Stringer Clark has provided expert legal advice to the local community in Western Victoria for over 100 years and we pride ourselves on looking after you – which means being available when you need answers, and keeping you up to date with progress on your case.
Personal care and attention is important to us and is part of our training and service.
We understand how difficult it can be – coping with injury, the disruption to careers, lives and family members. You often feel up against it when trying to get support and financial compensation.
At Stringer Clark, we are always ready to listen and prepared to fight. For you and your rights.
Stringer Clark has provided expert legal advice to the local community in Western Victoria for over 100 years and we pride ourselves on looking after you – which means being available when you need answers, and keeping you up to date with progress on your case.
Personal care and attention is important to us and is part of our training and service.
We understand how difficult it can be – coping with injury, the disruption to careers, lives and family members. You often feel up against it when trying to get support and financial compensation.
At Stringer Clark, we are always ready to listen and prepared to fight. For you and your rights.
In the very early days, the firm mostly practised in business and property law. This all changed when Austin Stringer joined the firm in 1968. He had originally set up a branch office of a major Melbourne law firm before moving to Portland to buy into the local business.
A man with a big heart and a social conscience, Stringer set the values and the direction of the firm for the years to come when, in the early 70s, he took up the then highly unpopular cause of Indigenous rights. A significant early case was against Alcoa, which had not been that long in operation, when it tried to bulldoze some land against the will of the local Aboriginal people. Stringer sided with the Aboriginal people.
The fight against Alcoa alienated many previous business clients and the firm lost a lot of work. So, it was then that Stringer started to take up workers’ legal rights more broadly, representing the employees of Alcoa and other local companies in their push for just injury compensation entitlements from their employers.
The firm cut its teeth on industrial issues, health and safety and winning benefits and compensation for local workers. The expertise gained led naturally into representing all local people who had been accident victims, especially in work and car accidents. It was by specialising in personal injury and social purpose work that the firm established its standing and reputation
The reputation it had gained for its tenacity in fighting for people’s rights was further strengthened when, in 1981, Gary Clark arrived at the firm. A local Portland boy, Gary was known as a hard, pugnacious lawyer and an even tougher footballer. In 1985, the firm became Stringer Clark and Newby.
The next period of transformation for the firm commenced in 1988 when Richard Morrow, who was eventually to lead the practice, joined Stringer Clark. A further phase of expansion began as the firm capitalised on its reputation by opening new offices in locations across Western Victoria, including Warrnambool, Hamilton, Horsham, Colac and Ararat.
The final step in the evolution of the practice was taken in 2007, when Stringer Clark merged with the leading Melbourne law firm, Ryan Carlisle Thomas, which had itself been in practice since the early 1970s and likewise had grown its reputation and influence on high profile personal injury cases run on behalf of workers and ordinary people. Both Stringer Clark and Ryan Carlisle Thomas have a proud record of assisting clients with all types of injury compensation claims.
The union of the two firms, one with strong local roots deep within the communities of Western Victoria, and the other with arguably the State’s most distinguished injury practice, has given the broader public access to the best rights-based law services available. A legal firm that retains its common touch with local people while at the same time tapping into some of the best legal brains in Victoria.
Stringer Clark’s seven regional offices are spread across the Western Districts, helping to service a large portion of the community. We can also hold meeting remotely if required to make the process easier for our clients. Our local lawyers understand the challenges of living locally and are here to help support you when things are difficult.
