Australian Travel

Because it is a growing area, there are many new residents in the Mackay region that are choosing a Mackay lawyer*, solicitor or law firm for the first time. Choosing a solicitor to complete the conveyancing to help you purchase a house, to advise you about starting a business or to prepare legal documents such as wills or enduring powers-of-attorney, can be a baffling and stressful time.

When you are needing a Mackay solicitor, lawyer or law firm you ought to seek these attributes:

Happy customers
For most individuals it is impossible to compare the quality of legal services provided by one Mackay solicitor/lawyer or another. Unless you are a regular user of a similar kind of legal service you are unlikely to be able to compare different law firms. What you can do is look for a Mackay lawyer who is proud of their past performance provides references from previous clients. If they have quite a number of testimonials it tells you two things. Firstly, that they have plenty of happy clients and secondly, that they take the time and trouble to discover what clients think of their service. They understand that theirs is a service-oriented business.

Local knowledge
A Mackay lawyer or solicitor ought to have good local knowledge and demonstrated experience in helping other people in the area. Find out if the firm has worked on local developments or firms with established conveyancing sections that will have built up a valuable amount of “inside knowledge” about the property market, local agents and banks that will make a big difference to the ease and efficiency of your transaction.

Breadth of services
While most people only need a lawyer occasionally, it is wise to find a Mackay solicitor, lawyer or law firm which can provide you with the full range of services without you needing to seek alternate providers. Finding a firm that can provide conveyancing, estate planning, disputes, business services and even workplace or employment issues, means you can rely on one firm that will meet all your legal needs. Law firms value clients that use a range of services, and will often provide services more cheaply if they have provided other work for you in the past.

*In Queensland a person with legal qualifications was traditionally referred to as a solicitor while a person who “had standing” to represent you in court was called a barrister. More recently the general term lawyer has become more widespread and can be used to describe either of these types of legal practitioner. In some other states of Australia the conveyancing process (the legal process required to transfer ownership of house) can be undertaken by licenced conveyancers. This is not the case in Queensland where conveyancing must be undertaken by a solicitor/lawyer.

John Gray is a practising solicitor and marketing consultant who has worked with leading Mackay law firms. If you need a Mackay solicitor or Mackay lawyer contact John Gray for a recommendation.