I’ve been a family lawyer for nearly 16 years, working in a range of small to medium law firms, starting in country South Australia, and later based in metropolitan Adelaide.
I love working with people and assisting them to work through the legal issues relating to their relationship breakdown, guiding them to an outcome and seeing them through to the other side of what can often be the worst time of their lives.
It’s challenging at times, but also very rewarding.
In August 2020 I was fortunate enough to take the opportunity to head up the Adelaide office of Australia’s only ASX-listed national family law firm, Australian Family Lawyers (AFL).
AFL has offices in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, ACT, Western Australia and now the great state of South Australia. We pride ourselves on high-quality legal representation and holistic outcomes for our clients.
Currently the Adelaide office comprises of “me” but I have an abundance of remote support in Victoria and the other states, and this is certainly the year to believe that business can be done well that way! So while I am not working alone, it is my responsibility to run the physical office here and in the future hire more staff and solicitors on the ground to support our clients in Adelaide as we continue to grow.
I love the flexibility of essentially working for myself here in Adelaide but with the support of a fantastic national team. It has certainly been a leap of faith and not without its challenges, but I am so excited and humbled to have this opportunity in what has otherwise been a pretty bizarre year and an awful one for many.
Get in touch with Shelley:
LinkedIn: Shelley O’Connell
Website: www.australianfamilylawyers.com.au