The people who will run your matter

How the firm is put together

There is no separate Gold Coast firm and Brisbane firm. It is one team working out of two offices, chosen because Southport and Brisbane are the two busiest Magistrates Courts in Queensland and most matters start in one of them.

Work is grouped into four practices, and the person who takes your first call is usually the person who runs the file:

• Criminal and traffic. Tam Elabbasi, Samuel Hwang, Elizabeth Main, Gabby King and Charlotte Edwards.
• Family law and domestic violence. Niamh O’Dowd and Natalie Tuson, with Elizabeth Main on the criminal side of domestic violence charges.
• Commercial, litigation and disputes. Joseph Lee and Bohden Clark.
• Support. Sienna McAllister and Yasmin Elabbasi, both law clerks completing law degrees and not yet admitted as solicitors.

Law clerks work under the supervision of an admitted solicitor. They prepare material, chase disclosure and keep files moving, which is a large part of why matters do not stall. They do not give you legal advice in their own right.

Asking for someone by name

You do not need to work out who handles what before you call. Say what has happened and we will put you with the right solicitor. If you would rather ask for someone by name, every profile below carries a direct line and a direct email address, and the switchboard on 07 5522 5777 will find someone the same day if a line rings out.

We do not split the firm into fixed practice groups. Solicitors here work across the areas they are capable in rather than being boxed into one, which is better for them and means your matter is not handed sideways the moment it touches a second area of law. Criminal charges that carry visa consequences, and family matters with a business inside them, are both common enough that rigid groupings would cost you.

Joseph Lee and Samuel Hwang have both worked with the Korean Consulate in Australia, and Joseph with the Vanuatu Consulate as well, so if English is not your first language, say so when you call and we will match you accordingly.

We also appear regularly in New South Wales, in the Local Courts and at the Downing Centre in Sydney. A charge laid across the border does not mean starting again with a second firm.

Most matters here are workshopped within the team practising in that area of law before a position is settled. You do not just get a lawyer, you get a team.

What you are actually buying

A law firm is a group of people, and the qualifications on this page matter less than two questions: does this person know this court, and will they return your call. We publish direct lines and direct email addresses on every profile for the second reason.

Every matter is quoted as a fixed fee range in writing before work starts, and the first fifteen minutes by phone are free. Read the areas of practice if you want to know what we take on, or book a free 15 minute call and skip ahead.