ALA President Mark Blumer said that despite staff members being made redundant, the organisation was seeking a new general manager with a focus on financial and operational management, in a bid to focus on meeting certain policy objectives.

"We need to strengthen the financial skill-set of our management team, so that directors and members can concentrate their efforts where their skills lie - in personal injury law and policy and human rights," he said.

"The rest of the restructure follows on from that need, as well as reducing the overall costs of the organisation, to ensure our survival. We think that it is very important that an organisation like ours continues to exist and thrive."

Scheerlinck served as CEO of ALA for six-and-a-half years, leading the organisation's push for reforms to the laws of negligence in 2002, and also its consolidation of support for David Hicks in 2007 - which refocused the organisation's priorities towards human rights.

- Angela Priestley