Advocate Lawyers

Our Family Law Philosophy

You know your relationship better than we do. Our role is to listen to you and then provide frank practical advice so that you can decide on the best way forward. We keep you focused on the big picture while helping you through the immediate issues.

Emotions are heightened at the end of a relationship and direct communication between the parties can cause discussions to escalate into a dispute. This is where lawyers come in. While some disagreements will never settle, the right type of lawyer should try to prevent issues from escalating. Even where people disagree, it does not help the situation when lawyers start writing aggressive letters with no purpose.

We pride ourselves on representing your best interests. We will not escalate matters where there is no need and we approach issues assuming they can be resolved unless proven otherwise. If there is a dispute, we conduct proceedings in a way you can be proud of, avoiding disputes about the petty issues that ultimately won’t affect the outcome but presenting your case clear and confidently. Representing you in this way ultimately saves you money by not wasting time on issues that don’t need attention. It also avoids creating disputes where there aren’t any.

If you have children, we recognise that you may have to communicate with your ex-partner about your children for many years after proceedings are resolved. Avoiding a hostile communication style, even where the parties disagree on most things, generally makes life easier in the long run.

Legal Advice For Employers

We can assist with drafting employment agreements, policies and procedures to ensure that your business experiences a smooth transition when changing staff or growing. Disputes cost money and your employment agreement can be the difference between an amicable separation or a dispute between you and your former employee.

Clear employment agreements, policies and procedures assist with protecting you from litigation for issues such as unfair dismissal or work health & safety. They can also stop ex-employees opening the same business next door through restraint of trade clauses. Confidentiality clauses can continue once an employee leaves your employ which provides extra comfort and security when staff move on.

There are also a number of employment law considerations under the Fair Work Act when dealing with staff entitlements, underperformance, misconduct or inappropriate behaviour. We can walk you through how to make your processes fair and avoid successful challenges by staff following staff disciplinary action or termination.

If you receive notice of an application for unfair or unlawful dismissal by an employee after termination then you should contact us as soon as possible to ensure that you meet all time limits for a reply.

If you are drafting employment agreements or considering taking any action that involves employees, we are here to help protect your business.

Debt Collection

As a business owner, there is nothing more frustrating than chasing fees owed to you. If you have attempted to recover a debt owed to you with no success, we can provide debt recovery assistance. We have fixed fee options for small claims debt recovery so that it won’t break the bank. We can send letters of demand and follow up with filing a claim in the Magistrate’s Court if necessary. We can also enforce any orders obtained through the Court.