About Legacy Law
Families! You can’t choose them… all you can do is love and protect them, and we all know that’s not as straightforward as it sounds.
We appreciate the joy and sometimes teeth-clenching, hair-tearing despair that comes with family, after all we are each a fully paid up member of our own. We also understand how hard it is to manage complexities in our own families – the multiple personalities, peculiarities, unconditional love, fierce loyalties and legacies.
No family is the same. Yours is different to mine, and our experience has shown us it is much, much easier to navigate and execute complex generational legacy plans for families we don’t belong to and this is what we do best.
We’ve helped hundreds of diverse families navigate the choppy waters of legacy, and as a result are able to offer a variety of tried and tested solutions for most familial legacy plans. We specialise in solutions that prevent family discord and preserve family harmony. After all – family is everything.We provide counsel, we are mentors, we are pathfinders and most importantly we are continuing advocates for our clients, even when you no longer have a voice of your own. We provide practical independent support for what you want to happen
On your behalf we will help you to negotiate significant life events. In doing so, we treasure family history and values that celebrate a life well lived.
We have been trained by brilliant professionals and we meet regularly with peers and mentors who keep us grounded, focused and honest. We are curious about people and about the world that we share with you. To our valued clients we offer a relationship, not just a transaction.
Our Team
Donal Griffin
Donal Griffin is a lawyer with over 25 years experience in private client and business matters. He has worked in large and boutique firms in Australia, the UK and Ireland (from where he hails). Donal is passionate about helping people navigate some of the complexities of life. In fact, he is proud that clients and referrers refer to his ability to simplify complex legal arrangements.
Donal acts for business owners and families with some complexity. Partners in large law firms have called him “the lawyer’s lawyer”. Donal has a masters degree in Wills and estates but, strangely, there is no “d” at the end of his name.
Brianne Tam
Brianne is a second year Commerce and Law student at UNSW. She was drawn to study law out of a longstanding fascination with how private law shapes the way people and businesses interact. Brianne is particularly interested in the role legal frameworks play in helping people manage relationships and navigate real-world challenges.
In her role as a paralegal, Brianne supports the team across a range of matters and is enjoying building practical experience while deepening her academic knowledge.
When she’s not working or studying, Brianne loves spending time at the beach, exploring Sydney’s latest viral restaurants and cafes or having a nice scroll on TikTok.
Veronica Peters – Consultant
Veronica Peters has joined us as a consultant to help us better serve our family clients.
Veronica is a registered psychologist, has an MBA and is completing her Juris Doctor in Law qualification so we are tripling the IQ in the place. Veronica is an experienced psychotherapist and expert in family systems (she is one of Donal’s teachers!) so our EQ is also on the way up.
She will generally be here on Fridays but book well in advance if you to want to be sure to meet her. Veronica loves dogs and has three dogs that she enjoys spending time with and learning from, since her three children have all grown up and moved out of home!
Our next employee could be you
Do you have a genuine interest in people and their families? Are you a bit of a nerd when it comes to structures and the law? Most importantly, do you have a sense of humour and like to part of a team?
If this sounds like you, please send your Resume to dgriffin@legacylaw.com.au
Hear from one of our clients
“After building our family business up over 50 years my children and sons in law asked to work with me.
This meant that I needed a clear family business plan that would give and me and my family knowledge of what was agreed, peace of mind and direction for the future for the current generation and any future generations that may want to join and further build the business.
What we needed was an agreement which would not only summarise our business and its aims but also how it would be run, its philosophy and who has the control and what would happen in the event of any disputes.
Donal suggested that a family agreement would be the best document to achieve this and I must say that having done that it has worked out for us even better than I imagined.
After several years working together it became apparent that each family member has different skills and ambitions and because the management agreement was so clearly documented there can be no arguments and no verbalising. It is what it is in “black and white’ and needs no further discussion.
It is always a compromise working with family but well worth it providing the ‘rules’ are clear so the clarity of Donal’s agreement meant that the rules were all set out and agreed to by everyone so we can just get on with the business.
I have been and continue to be impressed by Donal’s professionalism and caring and thoughtful approach. He really listened and advised for our particular circumstances. This made it a painless and rewarding experience which I would recommend to any family business.
It has given us peace of mind and lets us concentrate on running the business without distractions.
I recommend the whole process and think it should be as vital to any family business as a valid will and I would not hesitate for a moment to highly recommend Donal to look after this process for any family.“
P, property developer (satisfied client, name withheld but reference can be sought)
