Why did you become a lawyer?

I became a Fam­i­ly Lawyer (specif­i­cal­ly, as I knew very ear­ly on that this was the area I want­ed to spe­cialise in) because I feel real­ly strong­ly that it’s a priv­i­lege to help peo­ple nav­i­gate the most inti­mate, painful and stress­ful dis­pute’ of their lives. I believe that it’s so impor­tant that the right’ peo­ple work in this area of the law as a Fam­i­ly Lawyer can assist fam­i­lies in work­ing coop­er­a­tive­ly to reach a res­o­lu­tion that allows every­one to move for­ward with hope and con­fi­dence, rather than mak­ing the process more dev­as­tat­ing both for the par­ties and also for their chil­dren. What I real­ly love about Fam­i­ly Law is that it relates to real life” and there­fore encom­pass­es so many oth­er dis­ci­plines such as account­ing and psychology.

Why Swaab?

Swaab’s Fam­i­ly Law Team have a real com­mit­ment to being solu­tion’ focussed. The cul­ture at Swaab real­ly focuss­es on sup­port­ing clients and pay­ing atten­tion to the out­come that serves their needs rather than pro­tract­ing con­flict or lit­i­gat­ing for lit­i­ga­tion’s sake’.

What’s your best mem­o­ry or client success?

There is noth­ing more reward­ing that watch­ing the trans­for­ma­tion that so many Fam­i­ly Law clients go through. I can think of a num­ber of clients that start­ed the process so dev­as­tat­ed and hope­less, and with time found such strength, resilience and real­ly pos­i­tive out­look on the new chap­ter of their lives.

Who has been your great­est influence?

My par­ents are very sup­port­ive, lov­ing and hard­work­ing peo­ple. From a very young age they taught me the val­ue of edu­ca­tion but also of being open mind­ed and hav­ing hob­bies. I think a life­long com­mit­ment to curios­i­ty and learn­ing (in all areas of life) is incred­i­bly enriching.

What do you like to do out­side of work?

I love to cook and am always feed­ing my loved ones. I find the whole process of cook­ing a fun, yet ther­a­peu­tic chal­lenge – espe­cial­ly if a lit­tle George Michael is play­ing in the back­ground. I also love to relax by read­ing at the beach or at my local café.

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

AI Slop v Fair Work Com­mis­sion: The Scourge Continues

For all the talk of how extra­or­di­nary and trans­for­ma­tive arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) can sup­pos­ed­ly be, it con­tin­ues to be a scourge…

Nichol­son v Stra­ta Plan No 104042 –The Valid­i­ty of Debt Recov­ery Claus­es in By-laws

The recent NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal deci­sion in Nichol­son v The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 104042 [2025] NSW­CATCD 20…

Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026

The Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026 (NSW) (the Amend­ment Act) was assent­ed on 2…

In the News

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, Is the News Bar­gain­ing Incen­tive and Office of AI the media’s last hope?”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 31 July 2026

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Is the News Bar­gain­ing Incen­tive and Office of AI the media’s last hope?”…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with James Willis on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR on 30 July 2026 to dis­cuss a recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion case deal­ing with an appli­ca­tion for a flex­i­ble work­ing arrange­ment to work from home (from 23:30 to 32:20)

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with James Willis on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR on 30 July 2026 to…

Michael Byrnes appeared on McK­night Tonight with Robert McK­night on 28 July 2026 to dis­cuss the lat­est devel­op­ments in the pro­ceed­ings brought by Jack­ie O’ Hen­der­son against ARN (from 9:30 to 30:25)

Michael Byrnes appeared on McK­night Tonight with Robert McK­night on 28 July 2026 to dis­cuss the lat­est devel­op­ments in the…

Sign up for our Newsletter

*Mandatory information