I have had a few people ask why I called my firm Walsh & Walsh Lawyers. As set out in the firm website, my grandfather and great-grandfather were in partnership as JA Walsh & Walsh, a law firm in Brisbane from the 1940s to the early 1970s. My great-grandfather was also in the earlier partnership of Fitzgerald & Walsh, a law firm in Brisbane in the early 1900s to the early 1940s.
Both firms conducted proceedings in the High Court, my great-grandfather instructing in the High Court when Sir Samuel Griffith was Chief Justice. My great-grandfather was also fortunate enough to instruct in the Privy Council, travelling halfway around the world by boat to do so.
Thanks to some relatives, I now hold the remaining legal texts from those two firms (see photos). I cherish these books as they are a physical link to the legal history of my family and the legal history of Brisbane generally.
For the lawyers out there, Underhill and Anson may be familiar names in tort and contract law. Only a few lawyers would be aware of Wilson & Graham Criminal Code of Queensland, though (the precursor to Carter’s Criminal Law) or Wilson & Graham Supreme Court Practice (the precursor to Ryan Weld & Lee Supreme Court Practice).
My favourite thing about the books is my grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s pencil highlights and annotations (see photo). They summarise the elements of different claims, cross out repealed acts and pencil in relevant citations.
To see these annotations warms my heart. I see the sharp and insightful minds of my great-grandfather and my grandfather as they practised law in my hometown over the last 100 years. They are also a broader reminder of the practice of law in the early to mid-1900s and Brisbane’s own proud legal history.
The firm I have established differs in many ways from the firms my relatives ran. The clients I am targeting, areas of law I practice in, and the way I work greatly differ. With time, technology and specialisation, that is inevitable. That said, much about the practice of law hasn’t changed. Cases are still won and lost on discrete legal issues that often only the sharpest of legal minds identify. Some aspects of the practice of law endure, regardless of how many changes occur within the profession.
I am deeply proud of my grandfather and great-grandfather’s achievements. I named the firm in their honour in the hope that I can always live up to the high legal standards set by them.
