9 Mackay Whitsunday lawyers you should know about
From criminal to commercial, family to personal injuries, these are some of the men and women helping to shape the legal system across the region.
Mackay
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From representing a man accused of killing another at the Andergrove Tavern to taking on Mackay Regional Council over proposed investor rates, these are some of the top lawyers across Mackay and Whitsundays.
Antoinette Morton
Criminal law
“Everyone deserves good representation. Everyone deserves someone who is going to be their best regardless of the matter before them. That’s why I stay doing what I do.”
Hard working and highly respected are two words that accurately describe Fisher Dore criminal solicitor Antoinette Morton.
The mum of three was a late bloomer as a lawyer, initially completing an arts degree and working as a sponsorship officer before she began studying law through QUT in 2001 when her eldest daughter was nine months old.
Her original plan was to work in the not for profit sector, but she fell in love with criminal law during work experience while studying.
“You’re often dealing with multitudes of trauma. A lot of your clients have deep embedded trauma in their histories, and then of course their criminal offending causes trauma as well,” she said.
“That’s one of the hardest things to deal with … vulnerable individuals.”
After moving to Mackay in 2009 Ms Morton established her own firm and the only criminal-centric law firm in the region before merging with Fisher Dore in 2017.
Now Ms Morton splits her time between Mackay and Brisbane.
One of Ms Morton’s most prominent cases involved security guard Peter Carr, who was charged with manslaughter after a man died at the Andergrove Tavern in June 2011.
Mr Carr, who was exonerated years later, had been involved in an incident that claimed the life of Joel Namoa, who had been ejected from the venue.
He was arrested about a month after the death on the back of a pathologist’s report.
But in his 2014 supreme court trial the justice directed the jury to find him not guilty.
Tragically about two weeks after he was acquitted, Mr Carr died in a truck crash on the Peak Downs Highway.
“I can’t believe he got his life back for eight days,” she said.
“I specifically remember looking at the jury and there was this lady … and her face just broke into this joyful smile and she looked so relieved. Her expression really stood out for me.
“In that moment, in that courtroom, it felt very right.”
Ms Morton also represented a woman charged with setting fire to her former boyfriend’s house and later acquitted of arson.
Another memorable moment for Ms Morton was when a former youth offender, who had completely turned his life around, sought her out nine years after the last time he had appeared in court to tell her how well he was doing.
“That one stays with me,” she said.
“You don’t get people coming back and letting you know how well they’re doing. That was really special … (and) those rewards are so significant.
“You’ve given people an opportunity to become the person that they had always wanted to be.”
She has also been involved in a number of coronial inquests.
“There is a lot of variants to what we do,” she said.
Gene Paterson
Personal injuries/negligence law
When revered Mackay solicitor Gene Paterson was growing up, his older sister would walk behind him, pat him on the back and say “when you leave school you’re going to be a lawyer”.
It was the first step in what would become a long and respected career spanning more than 40 years.
But on finishing year 12, Mr Paterson said he did not have enough points to study law.
“My sister insisted I repeat grade 12 and be a lawyer,” the 70 year old said.
And he did, before studying law at University of Queensland “in the days when going to university was free”.
Mr Paterson was admitted as a solicitor in February 1976, did two years as an articled clerk in Brisbane before moving to Mackay starting with Macrossan and Amiet Solicitors in 1978 “at a time when they had three partners”.
“I had no idea what lawyers did until I started working in an office,” Mr Paterson said.
“And as a country solicitor you didn’t specialise, you did crime, you did small debts courts work, and then you did other court work or … house conveyancing. These days people specialise.”
Among his earlier cases Mr Paterson said he represented police officer Brian Marlin who was charged as a result of the Fitzgerald Inquiry into alleged police corruption.
“That was the most stressful matter that I ever acted in. It was a criminal matter where we had a trial in the district court in Townsville,” he said.
“And he was not convicted. And when he wasn’t convicted all the jurors got out of the … box and hugged him.”
Mr Paterson said all the people involved in the investigation “broke all the rules” and as a result Mr Marlin was not convicted.
“Because the people giving evidence against him admitted they were liars,” he said.
“It’s very hard to prove something beyond reasonable doubt when you’re relying on people who admit that they’re liars.”
Mr Paterson’s expertise areas include personal injury, dependency, industrial deafness, asbestos and total and permanent disability claims, professional negligence, as well as wills and estate administration.
But he said the bulk of his work involved personal injuries claims.
“When I came to Mackay the mining industry was just starting and there were numerous people injured in mine accidents, and still are, and the deaths still are occurring,” Mr Paterson said.
“When you’re acting for people in matrimonial matters, there are no winners. When you’re acting for someone who’s been seriously injured in a mining accident, they never get fully compensated but they might get a large sum of money which will help them in life.
“And it gives you some satisfaction to be successful for people. It gives you some … personal reward in the sense that I’ve got a purpose in life, I’m helping people.”
Mr Paterson said every case always fell back on the facts.
“To get the facts right is the most important thing. And if you get the facts right the judges (or lawyers) will work it out,” he said, adding the majority of cases settled without needing a courtroom trial.
He praised the team helping him and said he enjoyed passing on his experience to younger lawyers, which over the years has included this three daughters.
Two – Charlotte and Brigid – were lawyers at the firm, while Georgina lived and worked in Townsville but had previously also worked at Macrossan and Amiet.
Mr Paterson said he was heading towards retirement.
“But I don’t know when because I’ve got too much work to do,” he said.
Greg Smart
Commercial litigation accredited specialist
Astute litigator Greg Smart decided he wanted to be a lawyer in Grade 4.
“I think it’s just because I’m an argumentative type and I enjoy a good debate,” the Wallace and Wallace partner said.
“I’m a very lucky person in that I’m literally doing the job I’ve always wanted to do when I was a kid.”
He graduated from the University of Queensland in July 2004, and later furthered his skill set by becoming an accredited specialist in commercial litigation in 2012 (highest achiever award) – one of only about 35 in the state.
“Which means I basically get involved in any kind of dispute that involves the courts that isn’t family law, personal injuries or crime,” he said.
“It’s probably one of the broadest areas you can practise in.”
One of the most infamous cases Mr Smart was involved representing a group of rental property owners taking on Mackay Regional Council in 2013 after it decided to introduce an investor rates category.
It equated to about a $300 slug for these ratepayers and there were about 150 clients involved. It went to the supreme court.
“It was an interesting case for a couple of reasons. One is that a lot of other councils had already introduced this and in particular Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Gold Coast,” he said.
“It was going to cost the south east corner something like $230m a year in lost revenue if they had to give up their investor rates category.”
There was also a concern if it was deemed an illegal rating system, the council would have to back pay the previously collected rates.
“And some of them had been doing it for 10 years,” he said.
“It was potentially a couple of billion dollar problem.”
The group sensationally won its case in the supreme court, with council appealing the decision.
But one night “I think about 7.30pm” a piece of legislation was amended changing the Local Government Act to state councils had the right to rate on this basis, he said.
“We had an impressive win but ultimately it didn’t change much unfortunately,” he said.
Another stand out case involved a group of cane growers unhappy with Mackay Sugar over the $2 levy to help repair the mills.
“We ended up with probably 90 to 100 cane farmers banding together who didn’t want to pay the levy,” he said.
“The sugar cane community was pretty evenly divided among people who were vehemently against it and others who recognised it as a necessary evil.”
Becoming an accredited specialist an intense assessment that involved a mock trial, three-hour written exam and an oral component.
The pass rate in his field was about 20-30 per cent, he said.
“Because it is so broad … in my area of law, any piece of legislation can come up at any time and you spend a lot more time with some of the more esoteric areas of law,” he said.
He also sits on Queensland Law Society commercial litigation specialist accreditation advisory committee assessing other hopefuls.
A “downside” to his area of law, he said, was that litigation was expensive – so there was a real skill in finding a cost effective solution to complicated problems.
And as such often the smaller cases wound up being the most interesting and challenging.
“People will argue about a $1.2m (problem) because it’s $1.2m and sometimes it’s pretty cut and dry but you’re arguing about it because it’s a lot of money,” he said.
“Whereas is someone comes to you with a problem that’s worth ($20,000) to them … and a day in court can cost upwards of $10,000, you’ve got to really manage those costs and it becomes a real challenge to deliver a result for the client that’s going to be practical and leave them better off.
“There’s no good me charging them $20,000 to try and recover $20,000.”
Mr Smart has worked in Mackay since 2005, minus an 18-month stint in Brisbane during which he practised as a barrister and has been at Wallace and Wallace since 2011.
He also is a member of Sunrise Rotary Club of Mackay and on both the Mackay Benevolent Society and Innovative Disability Employment and Liaison Placements boards.
Elizabeth Smith
Criminal law
She has graced both sides of the bar table in a magistrates court proceeding, but for Whitsunday solicitor Elizabeth Smith, criminal law was something she “fell into”.
Having worked in prosecution and private practice, Mrs Smith said she chose law because she thought it would be something she would enjoy.
“It’s much more interesting to practise than it is to study,” she said.
Ms Smith graduated from Bond University in 2007 and was admitted in December 2008. Raised in Proserpine, she has based her career in the Mackay Whitsunday region first at R.J Taylor Law, then police prosecutions and now as a senior associate with PD Law.
Working in a country town firm, the lawyers cover all areas of law.
Ms Smith said when she started her first job criminal cases were among the matters she cut her teeth with “and I found that I quite enjoyed it”.
“People’s lives are interesting … the stories are (varied) … there is no same day,” she said.
“And their story is always relevant to the circumstance they find themselves in, and I find that interesting.
“(There could be) the same situation with 10 different people and you’ll have 10 different outcomes because … each person reacts differently based on their on world view, their own background.”
Ms Smith said she believed the magistrates court was the most dynamic court and in her tenure she had come face-to-face with some colourful characters, especially during her role as a prosecutor.
“There was a guy who ran the defence for a speeding ticket,” she said, adding he had argued there was an emergent reason for travelling over the limit.
“He had to go to the toilet and he brought his soiled underwear to court for evidence.”
Another case involved a young girl caught possessing a small amount of illegal drugs. “Nothing particularly serious,” she said.
The magistrate offered sage advice about not doing drugs and asked what she had learned from the whole ordeal.
“She looked him in the eye and said, ‘don’t get caught’,” Ms Smith laughed.
Being a prosecutor taught her how to work “efficiently and pragmatically” often having charge of a huge case load.
In both prosecutions and defence the law had to be applied in the same way, but in private practice she said “the law has to be applied in accordance with the instructions that you’ve got”.
Among the challenges was balancing all the different aspects of each case including managing client relationships, the court process “which is its own beast itself” and any lawyer/prosecution conferencing, she said.
“And you can’t guarantee outcomes,” Ms Smith.
“You can say with some level of certainty ‘I think this is what you’re likely to get’ or ‘I think you’ve got good prospects’. But you can never be certain … there are too many variables.”
Ms Smith said criminal lawyers were also often already working from the back foot.
“People don’t want to be coming to see you. No one is ever happy to be coming into my office,” she said, adding there were those cases that left an impact.
“You’re dealing with people on the worst day of their life … whether a defendant or a victim of some description. Helping them through that can be quite rewarding.”
Mark McGrath
Commercial law
Legal stalwart Mark McGrath might have been given a nudge towards his career path, but the McKays director hasn’t looked back.
“I actually wanted to be a landscape architect before Jamie Durie made it sexy,” he said.
But his father had highlighted he had the marks to study law, so he did.
“It’s been a great ride ever since,” he said.
Mr McGrath, who recently celebrated 25 years admission, is a fifth generation Mackay local and said there had been a “William McGrath” in the region for about 130 years.
He studied at Queensland University of Technology and was admitted as a solicitor in January 1996. He has been at McKays Solicitors since July 2003.
In his career he has been the Urban Development Institute of Australia president for Mackay Isaac Whitsundays for almost 10 years off and on.
His passion lies in “representing the development industry taking on government, state government departments”.
“Our current housing crisis and those sorts of issues in Mackay have … been dear to my heart for a long time,” he said, adding he had also previously sat on the former Regional Development Economic Corporation board.
“I’ve always had a passion for development and I’ve always had a passion for council issues … they’re the bread and butter things of all three levels of government that affect most of us daily.
“Trying to specialise in property development and advocating for people that act or have issues with council has been a key part of what I’ve focused on for the past 25 years.
“(As) 20th largest city in Australia, we’re doing well but we could be doing better.”
He is also a notary public, meaning he can witness international documents and he was constantly surprised by how many nationalities he comes across through this area of his work.
“India, Malaysia, Chile, Afghanistan, Nigeria, just all over the world,” Mr McGrath said.
“Mackay is more multicultural than people give it credit for and I think it makes Mackay an interesting place to be with its broad range of talents.”
Mr McGrath said his father, who was a Whitsunday councillor for 20 years and in real estate, influenced his career path.
“I had that background in property and farming and local government type issues,” he said.
Mr McGrath has been involved in a number of community groups over the years including stints as Mackay Rugby Union judiciary chairman, Pioneer Swim Club chairman, Holy Spirit College board member
He is a founding and former director of the Trudy Crowley Foundation Lt and remains, as does McKays, strong supporters of the Trudy Crowley Foundation Ltd.
“I totally believe in the philosophy of give to where you live,” Mr McGrath said.
“We have to look after our own here.”
James Bailey
Family law accredited specialist
James Bailey has found his niche in what can often be one of the most emotional areas of law.
At a pivotal moment in high school when teenagers were deciding what career path to take, Mr Bailey said someone suggested law.
“I took that on board … started studying and discovered I liked it, particularly the family law space,” he said.
“It’s all about the most crucial and central relationships in your life and when they come unstuck … it’s a fairly momentous life event for anybody that goes through it.
“Everybody deals with that in a different way, and you get to interact with people going through varying emotions and you’re there to guide and help them through that process.”
Mr Bailey graduated from University of Queensland in 2002, followed by two years as an articled clerk at Wallace and Wallace in Mackay before his admission in 2005.
“And still here,” Mr Bailey said.
As well as being a partner at the firm Mr Bailey also went on to achieve his specialist accreditation in family law.
“Certainly it was the most challenging thing I had done since I was at uni,” he said.
Mr Bailey has also sat on the Queensland Law Society committee that sets and marks the assessment to become an accredited specialist.
In family law Mr Bailey said there were cases that “really resonate with you”.
“With some family law clients who have more difficult issues … you tend to have quite a long and in some ways quite an intense relationship with clients,” he said.
“So people do have an impact.”
Untangling sometimes messy property settlements where one party may have tried to hide assets or high conflict parenting cases involving children, Mr Bailey said these cases also tended to be memorable.
“Emotion drives a lot of decision making for people who are separated,” he said, adding understanding the impact of decisions was crucial part.
“Some of those cases really resonate with you and you don’t forget the client’s names, even client’s from 18 years ago are still very memorable.
There was one thing that kept him passionate about the family law.
“Every case different,” he said.
“There is no two cases that are the same.
“I find people inherently interesting and as a family lawyer you get to know people quite well and sometimes not always in their best moment.
“And you really do see people change through the experience. They often come to you with a significant amount of stress and a problem they can’t solve and by the end there’s some level of resolution.”
Outside work Mr Bailey is also a board member on both St Francis Xavier Mackay School and Mackay Children’s Contact Service, and a volunteer at Mackay Community Legal Centre.
Suzanne Brown
Business/commercial law
A love of English, being analytical and, “if I’m being bluntly honest”, Elle Woods were among the driving forces behind Suzanne Brown’s desire to become a lawyer.
Despite the movie Legally Blonde being well known for its comedic value, Mrs Brown said “I think it inspired a new generation of female lawyers to step up to the plate” in what was once a very male dominated career path.
Mrs Brown who has previously been named one of the 30 under 30 Best Lawyers in Australia – and the first to win two of the 12 categories in the history of the awards – studied for her degree externally at the Queensland University of Technology from 2004 to 2009.
At the same time she worked full time at McKays Solicitors, where she is now a director of the firm and the only business law accredited specialist in Mackay (and one of only 23 in the state).
Mrs Brown said she had initially wanted to be a criminal prosecutor, which is what she had once told the Daily Mercury as a year 12 graduate.
But that changed when she was hired as an articled clerk under the guidance of commercial partner (and one of the founding partners at McKays) Andrew Coates, who she described as a “brilliant” and inspiring solicitor.
“I did five-year articles of clerkship under him, which is like an apprenticeship at law … while I studied full time,” she said.
“It was working with Andrew that made me become a commercial lawyer. At uni I actually found commercial law really boring to study … but on the job I really loved all the wheeling and dealing and transactional type (work).”
Her career has been varied and includes being the lead legal counsel on the largest public/private alliance ever to be done in local government.
“I act for some very large ASX listed mining companies, I act for a number of local governments, I act for some very successful businesses,” she said.
“One of the really exciting things is I’ve set business up for people … where you set it up from scratch, do all the structuring and then in a few years time you look at how that business had grown and expanded and it’s just really exciting and amazing to be part of.
“I as a lawyer get really invested in my clients and all their matters and their businesses.”
With more than 15 years in law, her passion for her job is obvious.
“Everything I touch is so different,” she said.
“There’s a lot of pressure, and adrenaline, sometimes you’re doing massive deals and there’s all nighters … negotiating intricate points, and you pull it off.”
Mrs Brown praised her colleagues and her team from senior lawyers to secretarial support.
“I have probably the best team I’ve ever had working with me at the moment,” she said.
Her current focus has been on building the firm and building the next generation of partners.
“I’m really focused on training and developing my staff,” she said.
Outside her work in law, she is a member on the Mackay Hospital and Health Service board, is chair of the audit and risk committee and is a Resources Centre of Excellence board member.
Brad Shanahan
Personal injuries law
Brad Shanahan actually met the best man at his wedding through his work as a personal injuries lawyer.
With a career now spanning 35 year, the Wallace and Wallace director laughed he chose to study law because “I was really good at English, and I wasn’t very good at maths”.
He completed his articles of clerkship in 1985, was admitted in 1991 when he also moved to Mackay and gained his specialist accreditation in personal injuries law in 1998.
“You’re dealing with people … like the breadwinner or mum or dad have been seriously hurt at work or in a car accident and they just really need help,” he said.
“I’ve always enjoyed that personal interaction with the person and just trying to help them through that difficult time.
“When something goes wrong there’s a lot of shock. Then there’s a period of disbelief and then it sets in that there’s a permanent problem and therefore their future is jeopardised.”
Mr Shanahan said those injured suffered stress and anxiety and many decompensate into psychological issues.
“I try and put them on the right path to get help,” he said.
Less than one per cent of all personal injuries claims actually go to court, he said.
“Because they’re all subject to mediation and conciliation,” he said.
“Back when I first started every case went to … litigation and often trial, back in the 90s when everything went to court.”
These days most cases were settled long before.
“It’s was a lot less stressful for … the client,” he said.
“Because there’s this whole process of mediation and discussion, and round table meetings with the insurance companies.
“Most claims we can settle well before court. Everybody wins that way.”
There was a real reward in helping those who had effectively had the life they knew stripped away and through his work Mr Shanahan had made lifelong friends.
“A lot of people can recover to a certain extent and it’s very rewarding when, it might take a year, it might take two years, that person gets back to work and things are back to normality,” he said.
“It’s very rewarding, that’s why I’ve done it for so long.
“The best man at my wedding was a former client.”
The man had been badly injured when the Caneland Central car park was being created in the mid 90s.
“We became friends after his claim was finished, kept in touch and he was the best man at my wedding in 2019,” Mr Shanahan said.
In another instance, also in the mid 90s, Mr Shanahan acted for a group of backpackers who had been on a bus travelling to Airlie Beach.
“The bus swerved to miss a kangaroo and ran off the road,” he said.
“I acted for 14 of those backpackers that suffered a whole series of terrible injuries because the bus rolled and a lot of them weren’t wearing seatbelts which was unfortunate.”
Mr Shanahan said it was an interesting case because his clients were from the UK, Canada, Poland and Spain.
“We had to get all these people assessed all over the world with different doctors and translation of reports … so we had to get interpreters,” he said.
Mr Shanahan also sits on the board of Headspace Mackay and the Directorship of Anglicare North Queensland.
Nicole Cullen
Family and criminal law
A love of English and legal studies sparked Nicole Cullen’s drive to become a lawyer.
While at boarding school at Rockhampton she said he was able to attend some criminal trials through her legal studies class.
“That’s probably why I ended up in the area of law that I’m in,” she said.
Ms Cullen studied at James Cook University and Queensland University of Technology. She has lived in Mackay since 2000, first working as an articled clerk before being admitted in 2002.
She has worked at McKays Solicitors since October 2005 and is now a director of the practice, managing the family and criminal law teams.
“I’ve done a mix of family and crime, but probably for the past 10 years it’s been predominantly family (law),” she said.
“They both fall within the areas of litigation, which involved a lot of negotiation, mediation and advocacy.
“I’ve always had that interest in family and crime and even now thought I’m not doing as much criminal law work in practise, I also sit a community member on the Parole Board (Queensland).”
In this role, which Ms Cullen has held for about four years, she helped determine if prisoners should be granted parole.
Her work in family law is varied and involved all areas from children being abducted or located to primary carer disputes to property settlements.
“You could have various companies and trusts intertwined. Usually you work with the accountant and the client and just work towards … an agreement. That’s where mediation fits in,” she said.
Ms Cullen is also a nationally accredited mediator and accredited family dispute resolution practitioner and can mediate on any topic.
In this role Ms Cullen said she was approached by both lawyers acting for clients and community members.
“I enjoy helping separated couples to resolve their matter, as quickly as they can and hopefully without the need to apply to the court or to go through the litigation process,” she said.
There is a skill and finesse centred around negotiation and often involved guiding clients through the mediation process.
“I really do enjoy assisting clients through that emotional process too. It can be really, really stressful for most people who come in for family law advice,” Ms Cullen said.
“A lot of people don’t know the path that they should take or how to resolve the matter or what they’re entitled to.”
Ms Cullen was also heavily involved in training the graduates recruited each year with each rotated across all teams at the Mackay office.
As a mentor she said she enjoyed helping the newest legal minds navigate their first job and figure out which area of law they want to end up in.
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