Goulburn’s largest law firm Galland Elder Lulham has merged with Australia’s reigning Regional Law Firm of the Year, RMB Lawyers, to give its clients an expanded range of legal services.
The newly merged firm started operating from July 1, 2016 under the name RMB Galland Elder Lawyers from the existing premises in Montague Street, Goulburn. It is also retaining and expanding its services in Braidwood.
RMB Lawyers, which started in Wollongong in 1885, is the largest regional law firm in NSW and was named Regional Law Firm of the Year at the 2015 Australia Law Awards last September.
RMB Galland Elder is now part of RMB’s network of offices across southern-eastern NSW which include Wollongong, Nowra, Kiama, Bowral, Camden and Dapto, as well as an office in the Sydney CBD.
Caption: Announcing the merger of RMB Lawyers and Galland Elder Lulham (from left): RMB Managing Partner Craig Osborne and Galland Elder Lulham Partners Neil Kennedy and Les Heinrich. Picture: Belinda Yeo.
Galland Elder Lulham Partner Les Heinrich, who has been a solicitor in Goulburn since 1982, said merging the two firms was a great outcome for the firm’s clients in the Goulburn and Braidwood districts.
“This is a merger between two like-minded legal firms, so it made perfect sense,” Mr Heinrich said. “Succession is always an important issue for clients, and this merger provides our existing and future clients with the security of knowing that they will continue to receive outstanding legal services here in Goulburn, even as some of our current partners move towards retirement.
“We have some exceptional young lawyers coming through the firm, and this will be a great opportunity for them to develop professionally
“So it is a very exciting development for us. It means we can offer our clients a greatly expanded range of services and it guarantees our firm a bright future as part of a large and successful regional law firm with a strong history.”
Partner Huw Edwards said RMB’s pool of specialist lawyers meant Goulburn clients would have access to more specialist advice.
“The merged firm has a wider pool of lawyers to draw on. Here in Goulburn we will benefit from the scale of the larger business operation that has allowed RMB’s lawyers to specialise and thus give better quality advice,” Mr Edwards said. “This also means that lawyers in our Goulburn office who have a passion for particular areas of the law will be able to specialise as well.
“And this merged firm will continue to be an active member of the Goulburn community, rather than a business that operates remotely and seeks to garner business without a presence in the town.”
RMB Managing Partner Craig Osborne said his firm had a strong commitment to providing the best capital city-standard legal services at regional prices.
“Over the past decade we have embarked on a major expansion and improvement project to make our firm a truly regional operation, and to ensure that the residents and businesses in south-eastern NSW have access to legal services that are equal to or better than what they would receive from leading capital city firms, but at an affordable price,” he said.
Mr Osborne, who spent his early years in Goulburn, attending Lady McKell Pre-school while his parents taught at local schools, said he was excited to be establishing RMB Lawyers in his old home town through the merger.
“Galland Elder Lulham is highly regarded for its many years of service to the Goulburn community, and this merger will build on that. We have been working closely with Michael Galland, Neil Kennedy, Les Heinrich, Huw Edwards and the other lawyers who have put so much into the firm,” he said.
RMB Lawyers operates nine specialist divisions: Compensation and Personal Injury Law; Conveyancing; Property Development and Town Planning; Wills and Estates and Disputed Estates; Family Law; Business and Commercial Transactions; Dispute Resolution and Court Work; Superannuation and Criminal Defence.
“Having specialist divisions means we can support the lawyers working at Goulburn and Braidwood and their clients by bringing in additional staff from our other offices to deal with particular issues as they arise,” Mr Osborne said. “We will also quickly build capacity at the Goulburn office so that it continues to be the district’s largest and most capable firm, while becoming even more efficient.
“This means clients will have their matters dealt with more quickly and more cost-effectively. But most importantly, no-one will need to go to Canberra or Sydney for legal advice because they will have the resources of the state’s largest regional law firm available in Goulburn.”