The Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards 2022 has recognised Attwood Marshall Lawyers Dispute Resolution Team for their dedication to the legal sector, and their clients, by naming the team as a finalist in the upcoming awards. Attwood Marshall Lawyers Legal Practice Director Jeff Garrett discusses what sets our team apart from other firms.
Australian Law Awards
With 22 years of recognition, the Australian Law Awards program recognises those who work tirelessly to make the legal industry thrive and succeed. The Awards aim to celebrate firms and individual legal professionals nationwide, who propel the industry forward.
We are pleased to have been shortlisted for three separate categories as finalists in this year’s awards, including the group award for Dispute Resolution Team of the Year, Senior Associate of the Year, and Legal Operations Professional of the Year.
Our Dispute Resolution team has grown significantly over the past 3 years to meet the growing demand in this sector, and the team consists of 8 Lawyers, several law graduates, 2 Senior Paralegals and our Litigation Department Manager.
Dedicated to helping people and changing their lives for the better
Dispute resolution encompasses an array of diverse practice areas.
Over the past year, our Commercial Litigation Lawyers have acted for a number of large private companies in securing significant results for them, including a multimillion-dollar claim on behalf of a large company in the Federal Court of Australia, and another for a client against one of the wealthiest entities in the country. One particular matter saw the team brief a firm in Malaysia as an agent in the High Court of Kuala Lumpur to obtain an injunction over a large marine vessel.
Then there is the important and difficult work our team completes acting for disadvantaged individuals who have suffered significantly at the hands of major banks and insurance companies.
Many of these clients have been on the brink of bankruptcy as a result of the situations in which they have been placed by an inappropriate lending practice or denying legitimate insurance claims.
On the Estate Litigation side, our team have relentlessly pursued State Trustees when representing clients via dispute resolution and Court action, in response to negligent trustees or administrator’s roles being revoked and/or obtaining compensation for losses suffered as a result of negligence on behalf of those entities.
The satisfaction the team receives by achieving an outcome for an individual who is destitute, homeless, have lost their family, or has significant health issues, is immense and we are extremely proud of the work they do to support those most vulnerable in our community.
It is the intent or purpose of our business to help people and change their lives for the better, and each team member in our Dispute Resolution Team, and firmwide, adopt this intent in the work they do. This is a particularly tough area of law to carry out our intent! However, our lawyers and staff do their best every day to secure the most favourable outcome as quickly as possible. This is never an easy exercise in this type of litigation. It is relentless, particularly when you have large government institutions, insurance companies, and banks as your opponents who have very deep pockets. It takes a particular tenacity to fight these cases on behalf of our clients. In many cases we take on these matters on a no-win, no-fee basis, so we have a lot invested in these cases.
Leveraging the combined experience of all team members
The team hail from various parts of Australia, from the far south coast of New South Wales to Western Queensland. Some staff are from big cities and others grew up on farms. Our staff’s backgrounds are diverse, as are our life experiences, which produces an extremely dynamic team culture.
This diversity is an asset to our clients, who also represent all demographics.
We’ve had lawyers this year acting for farmers in commercial farming disputes, lawyers acting for dentists in corporate shareholder oppression cases, and lawyers acting for those who’ve become destitute.
The team collaborate on a daily basis, and it’s not uncommon to see multiple lawyers with varying dispute resolution expertise in a single office sharing views and generating options for clients.
Our lawyers have elected to specialise in specific areas of interest including employment law, banking disputes, defamation, corporate disputes, and estate litigation.
Understanding clients’ goals when viewed through a multitude of lenses, enables our team to think outside the square to generate and advise upon all options available to clients to enable them to achieve their goals.
What sets Attwood Marshall Lawyers apart as a dispute resolution leader
We don’t just talk about equality in the legal industry, we put it into practice. 80% of our dispute resolution team consists of highly intelligent and dedicated women. It has become abundantly clear that the way women practice and work in the field of law, and the way they engage with their clients and stakeholders is vastly beneficial compared to the old-school aggressive male patriarchy.
With litigation on its way out, and dispute resolution and collaborative law on the way in, we are seeing that women hold the upper hand in the field.
The Dispute Resolution team are led by NSW Law Society Accredited Specialist in Dispute Resolution, Charles Lethbridge, who boasts specialist knowledge that he shares with team members, giving the team an enviable advantage in the dispute resolution and litigation space in a world where only less than 5% of litigated matters now proceed to trial.
Studies in dispute resolution are also mandatory within the team. In addition to the daily work completed, the team assist our local community by genuinely engaging at a grassroots level. Many of those clients are impecunious and accordingly many matters are taken on a speculative, deferred fee, or pro bono basis. We don’t just talk about assisting the less fortunate, we do it!
Such is the importance and significance of this work the team has undertaken in this space, that we were invited by the ABC’s flagship investigative program, 4Corners, to participate in a report about the states’ public trustees’ conduct in Australia.
The program achieved enormous exposure, and our team continues to be contacted by members of the Australian community, from all states and territories, impacted by the poor conduct of those entities. A significant part of the team’s practice now concerns assisting those impacted by the public trustees. All the lawyers in the team embarked upon a career in law with a view to assisting disadvantaged people, and when these results are achieved, it is enormously satisfying for the lawyers individually and the team as a whole.
Attwood Marshall Lawyers – experts in resolving disputes
Being involved in a dispute can be a very distressing experience, both emotionally and financially. We take great pride in supporting our clients to ensure they can resolve their disputes in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.
No matter the type of dispute, we are here to help.
With extensive experience assisting with class actions, lease disputes, defamation claims, debt recovery, property-related disputes, building and construction disputes, professional negligence claims, disputes with banks and insurance companies, disputes over contracts, and disputes over Wills and estates, it is our goal to always keep our clients informed throughout the process and apply the best strategy to suit the nature and intricacy of each matter.
We are proud to be shortlisted as a finalist in the Australian Law Awards and are dedicated to continuing to contribute positively to the legal industry by delivering high-quality legal services to our clients.
If you are involved in a dispute and want to be supported by a dedicated, highly-skilled team, please contact our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department Manager, Amanda Heather, on direct line 07 5506 8245, email aheather@attwoodmarshall.com.au or free call 1800 621 071.
