LMJ - Q&A

Cameron Cooper speaks to Michelle Oates, the founder of Connect Family Law, a Mildura-based firm that is really thriving in the regions.

Named the Rural and Regional Lawyer of the Year in 2025 at the Australian Law Awards, Michelle explains her passion for social justice and why opting to no longer be the hero or martyr of her firm has allowed the business to succeed and grow.

She also explains her role as a coach and the quest to develop firms that owners truly love. We start the interview with Michelle's thoughts on the competitive nature of family law.

Cameron Cooper speaks to Alison Shamir, a former tech industry leader who has become acknowledged globally for her work in helping high-performing lawyers and other professionals deal with imposter syndrome.

The author of "Conquer Your Imposter", Alison explains why this debilitating condition is not a confidence issue, rather, it's an identity and belief system challenge.

She also provides advice for law firms and lawyers on how to overcome it.

Today in our Q&A series, we're speaking to Dr Patrick Aouad, a neurologist and the CEO of CU Health, a provider of employee wellbeing services, including digital solutions. Patrick and his team work with a broad range of businesses, including law firms, to deliver everything from GP telehealth, psychology, dietary, and health coaching services, through to leadership performance coaching.

For a legal sector that suffers from workplace stress and mental health issues, Patrick says we need to transform healthcare and digitise clinical practice so that it's more convenient, effective, and timely for lawyers, and to target preventable mental and physical illnesses. He also believes science-based health models can assist firms with employee morale and talent retention. We start the interview with some thoughts from Patrick on the rationale behind setting up CU Health.

Today, in our Q&A series, Cameron Cooper speaks to ⁠Geraldine Chin Moody⁠, a Board and Governance Principal at Directors Australia. The group provides Board and Governance advisory services, as well as specialist board search and recruitment assistance.

Geraldine got her start with Mallisons and went on to be COO at Baker McKenzie before filling various executive roles for ASX listed companies and professional services firms. She now serves on a range of boards. In this interview, Geraldine explains why setting up boards with diverse skill sets can be an effective way to improve culture and performance in law firms.

And she provides tips on that perennial problem, succession planning for law firm bosses. We start the interview asking Geraldine about the early phase of her career and her law firm introduction.

In our Q&A series, we're speaking to Belinda Cohen, the CEO of Gilchrist Connell and an executive with great experience in people management roles. In this interview, Belinda shares her strategies for getting the most out of legal practice teams and she explains how intellectual conversations can be the kickstarter for success in firms.

In our latest Q&A, Cameron Cooper speaks to Dave Burnton, co-founder of Lawlux, an exciting new Australian firm. In this interview, Dave explains why he jumped from the safety of a big law firm and all its perks to take a chance with a start-up that is using AI and legal tech to reshape legal services.

With co-founder Andrew Yu, they have developed Lixo GPT, an AI paralegal that is helping to better serve SMEs. We start the interview with Dave telling us why old law firm models must be overhauled.

Cameron Cooper, editor of the Law Management Journal, speaks to Emma Maxwell, founder of Anchored Family Law. In this interview, Emma explains how she started out with a major national firm working on class actions before moving into family law and ultimately setting up her own firm a few years ago.She says a subscription model has helped keep the cash flow running and she discusses how she's using technology to power her business. Emma beings by telling us why she set up Anchored Family Law.

In this episode, Cameron Cooper speaks to Sarah Cappello, the Managing Partner of Hunt & Hunt Lawyers.

Sarah discusses how she and fellow principal Hasti Kalarostaghi are leading the firm and why AI has been such a key factor in its decision to merge with Hicksons Lawyers. She also explains how the firm has coped with and responded to two huge challenges. First, a costly cyber attack, and second, a devastating internal embezzlement case.

In our latest Q&A, Cameron Cooper speaks to Jordan Furlong, a respected Canadian law firm consultant. In this interview, Jordan explains why his career shows that there are many ways to make a difference in the legal industry without being a lawyer, and why measures such as productivity and growth are not the be all and end all for firms.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing. For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.

In our latest Q&A, Cameron Cooper is speaking to Regie Anne Gardoce, an award winning innovator in the legal sector. Until very recently, Regie was the Legal Transformation Lead for Sprintlaw, an online legal firm based in New South Wales. 

In this interview, Reggie lets us in on some of the tech secrets behind Sprintlaw's success. She also explains how a new generation of tech savvy lawyers in tandem with ChatGPT and other large language models is ready to shake up the industry.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing. For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.

Cameron Cooper is speaking to Will McCullough, a sole practitioner who runs his own thriving firm called MCC Advisory, which specialises in IP, technology and commercial law.

In this interview, Will tells us about his journey from being a UK lawyer to becoming an Australian success. Along the way, he's sharing insights on the tech platform that has helped him become highly efficient in the absence of support staff. And he also tells us why he plans on keeping his firm super small.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing. For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.

In this episode of the LMJ podcast, Cameron Cooper speaks to Sam Nickless, CEO of Gilbert + Tobin, about the secrets behind the firm's long term success and the lessons he brings from his time at McKinsey and why Gen AI will require retooling across many aspects of law firm operations.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing. For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.

Cameron Cooper speaks to Joanna Oakey, the founder and managing partner of Aspect Legal, a commercial law firm that specialises in helping SMEs across the country and which is headquartered in Sydney.

In this interview, Joanna tells us the secrets to the success of her own two podcasts, "Talking Law" and "The Deal Room", why she wrote her book called "Buy, Grow, Exit", and how the firm's security officer, Chloe the Cavoodle, is helping to make the firm a happy place to work.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing. For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.

Welcome to the Law Management Journal and our Q&A podcast series. Through these podcast interviews, we are telling the stories – and exploring the leadership and business strategies – of some of the leading minds in the Australian legal sector.

Our guest is Melissa Barlas, director and founder of Conveyed. She explains how a family passion for the property market has morphed into a successful legal career – and why it pays to be good to people around you.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing. For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.

Welcome to the Law Management Journal and our Q&A podcast series. Through these podcast interviews, we are telling the stories – and exploring the leadership and business strategies – of some of the leading minds in the Australian legal sector.

Our first guest is Anthony Bekker of Biztech Lawyers. He discusses the value that an entrepreneurial background and a global mindset can bring to modern law firms – and why AI and other technology can be invaluable if the right guard rails are in place.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing.  For more law management insights, visit lmhub.com.au.