Login
‘People really want to know and trust you’: The benefits of being a regional lawyer
Mudgee lawyer Sally Callander opens up about her experience working in the legal profession and opening her own firm in regional Australia.
Jess Feyder
Recently, Ms Callander joined Jerome Doriasamy on The Boutique Lawyer Show, where she reflected on the cultural differences between Sydney and Mudgee in the legal profession. She spoke about opening her own practice and the opportunities available in regional areas due to increases in remote work.
Before moving to Mudgee, Ms Callander’s first job was at a law firm in Sydney, and she was confronted with a culture of competitiveness.
“I think there were 170 people who were interviewed for the job,” she said. “It was a three-round interview … you had to do a test … and the third round was that you were interviewed by everyone who worked there on a panel.
“I got that job there, and it was super competitive, and it was a really, really terrible time.
“Everyone was just competing.”
She decided to move to Mudgee to continue her legal career and had a significantly different experience of community connection.
“My experience of moving here as a solicitor was that I was very valued,” said Ms Callander.
“I feel that in the regions, it’s a different role than it is in the city, especially with wills and estates.”
“It’s a completely amazing sense of community here,” she said. “People like to make the connections, and then they can establish trust.
“They really want to engage with you. They want to believe that you have empathy for their situation.
“People really want to know and trust you. Then they’ll stay loyal to you.”
After nine years, Ms Callander decided to open her own practice in Mudgee. She was at first concerned about how her new practice would be accepted by the community.
“I was really, really worried about how it would be received, me going out on my own,” she said.
“The regions and especially Mudgee, the firms, they’ve been around for a very long time.
“People use the firms that their parents used and that their grandparents used. So, I was a little bit shaky about it.”
But the connections she’d made with clients during her time working in Mudgee had given her a strong client base and trust with the local community.
“I was really, really humbled by it,” she said. “I underestimated how many connections I’d made.
“I’d actually been quite immersed in their lives in terms of estates and people passing away and being the solicitor that they used.”
Opportunities to expand and grow one’s business are a foremost concern when located in regional areas, but Ms Callander reflected on the unique opportunities afforded by the changes to work created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her ability to expand her firm outside of the area came with the rise of online work and has allowed her to service clients outside of Mudgee.
“Being able to see over and above where you are located and getting clients outside those areas, that’s something that I’m working on,” she said.
Ms Callander noted that her firm uses referral systems to access clients in other locations and to refer people needing legal work in other practice areas to other firms.
“I’ve got a referral with a solicitor in Sydney who does a lot of medical negligence, and that’s just something that obviously we can’t offer here,” she said.
“We’ve got a referral network with her, where if she gets any inquiries about wills or estates and she sends them my way.
“We can also go to Sydney and see clients down there.
“I know that a lot of firms these days may not even say where they are located, because it’s irrelevant to how they can service the client.”
Ms Callander noted how this shift had transformed the ability to live in regional areas whilst still accessing business opportunities and work.
“I think that the regions are changing. There are a lot of young families moving to the regions,” said Ms Callander.
“There’s a lot of ideas, young business people that are really out there willing to give everything a shot.
“People are receptive to change. People want something that’s new and fresh.”
