WHY FAMILY LAW

A common question I am asked is why do you do family law? Or the ever more popular “how can you do family law? I fell into family law shortly after my admission. I working in general practice and “dabbling” in a bit of family law and enjoyed it, but at that stage in my career I was enjoying property law.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans, the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) hit in 2008 this happened to be around the same time that I was relocating away from my home town of Rockhampton and “spreading my wings” to find further job opportunities in the South East Corner of Queensland.

Unfortunately, the GFC was not kind to property law sector at that time, but Family Law was definitely booming. So in a way, I fell into it. I landed a job working at a boutique specialist family law firm and found a love for it. This is what I love about Family Law and why I don’t intend to leave the industry:

Firstly, it is an opportunity to help people in a time of crisis. It is so rewarding to see the progress and journey experienced by each individual that I get to work with. To see someone come to the office feeling lost, stressed and hopeless and assisting them to find hope, empowerment and often financial security is incredibly rewarding.

Secondly, you are always learning. No single relationship or separation is ever the same. As family lawyers we have the privilege of being invited into every aspect of a persons life, we get to see and hear about success stories and failures, the human and financial stories, that have led people to ultimately to be seeking assistance to resolve their conflict. You can personally learn from other peoples successes and failures just be hearing about the stories behind the people you are helping.

Thirdly, it is “human” law – I have never been a conventional or stereotypical lawyer. I love the human element, the people, the emotions, the drama, the complexity of all things human. Conventional lawyers typically like the black and white certainty that comes with a lot of areas of law – family law is what I would describe as “50 shades of grey!” It is juicy, depressing, scary, real and fulfilling all in one and you never know what you will be hit with next. It teaches you not be to judgemental and to love the diversity that comes with human beings

Last but not least there are some wonderful, interesting and diverse individuals who work in family law and I am grateful to have met, worked with, opposed, briefed and appeared before these people, many of whom I can call friends, associates and colleagues that appreciate the family law profession with the same enthusiasm and respect that I do.