Family lawseparating, the children, and who keeps the house
Parenting arrangements, property settlements and consent orders. Mediation first wherever it will hold.
Read more about Family lawPlain answers to the legal problem in front of you.
A Sydney general practice: family, property, work, estates. The first conversation is free, and it is with a lawyer, not an intake form.
- A free 20-minute first call
- A fixed fee quoted before anything starts
- One lawyer on your matter, start to finish
No obligation, and nothing is charged for the call.
Listed and reviewed in
- Harbour Legal Review
- The Practice List
- Counsel Register
- NSW Client Choice
What we do
What kind of problem is it?
Most people arrive with a letter, a date or a document and no idea which kind of lawyer it needs. That is the point of a general practice: you describe it, and we work out whose desk it belongs on.
Conveyancing and propertybuying or selling, and reading the contract before you sign it
Contract reviews, cooling-off advice, off-the-plan, transfers and strata searches, on a fixed fee.
Read more about Conveyancing and propertyWills and estateswho gets what, and who has to sort it out
Wills, powers of attorney, probate, and family provision claims when a will is contested.
Read more about Wills and estatesEmploymentbeing pushed out, underpaid or performance-managed
Unfair dismissal, general protections, deeds of release, and the contract in front of you now.
Read more about EmploymentAnd six more
Ten areas, fourteen lawyers, two offices.
Criminal and traffica charge, a court date, and what to say at it
Read more about Criminal and trafficCommercial and businessthe agreement you are about to sign
Read more about Commercial and businessPersonal injurya claim after a car, a worksite or a fall
Read more about Personal injuryLeases and tenancya landlord, a bond, or a notice to leave
Read more about Leases and tenancyDebt recoveryan invoice somebody has stopped paying
Read more about Debt recoveryImmigrationa visa, a refusal, or a review
Read more about Immigration
How it works
What actually happens if you call.
Four steps, and you can stop after any of them. Nothing is charged until the third.
01The first calltwenty minutes, free, with a lawyer
You describe what happened. We tell you whether there is something here, which area of law it sits in, and roughly what it would take. If the answer is that you do not need a lawyer, that is the answer you get.
02The costs agreementthe letter that says what this will cost
Before any work starts you get a written scope and a fixed fee for it. Where a matter genuinely cannot be fixed-priced, you get a range and the trigger that would move it. Nothing begins until you have signed.
03The workone lawyer, and you know which one
The lawyer you spoke to keeps your matter. You get their direct line and an update every fortnight whether or not anything has moved, because silence is the complaint we hear most about other firms.
04The outcomesettled, filed, signed or heard
Most matters here finish in an agreement rather than a courtroom. When one does need a hearing, we brief it, we prepare you for it, and we sit with you at the Downing Centre or at Parramatta.
You can stop after step one and owe nothing.
Reviews
What clients said afterwards.
Three of the 212. Invented, like the firm.
I had a contract, a deadline and no idea what I was looking at. Somebody rang me back the same afternoon and explained it in about ten minutes, including the part that was against me.
What I wanted was for somebody to tell me the truth about my chances rather than what I wanted to hear. I got a number and a reason for it in the first week and it did not move.
My mother's estate turned into an argument between four people. Two meetings and it was an agreement instead. I never once had to chase anyone for an update.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every matter turns on its own facts.
The difference
Why people move their matter here.
Most of what is wrong with hiring a lawyer is not the law. It is not knowing what it costs, who is doing it, or whether anything is happening.
With us
A fixed fee, written downyou know the number before work starts
One lawyer, namedthe person you spoke to is the person doing it
An update every fortnightsent whether or not anything moved
Plain-English letterswe read the document, you read a sentence
What people tell us they had before
- Billed in six-minute units, explained at the end
- A partner at the pitch, a junior on the file
- Weeks of silence, then an invoice
- Advice you have to re-read four times
Four things clients moving here have told us about their last firm. Not a claim about any particular one, and not a real firm anyway.
Our people
Who you would actually be dealing with.
Fourteen lawyers across Sydney and Parramatta. These four take most of the first calls.
Nobody here is assigned to you by a system.
You pick up the phone, a lawyer answers, and that lawyer keeps the matter. It is the whole reason the firm stayed this size.
Book a free consult
Priya Raman
Principalruns the firm, and takes the hard ones
Estates and family provision. Twenty-two years, the last nine here.
Daniel Okafor
Senior associateproperty, and the contract nobody read
Conveyancing and leases. Fixed fee on every residential contract.
Tom Whelan
Associatework, and being pushed out of it
Unfair dismissal and general protections. Former union advocate.
Hugh Marsden
Associatecharges, courts and what to say
Criminal and traffic. Appears at the Downing Centre most weeks.
Swipe for the rest of the four.
Without prejudicesay it to us and it cannot be used against you
The first call is exactly that. Tell us the version with the awkward part in it, because that is usually the part the matter turns on.
Questions
The things people ask before they ring.
Is the first call really free?
Yes, and it is with a lawyer rather than an intake team. Twenty minutes, no file opened, nothing charged. If we cannot help you we will say who can.
What will this cost?
You get a fixed fee in writing before any work starts. A residential contract review is $440 including GST. A simple will is $550. Anything litigious gets a range with the trigger that would move it, so an invoice can never be a surprise.
Do I have to go to court?
Usually not. Most matters here end in an agreement — a settlement, consent orders, a deed. Where a hearing is unavoidable we prepare you for it and appear with you.
How long does it take?
A contract review is a day or two. A straightforward estate is three to six months. A contested family matter is a year or more, and anyone quoting you less than that is selling.
Will I get the same lawyer the whole way through?
Yes. The lawyer you speak to on the first call keeps the matter. You get their direct line, not a general inbox.
What do I need to bring?
Whatever you have: the letter, the contract, the text messages, the dates. If you have nothing at all, come anyway — the first call is about working out what to look for.
Do you act for the other side as well?
Never in the same matter. We run a conflict check before the first call goes in the diary, and if one comes up we tell you immediately and refer you on.
Can we do this without me taking a day off?
Yes. Calls, video meetings and electronic signing for everything that allows it. Both offices also open until 7pm on Thursdays.
Still not sure what to ask for?
That is the most common way people arrive. Describe what happened in a couple of sentences and we will tell you which area it sits in, at no cost and with nothing opened.
Pick the closest one. Getting it wrong costs nothing.
Send a message
This is a concept page. Nothing here sends anything.
Tell us what happened. We will tell you where you stand.
Twenty minutes, free, with a lawyer. Sydney and Parramatta, or by phone from anywhere in New South Wales.