Brisbane’s top divorce and family lawyers open up about the industry
These are Brisbane’s best divorce and family lawyers operating in what is an ever-changing legal landscape where fraught emotions are often at the forefront. SEE THE FULL LIST
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From legal skirmishes over who gets to keep the Paddle Pop-stick sculptures to the international separation of children from a parent, Brisbane’s divorce lawyers tackle the full gamut of issues in their daily jobs.
And while divorce rates remain relatively steady, family law is an ever-changing legal landscape where frustration, bitterness, and other fraught emotions are often at the forefront.
For divorce lawyer Damien Greer, principal of Damien Greer Lawyers, the key is to remain calm.
“We are dealing with good people who are going through some pretty tough times and they’re not always at their best,” the legal veteran of four decades said.
“You have to think clearly for them.
“It needs a quick approach and calmness and being able to judge what is needed.
“And also helping people get perspective in their life depending on whether that’s children or financial matters.
“(There are) high-distress circumstances, where things are happening in relation to kids or new allegations come to light, and you have to act swiftly and remain calm.”
Justine Woods, a partner at Cooper Grace Ward with nearly 30 years of family law experience, said a big part of the job was managing expectations.
“That’s really your entire job – take the factual matrix and apply the law to it and then reframe people’s expectations so it conforms with what’s expected of them,” she told The Courier-Mail.
“Often the right decision is not what might come naturally when people are in distress and feeling perhaps aggrieved or vengeful or hurt.
“It’s a fascinating area of law and you can genuinely help people.”
An emerging trend for Mr Greer’s firm has been an increase in cases with an overseas angle.
“We tend to be seeing a bit more in the international side of things,” he said.
“It’s more of families who are trying to decide or can’t agree on where a child should live.
“And helping people get back to Australia legally can be hard.
“We’ve had some tragic ones where kids have been forced to go back overseas.”
Ms Woods said the complexity of divorce work had increased as issues such as mental health and drug and alcohol dependence became more prominent.
An as traditional family roles differed, so had divorce outcomes, she said.
“When I first started, most children lived … predominantly with their mothers and quite a standard arrangement would be that dads saw the children every alternate weekend,” Ms Woods said.
“Of course, people have lived less traditional lives. Mothers have returned to the workforce as fathers are more available to parent hands-on, and so that has produced a different sets of outcomes.”
As a result, adjustments in favour of the spouse in the inferior financial position along with child-support payments are less generous due to how children are shared between their parents, and also legislative changes.
“It’s an area where politicians seem compelled to make change and no doubt they have their constituents lobbying them all the time,” Ms Woods said.
Both lawyers, who are listed among this year’s Doyles Guide of leading divorce lawyers in Brisbane, agreed the changing perception of domestic violence had had a big impact on family law over the years.
“I think the biggest challenge is the positive change in relationships and domestic violence and how that’s going to work through,” Mr Greer said.
“One of the big changes is going to be in dealing with a division of financial resources between parties to a relationship; there will be an increased emphasis that allows for DV to be taken into account.
“I am concerned that could cause more aggravation in disputes between parties.
“It should be looked at, but I don’t know how necessarily that will be handled by courts, litigants and lawyers.”
Ms Woods specialistrce lawyers received ongoing training on how best to ask questions around DV because both sexes could be reluctant to discuss the issue.
“Unless you really do delve very deeply, you’re not going to get the information,” she said. “You don’t want to be suggestive of it either.
“You want a clear and accurate depiction from them. But you sometimes have to ask just the right question.”
Both also agreed it was best to seek specialist legal advice when navigating a divorce or risk ending up with a “dud deal”.
“Someone could be led down the garden path or told ‘this is the deal, take it or leave it” and I have to tell my client this is a dud deal, don’t do it,” Mr Greer said.
And it’s not always obvious what might become the subject of a bitter ownership dispute.
“One couple as a hobby had made Paddle Pop-stick statues so there was a big fight about who would get those,” Ms Woods said.
Latest figures from the Queensland government Statistician’s Office show divorces in the state continued their downward trend.
In 2022, there were 11,410 divorces granted in Queensland, a decrease of 2,065 (15.3 per cent) from 2021.
In 2021, when Covid was in full swing, there was a sharp jump from 2020 levels in the number of divorces.
The crude divorce rate in Queensland in 2022 was 2.7 divorces for each 1000 people, which was 0.5 for each 1000 lower than the figure recorded in 2012.
The crude divorce rate in Queensland in 2021 was 3.2 for each 1000.
Doyles Leading Family and Divorce Lawyers – Brisbane, 2024
PRE-EMINENT
Damien Greer, Damien Greer Lawyers
An accredited family law specialist, a mediator and an arbitrator with extensive knowledge and expertise in all areas of family law, Mr Greer has practised for more than 40 years in the field. He has a particular interest in complex financial and property settlements and international family law matters.
He was invited to become a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers in 1996, being one of the longest standing fellows in Australia.
Rachael Murray, Mills Oakley
Having worked solely in family and relationship law since 2002, Ms Murray is a partner at Mills Oakley and co-manages the firm’s Brisbane family and relationship law practice.
She has expertise and interest in cases involving parties’ interests in corporate and trust structures, and relationship planning by use of binding financial agreements.
In her work as a parenting co-ordinator, Ms Murray coaches parents in post-separation communication strategies and conflict resolution.
Tony Phillips, Phillips Family Law
Managing director of Phillips Family Law, the accredited family law specialist with more than 40 years’ experience, has been recognised by his peers for consecutive years since 2012 in the Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession. With specialist experience in property/asset division, particularly in intricate trust and corporate structuring, large rural properties, farming ventures, businesses and acting for third parties, Mr Phillips’s niche is advising in complex and net high worth property divisions.
Geoff Sinclair, Barry Nilsson
Appointed as a part-time commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s review of the family law system, Mr Sinclair is an accredited family law specialist who has practised exclusively in this jurisdiction for more than 35 years.
He has a particular interest in child-abduction law, including its international aspects, and has published widely on the topic, developing a distinguished reputation, both in Australia and overseas, as an expert in the area.
He has previously chaired the World Congress of Family Law and Children’s Rights and the family law section of the Law Council of Australia.
James Steel, Barry Nilsson
Mr Steel is the chairman of the Queensland Family Law Specialist Accreditation Committee, and the immediate past president of Queensland Family Law Practitioners Association.
A principal in his firm’s family law team, the accredited family law specialist specialises in advising married and de facto couples. His areas of practice include complex financial cases, including matters involving a large number of corporate entities and trusts; financial agreements, including prenuptial agreements; parenting disputes; spouse maintenance; and child-support matters.
Geoff Wilson, HopgoodGanim
Mr Wilson is a partner at HopgoodGanim, where he co-manages its family and relationship law practice. He is an accredited family law specialist in areas including international family and relationship law, relationship agreements, prenuptial agreements, representation of third parties and high net worth individuals, trusts and property disputes and dispute resolution (particularly arbitration). He is president of the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
LEADING
Deborah Awyzio, DA Family Lawyers
Appearing regularly in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Family Court of Australia and the Children’s Court, Ms Awyzio is also on the panel of Independent Children’s Lawyers.
She is an accredited family law specialist and has more than 20 years of exclusive experience in family law and her case work has included The Hague Convention on international custody disputes.
Fiona Caulley, Phillips Family Law
A past president of the Family Law Practitioners’ Association of Queensland, Ms Caulley has expertise in complex parenting matters, including interstate or international relocation, and was previously appointed to the panel of Independent Children’s Lawyer.
An accredited family law specialist with more than 20 years’ experience, Ms Caulley has been recognised in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession as a leading family and divorce lawyer in Brisbane since 2018.
Kirstie Day, Day Family Law
Ms Day has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of family law, including complex financial and parenting matters. She previously served on the Queensland Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Family Law Advisory Committee and the Queensland Law Society’s Family Law Committee.
The managing director of Day Family Law, Ms Day is an accredited family law specialist, a member of the Queensland Association of Collaborative Practitioners and sits on the board of St Rita’s College Brisbane.
Genevieve Dee, Lander & Rogers
Partner at Landers & Rogers, Ms Dee is an accredited family law specialist who has practised exclusively in family and relationship law for 15 years. She is sought after for her expertise in complex property matters, including those involving taxation issues, trusts, manufacturing companies, rural issues, intergenerational wealth and family businesses, and complex corporate structures. Ms Dee was a finalist for the Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist of the Year in 2019, and has been a contributing author to the Family Law Master Guide.
Lisa Foley, DA Family Lawyers
Managing director at DA Family Lawyers, Lisa Foley has worked exclusively in family law and child protection law for 18 years. She was actively involved in the well-publicised “Italian Sisters” international child abduction case and is a board member of the Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland. She has appeared in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Family Court of Australia, the Children’s Court and Magistrates Courts and is a qualified collaborative law practitioner.
Kieran McCarthy, Naughton McCarthy
An accredited family law specialist with more than 25 years’ experience, Ms McCarthy has acted for clients in and from the UK, New Zealand, the Philippines, India, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and the UAE with an eye towards overseas trusts.
A director at Naughton McCarthy, he also sits on the board of trustees for Edmund Rice Education Australia and is an established speaker regarding the two world wars on the after-dinner circuit.
Alexandra Moles, Mills Oakley
Ms Moles is a Mills Oakley partner and co-manages its Brisbane family and relationship law practice.
With almost 20 years’ experience practising exclusively in family law, Ms Moles has a strong parenting practice with a particular interest in high-conflict cases, coercive control, personality disorders, psychiatric issues, alienation and drug and alcohol abuse. She is also experienced in mediation, child-inclusive mediation, and litigation about children. She is a member of the Family Law Practitioners’ Association and the Child Protection Practitioners Association of Queensland.
Alison Ross, HopgoodGanim
Ms Ross is a partner of HG’s family and relationship law practice who specialises in complex property and other financial matters arising from relationship breakdowns. The accredited family law specialist and accredited arbitrator also advises on international family law matters, such as international financial issues and international matters relating to children, including relocation and child abduction.
She has been a leading family lawyer (high-value & complex property matters) in the Doyles Guide since 2022.
Scott Wedgwood, Barry Nilsson
A principal in Barry Nilsson’s family law team, Mr Wedgwood is an accredited family law specialist advising on all family law issues, with particular expertise in complex property settlements, especially those involving difficult taxation issues. Recognised in the 2016 to 2024 editions of Doyle’s Guide as a leading family & divorce lawyer and a recommended lawyer for high-value & complex property matters in 2020 to 2024, he has practised for more than 30 years and is a member of the family law section of the Law Council of Australia, the Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland, and the Tax Institute of Australia.
Recommended
Kate Cherry, Cherry Family Law
Sarah Cleeland, Sarah Cleeland Family Lawyers
Hayley Cunningham, Family Law Group
Thea Davies, Barry Nilsson
Shannon Daykin, Daykin Family Law
Adrian Dore, Bell Dore
Kay Feeney, Feeney Family Law
Brett Hartley, Hartley Family Law
Amy Honan, Honan Family Law
Belinda Jeffrey, Phillips Family Law
Margie Kruger, Ryan Kruger
Lisa Lahey, HopgoodGanim
Naomi Lewis, Lewis & Trovas
James Naughton, Naughton McCarthy
Louise O’Reilly, O’Reilly Shaw Family Lawyers
Olivia Phillips, Phillips Family Law
Erin Shaw, O’Reilly Shaw Family Lawyers
Deano Simonidis, Simonidis Steel
Judy Stewart, Stewart Family Law
Tarah Tosh, Michael Lynch Family Lawyers
Justine Woods, Cooper Grace Ward
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