He is an honorary Professor at the University of Durham and has advised the UK government and the official Opposition on tax policy. He has been described by The Times as ‘one of the country’s leading barristers’.

Siham Bortcosh has been involved with Good Law Project since mid-2019 and has helped to set up the organisation. A qualified accountant and experienced finance director, she has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 25 years. In her role as Chief Operating Officer, she is responsible for making sure that our organisation is well-run and that our money is well-managed.

Emma is responsible for acting as general counsel to Good Law Project, overseeing its litigation portfolio and leading its legal projects.

Emma is a litigation lawyer with experience spanning over 10 years in a top global law firm plus several years of legal, public policy and advisory experience developed through roles in government, law enforcement, NGOs and the technology sector.

Most recently, Emma developed and led government policy to drive innovation in legal services – including establishing the initiative LawtechUK. Emma is passionate about transparency, justice and the law being accessible to all.

A campaigner by trade, Vic has led the campaigning functions at both the National Union of Students and Save the Children UK. Vic has joined Good Law Project to lead the growth and development of our campaigning work.

With over 20 years’ experience of running high-impact, high-profile campaigns, Vic will be responsible for engaging and mobilising our supporters to ensure Good Law Project has the money and the people power to win. Vic is a trustee at working-class youth activism organisation RECLAIM and Chair of the New Economy Organising Network (NEON).

Laura began work as a UK Government and European Commission civil servant then worked for 15 years in children’s rights. This included a decade living in Bulgaria where she led a campaign to transform the child care system and support children to leave state-run orphanages. More recently Laura has been engaged in social justice campaigns in the UK, including as the National Coordinator of the campaign group Momentum and as part of the Labour For A New Democracy coalition which aims to secure proportional representation.

Rupert Evans is Chair of Good Law Project, Managing Director of TranslateMedia and a non-executive director of Colchester Oyster Fishery. Rupert’s main job is running TranslateMedia, a language translation business which he co-founded. He is also an active non-executive, as Chair of Good Law Project and a board member of Colchester Oyster Fishery, one of the UK’s largest and oldest oyster fisheries. Rupert is based in London but has lived and worked in Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

He is a director of TranslateMedia subsidiaries in America, China and Poland and has previously directed businesses in France, Germany, Hungary and Serbia. Rupert is married and a father of three and therefore has limited spare time but is a former president of Oxford University’s juggling club.

Stewart Wood is a Labour member of the House of Lords and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he taught politics from 1995 to 2011. His academic research focused on political economy in western Europe and issues of UK public policy. From 2001 to 2007 he was a member of the Treasury’s Council of Economic Advisers, working on public policy issues for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. From 2007 to 2010 he worked at 10 Downing Street as a Senior Special Adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, leading on foreign policy; culture, media and sports policy; and Northern Irish affairs. From 2010-2015 he was a member of the Labour Shadow Cabinet and an adviser to Labour Leader Ed Miliband. He now serves as a Labour member of the House of Lords EU Select Committee. And since 2017 he has been Chair of the United Nations Association UK

Mathew Lodge is an experienced technology executive and CEO of an Oxford AI start-up. Early in his career, he wrote code that flew on the International Space Station and helped connect six countries to the Internet. He developed early cloud computing services and more recently led a highly popular machine learning and AI platform. A keen photographer, he has visited 35 countries and lived and worked in Hong Kong, San Francisco, California and Austin, Texas.

Susan’s work focuses on the ways in which technology and society intersect and her interests include democracy, human rights, disinformation and the uses of AI and data. She has worked in the private sector, the not for profit sector and philanthropy. She was the first Executive Director of the Global Network Initiative.

Justin is a partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants, where he leads the Technology sector. He is a non-executive director of Mumsnet and of MyClinicalOutcomes.

Aditi Thorat has 20 years’ experience working with nonprofits and foundations in the UK and India, with 11 years focused on building strategic partnerships. Aditi joined the Global Commons Alliance as its inaugural Director of Fundraising in April 2023, a project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, where she will focus on working collaboratively to raise resources and profile for this powerful network of over 100 partners to steward and protect the world’s global commons.

Until recently, she was Director of Development and member of the Leadership Team at Global Witness, where she managed a team responsible for annually raising $12m from institutional donors, major donors, special events and online giving. Aditi previously worked as Director of Development, and later Director of Corporate Engagement, at Thomson Reuters Foundation where she created and implemented a global fundraising strategy focusing on women’s rights, anti-slavery initiatives, pro bono legal support and media freedom.

Ife is a barrister at Matrix Chambers.