Principal
In this firm there is only me, Michael Brown. If you engage my services then you will be dealing with me and nobody else, so let me tell you a bit about myself.
I graduated in law from Sydney University with honours in 1989.
I began working as a solicitor in 1990 and I have been practising primarily in family law ever since.
In 1997 I established this legal practice and at one point I employed 4 solicitors and 13 staff. Nowadays, I prefer to work on my own and concentrate on my clients rather than administration and management.
I have acted for thousands of people in their family law matters, which has included property and financial matters, parenting (custody and access), child support and divorce cases. In most of those cases we have been able to resolve matters without going to court, which is almost always our “plan A”.
In many hundreds of cases I have attended with my clients at mediation and resolved matters that way. In the majority of cases where we have ended up going to court, I have usually appeared personally as the advocate for my clients through all stages of the proceedings. This includes appearing at the court hearing and, where necessary, at appeal hearings in the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia.
I have appeared as solicitor advocate in some of the most important family law cases in the last 20 years. This is a little unusual as most solicitors will not appear as advocates and contract barristers to appear instead. Barristers are often pompous asses who charge too much. So I offer my clients a cost-effective alternative.
I have also written academic articles over the years, some of which have been quoted by the family courts in their judgements.
Apart from family law I also act in wills and estates matters as well as local Court criminal cases.