After moving into her “dream home” in May 2022, Ms Roumanos started her legal practice six months later with 50–100 files she had brought from her previous role.

However, in November of that year, Ms Roumanos was home with her two young children – both taking naps – when a fire broke out upstairs.

“We had discovered that the upstairs region of our house was absolutely engulfed in flames. So, me being downstairs, just sitting on my laptop doing work, not realising my two kids are surrounded by fire upstairs. Our smoke alarms had not gone off; there was no smell. It all happened really quickly, and it was like I had 30 seconds to figure out what the hell I was going to do. And at that point, I ran up the stairs, I saw the fire, I grabbed my son, he was screaming,” she recounted.

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“I ran to my daughter’s room, who was also asleep. I grabbed her by her sleep sack when I ran. And to describe the nature of the fire, I’m talking an entire wall. An entire four-metre wall, top to bottom, left to right, was engulfed in flames. And this was the wall where my son was sleeping on the couch, just in front of it. So, you can imagine my emotions at that time. I couldn’t even think.”

Ms Roumanos managed to get her kids outside, as well as her phone and her laptop, before a front window exploded and her entire home went up in flames.

“We lost everything. We lost our home. I lost my home office. There was nothing left other than ash. It took maybe 15 minutes for firefighters to arrive to the site. And by the time they did, there was nothing left for them other than to turn it off. And at the time, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, we’re insured. We’re going to be OK. This is what insurance is for.’ But little did I realise that we were $350,000 underinsured to rebuild. And regardless, building prices have gone up since we originally built, and that was going to be the new price,” she added.

“And then, on top of that, the business. I had to work. I had to deal with my business. And I was in such a disastrous mental state, I couldn’t even think straight. I had just lost my home. I lost all my belongings. But then I still had to settle on matters the following day. And I still had to jump online. And at this time, it was only me in the business. My business was very new, and I had no idea what to do. All I knew was that I was weak, that I needed help. I knew my clients deserved better than what I could give them at that time. And I knew I couldn’t serve my clients. And I knew I had to be vulnerable.”

Two weeks earlier, Ms Roumanos had been at a “happy lawyer, happy life” retreat run by Clarissa Rayward and decided to reach out to that network for some help – and received it in spades.

“There were a number of amazing lawyers Australia-wide who were putting their hands up to help me in my time of hardship. And they always say, it takes a village to raise a baby. Well, it ain’t any different for a business. It’s exactly the same. It takes a village. And in times of hardship, you need people in your corner. And my biggest lesson in that journey was, you need to ask for help when you need it.

“In times of crisis, you realise the strength of your support system, you realise the strength of community, and you also need to know when to ask for help. Life is unpredictable. Things happen, and it’s not easy to put your hand up and say, ‘Hey, I need help.’

“If there’s anyone ever out there who’s in a position of weakness, or who’s struggling or who isn’t OK because something big has just happened, it’s OK to ask for help because there are so many people out there that are willing to put their hands up and give back, because we all receive and take in different tokens. And unfortunately, that’s life. But we need to know that it’s OK to ask for help. And vulnerability isn’t about winning or losing. It’s just about having the courage to show up and be seen,” she said.

Asking for help meant that Ms Roumanos was able to take practical steps to rebuild – and she said the support she received was “out of this world”.

“I admire everyone that reached out because so many of those people I didn’t know at the time I’m now very good friends with and I now love very much, but these were people that put their hands up and said, ‘How can I help? What do you need? What conveyances do you have settling in the next week? How can I jump in? Which disputes do you have that you need a lawyer to deal with? What do you need on these matters? Which clients require XYZ?’

“And being in a practice on my own, I literally was just me, myself, and I. I didn’t have an assistant that I could throw everything at. So, having the club was the biggest blessing that I could possibly ever ask for. And to this day, I’m amazed at the level of support. And people didn’t do it because they wanted something back; they did it because they were kind. And there are kind people in the profession,” she added.

“And it’s because of all those people that I got through and that I’m now in a position where my business has hit [targets] over the past 12-month period. I’ve hired staff, I’ve moved on, but I’ll never forget the kindness that was given to me because I will always hold it near and dear to my heart.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Renee Roumanos, click below: