We won the national award for best Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the prestigious industry legal awards in Sydney,
We designed and implemented a goal setting program, “Refocus”, where we support clients to find and explore their future,
We welcomed four new employees, and grew our team to 15,
We launched a women in business initiative, “Rise with Resolve”, focusing on building and supporting women in business,
We found and bought our forever home in North Adelaide,
We appeared in the media too many times to count,
We grew our community of network partners to continue to improve what we can offer our clients with our “Conversations with…” series of events,
We presented at various conferences, to lawyers and accountants about the intricacies of family law,
We trained all our lawyers in Collaborative practice and some of us in advanced practice,
We graduated another divorce coach into our team,
We expanded our reach and potential to achieve our mission
All in all, we spent the year Reshaping Family Law, one family at a time.
Month by Month.
January
We kicked off 2023 determined to make it our best year yet, and we knew to do this we would need to make some serious strategic planning. Just as we would advise our clients to start their legal journey with a clear mind, and focused goals, this too is how we started our year, with a strategic planning day and the implementation of an advisory board.
February
Our team is the foundation of our business, and to be headed towards success we knew this foundation needed to be strong. Literally! Through February we focused on building our team up, we hired a client care coordinator to support our clients with all of their needs, no matter how small. To kick start the team unity, we added in a couple of challenging group sessions to keep our body’s strong and minds sharp.
March
To fit our ever-growing community of team members and clients we relocated to our new Melbourne Street office. A boutique and boujee office, designed to instantly bring a calming energy, in a warm and friendly environment.
April
After years worth of refinement, we were proud to launch Refocus, a program to bridge the gap between the legal and emotional stages of divorce. We know first hand the emotional journey often caused the most disruption to the legal process. Emotionally motivated decisions or actions inflame conflict, and hold people back from what they want.
We wanted to support our clients to become more emotionally educated, to know clearly what they want, give full and clear instructions, make some goals for their future, negotiate with purpose and be empowered to make some tough decisions along the way.
May
We launched Rise with Resolve, an initiative founded with the intention to support women to connect, increase their power of influence, and expand their reach. It very soon turned into a community, where vulnerability and strength were celebrated. Although this was our first event, this community has not stopped growing since, with our final event for the year being a sell out.
June
We were honoured to be shortlisted in 3 categories of the prestigious Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards – Dispute Resolution and/or Litigation Team of the Year, Boutique Law Firm of the Year and NewLaw Firm of the Year. For us this was recognition of all of the progress we were making towards our goals, and the amazing service we were providing to our clients.
July
Determined to fulfill our brand promise of providing a holistic service to our clients, to support them in every aspect of their journey. We launched our ‘Conversations with’ series, starting with an evening for our male clients with men’s health mentor, professional athlete and life coach Damien Rider.
August
August was a big month! Rose was featured in Body & Soul, speaking on her unique knowledge surrounding a ‘health divorce’, being an expert on the topic and a leader in this space.
However, the month (or year really) peaked with Resolve being recognised on a national level as Australia’s Boutique Law Firm of the Year! The Australian Law Awards describe boutique firms as pioneering innovative practices that challenge traditional firms’ structure and culture. We know recognition on this national level is representative of our success in creating a movement of change to improve the positive social narrative around divorce.
September
After many accolades within the media for our Rise with Resolve initiative our Rise community grew rapidly. We are exceptionally proud of the community we have created, of determined and successful business women from all walks of life.
We closed out the month with yet another event for our Evolve community, with Conversations with Karen Eley. Karen has a unique knowledge base that combines psychology and finances and offered amazing insight for the women in attendance.
October
In October Rose, Chanel and Ashlee jetted off to Toronto Canada for the 24th Annual International Academy of Collaborative Professional Forum, being three of only 5 Australians at the conference, where they further refined their skills in Collaborative Law, learning how to master the resolution of conflict and deal with divorce in a unique way.
We also hosted our male network with a night of Conversations with Mark Bickley, our celebrity supporter, who enlightened our guests with his stories of sport, resilience and how lessons learned in one area of your life can impact other areas in so many ways.
November
Party time! We hosted our many Network Partners for our annual celebration. A time to thank those who actively support us, and of course, our cause to Reshape Family Law.
December
December is a time to support our clients wrap up their affairs and get through Christmas in the most positive way. It is a time we focus heavily on making sure we go the extra mile to exceed expectations for great outcomes.
Overall though, each day, we have impacted the lives of hundreds of families by positively restructuring relationships, to achieve healthy outcomes.
Now our team will be taking a well-deserved rest, with our office being closed from 11.30am on Thursday the 21st of December 2023, to 9am on Monday 8th of January 2024. Thank you to all of those with our community for their support throughout this year, and we look forward to returning recharged and ready to make 2024 just as much of a success.