I met with some of the lawyers at SWS who are now my business partners and they were thinking about starting a commercial law firm.  Back then I couldn’t have known we would become one of Australia’s leading regional law firms but I could see it was an opportunity to be part of something unique.   

We handle anything from running a seamless conveyance to a protracted easement negotiation. We’re known for tackling complex, “out of the box” land and water related matters.

Renewable energy projects. Energy innovation is identified in RDA Hunter’s Smart Specialisation Strategy as a growth area in the Hunter region.  The technology is developing rapidly as is the demand for novel legal structures that can make it accessible to customers and attractive to venture capital investment. We’ve done some interesting leasing/commercial work in that area which is of strong interest to students (and clients).

Law school is a long slog and it can seem very theoretical. This is a chance to see what the subjects they have enjoyed at Uni are like in practice. It’s also gives them a feel for our firm’s culture.

We take the clerkship process extremely seriously because we are recruiting our future partners. 

We are the only Newcastle firm that participated in the formal clerkship program this year. The national/global firms engage in the process to get a head-start on recruiting top students. We want Hunter students to know they have a genuine alternative and don’t have to move away. Our offering allows them to test us out.  We have found over the last five years that our summer clerk and graduate lawyers are excited to confirm that they can have it all – the Newcastle lifestyle plus the complex legal work their peers may travel to Sydney to experience.