Sparke Helmore celebrates four Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Finalists
26-May-2020| 
Merryn has worked for many years across brand, marketing and communications. She spent 18 years based in London working for various legal and accounting firms, before returning to Australia in 2008 to continue her career in professional services.
Sparke Helmore is pleased to announce our four finalists in the Lawyers Weekly 30 under 30 2020 awards program:
- Associate Georgia Murphy-Haste in the Pro Bono category
- Lawyer Dylan Moller in the Insurance category
- Associate Steven Canton in the Health and Medical category, and
- Senior Associate Nicole Maddocks in the Dispute Resolution and Litigation category.
National Managing Partner Phillip Salem said, “Young lawyers are the future leaders of our industry and I’m proud that Georgia, Dylan, Steven and Nicole’s commitment to our clients as well as their exceptional skill and dedication is being recognised by this awards program.”
30 Under 30 2020, now in its 8th year, will be held in a live talk-show-style event online on Friday 29 May. The awards program is Australia’s largest gathering of lawyers aged 30 and under and showcases the hard work of the industry’s rising stars in 30 submission-based categories.
When asked what their biggest achievements were in 2019, here’s what our finalists had to say:
- Georgia – “My greatest achievement has been the success of our Aboriginal wills clinics program, through which the firm aims to make a positive impact on Aboriginal communities through the provision of culturally appropriate wills clinics in regional and remote communities throughout Australia. With an estimated 70 per cent of burial disputes involving the Aboriginal community, the main focus of the clinics is to reduce this high statistic by providing free community legal education and a free estate planning service. In 2019 I also established our first Trans and Gender Diverse wills clinic in partnership with The Gender Centre and the Inner City Legal Centre. The clinic aims to overcome stigma and access-to-justice issues faced by the trans and gender diverse community, who often face social and legal obstacles including systemic and individual discrimination, often requiring assistance to ensure that their own and their partners’ rights are protected. Having access to a pro bono wills clinic in a safe place that focuses on common issues for trans and gender diverse people, such as divided families, preferred pronoun use and name changes, is imperative.”
- Dylan – “My involvement and leadership in the resolution of a significant multi-party and multi-million-dollar class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria (and NSW) and a significant multimillion-dollar arbitration. I was also involved in a number of precedent judgments handed down in the Supreme Courts of NSW and Victoria.”
- Steven – “Settling a multi-party medical negligence matter before the NSW Supreme Court that attracted international media attention, and which threatened to break the record for the most damages ever awarded in a medical negligence case in NSW history.”
- Nicole – “Acting (on a pro bono basis) for an aged, invalid pensioner whose home had been transferred into his son’s name in 2011, purportedly as a gift. Following an unsuccessful mediation, the proceedings were heard in the Supreme Court of NSW for three days in September 2019, in which we argued that the purported transfer document had been executed as a result of the son’s undue influence and that the property should be reconveyed to our client. There was an added complexity to this litigation, in circumstances where our client only spoke Greek, is legally blind, and faced significant memory issues following a stroke in 2014 – which deteriorated significantly in the lead-up to the hearing and led to the appointment of a tutor in the days prior to the hearing.”
