By Cat Woods -
Rural, regional and remote NSW communities face a number of challenges in 2025: a skills shortage as younger people opt to live in urban centres, climate challenges and associated insurance hikes, critical undersupply of rental housing, and uncertainty over future policies ahead of next month’s election. Lawyers in the regions inevitably face these same challenges.
Australians will be heading to the polls on Saturday 3 May. According to the annual Roy Morgan pre-election poll on the most important issues facing Australia, concerns about crime and maintaining law and order have increased by more than any other issue since the last Federal Election in 2022 – and for supporters of all major parties. This particular concern rose from 12 per cent to 21 per cent in NSW. Inevitably, the poll will have MPs of all parties on alert, since there are more marginal electorates in NSW than anywhere else in Australia, with 15 federal electorates held by a margin of 6 percent or less.
Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, says, “Australians are shifting their focus on what are the ‘Issues of most importance’ ahead of this year’s Federal Election, with significant increases regarding ‘Keeping day-to-day living costs down’ [up 7 per cent points to 57 per cent since mid-2022) and ‘Reducing crime and maintaining law and order’ (up 10 per cent to 23 per cent).”
Agricultural communities would justifiably be concerned by the imposition of tariffs from the US and the impact that will have on Australian farmers who trade with the US, increasing financial strain on many clients. Recruitment may also be a key challenge, and following the catastrophic fires in LA, it’s likely that insurance costs will be hiked. What do all of these things mean for lawyers – will their clients face a choice between engaging a lawyer or paying their bills for example? Will it make it more difficult to make a living in a rural practice, or will there be even more demand for legal advice and assistance as a result of all these changes?
Cicely Sylow – General Counsel for Birdon Group Port Macquarie and Principal Solicitor of Pivot Law
Sylow moved from Sydney when she and her husband bought a caravan park on the central coast in 2016.
“My current role is a hybrid between owning and running a business and a practicing lawyer. I have really enjoyed this combination as it has honed my commercial acumen in the practice of law and taught me that to be a good advisor understanding the context from multiple angles is invaluable if you want to make a meaningful impact,” she tells LSJ Online.
“When I first moved to Port Macquarie, I scoped the local legal market and quickly realised that, after over a decade of working in domestic and international law firms, I would have to pivot my practice and skillset if I were to provide legal services to the general population in Port Macquarie. Instead, I chose to double down on what I knew best and opened my own practice to work remotely.”
She obtained commercial legal work as an ad hoc contractor for international law firms that needed competition law expertise, and then some clients in the residential land lease living sector. Sylow, wanting to work more collaboratively with a team, ended up joining a marine company headquartered in Port Macquarie, with global operations. She is both their general counsel and a member of their Advisory Board.
Sylow has a list of concerns that are pertinent to her clients and colleagues as an election looms. These include affordable housing, accessing financing to fund a business and “continued erosion in trust in politicians and governments acting in line with their commitments.”
“‘Affordable housing’ is not affordable; nor is moving regionally an affordable alternative to city living. I am aware of people looking to relocate from the city to the eastern coast of NSW and are very surprised at how expensive regional house prices are,” she says.
“The cost of living for those closer to the poverty line is a real issue and is creating knock-on effects such as social unrest and entrenched behaviour.”
Sylow also believes the new AML/CFT regime, coming into effect next year, will disproportionately affect regional lawyers.
“Significant support and training will be required for regional lawyers and small firms,” she says.
Charlotte Egan – Principal Solicitor of Booth Brown Legal in Dubbo
Egan works primarily in property, commercial, and succession planning.
“The biggest issue we face as a small, regional firm, is capping the workflow due to the inability to attract and retain staff,” she says.
“We never really want to be turning work away, but the unfortunate reality is that there is only so many things you can achieve in a day and realistically, you just can’t do it all. Without the staffing levels to cover this, we aren’t really left with too many choices. People aren’t attracted to the regions. I can’t see this improving overnight without some serious changes to both assist and encourage people to move away from the metro areas.”
Egan’s worked in Dubbo for the full 11 years of her career, becoming a partner in Booth Brown Legal.
Leading up to the federal election, Egan says her major concern is “water, water and water!”
She explains, “It’s the resource that we can’t live without out here and directly impacts many of our clients. This is something I follow reasonably closely and whilst we aren’t expecting any significant changes, it always pays to keep an eye on this.”
The cost-of-living strain in regional areas, and the housing crisis nationally, have challenged some of Egan’s clients as far as affording to engage a lawyer.
“We’re definitely seeing a change in how people engage, or don’t, with legal representation,” she says. “Whilst my particular practice isn’t too badly impacted, we’re definitely seeing a significant increase in people requiring different payment arrangements.”
Another pressing concern, she says, “is the lack of phone reception available in many areas. It’s been fairly well publicised how the shutting down of the 3G network has impacted many people. It is certainly problematic in commercial matters if you can’t take proper, real-time instructions. From a personal safety perspective, this is a huge issue too. In lots of places, you can be not even 5km from town and there’s no phone reception available.”
Despite any concerns, Egan is a huge proponent of the benefits of working in regional NSW.
“The benefits of working in regional, rural, and remote communities are huge: Exposure to different types of work, comradery within the profession, career development and aspiration opportunities – they’re all there, and in my opinion, a lot easier to access in a much shorter timeframe than in the city,” she says.
“Often, we can’t compete in terms of compensation with the city, but given the lower cost of living, I’ve not thought of this as being a huge issue. The skillsets that regional, rural and remote lawyers hold are broad, and just because we choose not to be in the city, doesn’t mean we’re not highly skilled people. I’ve had the ability to learn lots of skills very quickly, and to be hands on and client-facing from day one. There is really no better way to learn, in my opinion.”
Michelle Meares – Barrister and President of NSW Regional Women Lawyers.
Before taking up chambers in Sydney upon being called to the Bar in 2023, Michelle was the owner and principal lawyer of Meares Law on the Central Coast, practicing primarily in family law and plaintiff litigation. She still resides on the Central Coast and travels regularly around the regional towns – including Dubbo, Paramatta, Coffs Harbour, and Wagga Wagga for work. Taking a 3-hour drive or train trip from home to work is an ordinary commute for Meares, which brings the issue of lengthy commutes and the associated costs (time, money, energy) that disproportionately affect regionally-based lawyers and barristers. It is one of the reasons why NSW Regional Women Lawyers advocate for better access to electronic information and reliably available remote resources to enable regional, rural and remote lawyers to have the same resources city-based lawyers take for granted.
“There’s a significant need for recruitment and retention that I think has gotten worse in the last two years,” Meares says.
“Many lawyers in the regions have to deal with complex cases involving mental health, drug addiction, domestic violence, and homelessness and especially for lawyers in the early stages of their careers, it’s a heavy load to carry. Many clients don’t meet the strict criteria for legal aid eligibility too, so there is a very real crisis in access to justice.”
She adds, “Another difficulty for the regional and rural firms, which I’ve noticed more now that I’ve come to the bar, is they don’t have good access to things like the registries to get subpoena material. So, it does compromise the ability to run their client’s case. Some of the courts are being more helpful in facilitating electronic access to subpoena records, but not all of them, and it can make a quite a big difference in the outcome of a client’s matter when you know timely access is available to some of that material.”
Meares says she and the organisation will be advocating for the proposed HECS forgiveness scheme, which enables law graduates to work in regional, remote and rural areas for a minimum period as a means of wiping their HECS debt.
She adds, “The majority of employers in rural and regional areas are usually local firms, so they are limited in what they can offer employees by the profits they can make. There are no easy answers to that, but there is advocacy needed for proper parental leave, and the same benefits some lawyers working in Sydney may take for granted as workplace benefits. We intend to undertake survey to ask women what they receive as entitlements in their firms and establishing a best practice. It’s good for firms, too, to improve their recruitment and retention.”
Meares would also like to see regional universities responding to student feedback that their mostly remote coursework is leaving them feeling isolated and without networks. Some say they never meet their lawyers or peers.
“We want to see more placements for students in their local regional area too, because many don’t remain in the local courts and local firms. We want to see financial support for regional legal students in their towns. I think police forces and doctors have similar programs. That funding would have to come from the federal government, so the chances are slim.”
Ultimately, Meares says, “It’s wonderful to practise in regional NSW. You get so much experience beyond transactional work or being confined to limited areas. It’s rewarding, you get to do a lot of court work, and a lot of advocacy experience especially for family and criminal lawyers.”
