So. Who the hell is behind Family Law Assist?

Jacqui Griffin, Solicitor, LLB (University of NSW), MA (University of NSW), BEd (Flinders University)

I wasn’t always a lawyer but started my professional life as a high school teacher back in the early eighties after growing up in Darwin.

Well, I still think of myself as an NT gal and spend time these days travelling between Darwin and Sydney. I loved being a teacher in my early days because, hey, I like kids and learning is a life-long passion for me. I spent just under 20 years working in schools in Darwin and Sydney teaching Science, Maths and PE (when I was young and fit and less fat). Hockey was my game. I found the skills I learnt playing representative hockey for the NT and SA as a junior and in my early twenties as well as coaching the juniors were skills that were transferable to law, the playing fair part in particular. I like to think that I litigate my matters without fear or favour.

I was bitten by the law bug in my late twenties and studied part time whilst still teaching and took 10 years. So, I came to Law with some maturity on my side and without any sense that it was my fast path to a BMW and a condo at the beach. That was way back in 2000. I started my own law firm in 2003 after working as an employee solicitor in Toongabbie in Sydney for a few years.

Since then my focus has been on complex Family Law and Children’s Court matters mostly in NSW. In complex matters the two courts can overlap, so it’s a good idea to know your way around both. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve never been afraid of the sharp end of the stick.

I can’t boast about owning a BMW (heck, I cruise in my fleet of 2 Nissan Micras in Darwin and Sydney), but I hope I have righted a few wrongs in my time as a lawyer.

If I am going to pull out my proudest baby, it would be a case which went all the way to the Supreme Court in NSW and involved a baby being ‘captured’ by the then Department of Community Services (FaC’s). They used the Children’s Court in NSW to start with and then got a Federal Circuit Court Judge to authorise the Federal Police to go to Victoria and seize the child from her parents and bring her into New South Wales.

It was a dog fight, but I helped get the baby back home to Victoria to her parents. You can read about this case TF v Department of Family & Community Services [2015] here

(I acknowledge though that it may appear to some to be a thankless task what the Department does to try to protect children. Whilst the Department can get it spectacularly wrong, they also get it right a lot of the time)

I act for both women and men in family law and most often there are allegations of family violence and/or parental alienation. The Court is full of it.

I am now acting for people as part of the s102NA cross examination scheme. I also appear in the Local Court for people to get a family violence order, eg ADVO as well as defend false allegations of violence.

If you want to read more about these type of cases see below.

In the last couple of decades, there has been tens of thousands of self represented litigants (SRLs) stumbling about, having nervous breakdowns, holding up the show and largely stuffing up their matters in the Family Court. I’m not being harsh here. This is what is happening. But it does not need to be so. SRLs can run their own matters and get good outcomes.

The lawyer in me says: You can learn Family Law

The teacher in me says: I can show you how

So, that’s me. I hope we can work together if my service is a good fit for you. Let’s have a chat to find out.