Apart from a great legal team, Bennett Carroll have a brilliant management team with extensive experienced in both business and the law. We are totally focused on maintaining our high standards of client service and the continued growth of the firm. The cohesive approach of the entire team ensures the highest level of communication so you can rest assured that your matter is being well looked after from start to finish.
Bennett Carroll Solicitors have a truly professional team working hard for you every day. With over 200 years of combined legal experience our staff are very committed to their work and delivering a positive outcome for our clients.
Complimenting the vast experience of our senior staff members we also have the new wave of dynamic young legal professionals to ensure the future is looking as good as the past for our clients who repeatedly come back and refer clients to us.
CEO
Guy is a graduate of the Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) and has had over 20 years experience in litigation, estates, commercial law and conveyancing. With a wealth of accounting and managerial experience, Guy is the head of the Commercial Department and the firm's Chief Executive Officer.
Guy also has an extensive history in finance investment, both as a member of the firm, and as a private investor.
His vast experience in property includes purchase, renovation & sale of houses, ownership, management, purchase & sale of motels, boarding houses, office complexes, flats & units, child care centres and shopping centres.
Guy has more than 20 years experience in Commercial and Estates work, particularly in the purchase and sale of businesses.
A Director of the Gibbons Child Care Group, which has owned and managed three childcare centres in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and a Director of Pacific Accommodation, which has provided budget accommodation between Cairns and Sydney since the early 80's, Guy has experience well beyond the Law.
Guy has a very comprehensive knowledge of the Law and for some time has been the ABC Solicitor on "Legal Talk Back", a program which is a live on-air presentation.
Guy is a specialist lawyer in commercial property transactions, asset protection, contract disputes, planning & environment, building disputes, company structures, franchise agreements, joint venture agreements and leases.
On a personal level Guy contributes to many community organisations with free legal advice, hands on management assistance and financial support.
These include local youth charities, family help-lines, sporting groups and handicapped children.
Guy is the founder of The Board Meeting Corporate Surf Event charity and through his passion for surfing has helped raise a lot of money to assist those in need.
Guy's other great passion is motor racing; and he races at as many events as possible.
Guy is also involved in coaching rugby at a junior level and played for Queensland at school level.
If you would like to speak to Guy please contact him on 1300 334 566
General Manager
Peter oversees all the business activities of the practice for Maximum efficiency.
He is actively involved with clients on a day-to-day basis and is also the initial point of contact for the firm’s Maximum Pricing Policy Service.
Peter is also responsible for the BCS Customer Care Program, liaising with clients large and small to ensure their satisfaction ensuring the legal file mapping system is being followed. The process, called Legal File Mapping™ is a unique client file management tool that lets all staff track each case at any given moment.
This can be done wirelessly from any location, providing better access and faster, less expensive outcomes for clients. At BCS we feel it is our responsibility to offer the best advice on how to manage every case and LFMTM helps deliver outcomes at every level, providing advice whenever and wherever needed in practical ways. This, we believe offers our clients a distinct advantage.
Peter also heads our sales and marketing program. He has started a professional services group within the city to ensure our clients receive full value and access to other like minded professionals who we can refer our clients to with confidence they will receive a high level of service we provide them.
Peter has a strong marketing and senior management background and his forte is successfully developing businesses and maintaining long business relationships connecting people with people so to add value to each others businesses. He is always networking and looking for future opportunities to connect with people.
Peter is a great believer in the power of the business planning process, but always with a firm eye on its real world application.
His is experienced in both the business and the legal systems and remains totally focused on maintaining our high standards of client service and the continued growth of the firm.
He leads the cohesive approach of the entire team to ensure the highest level of communication so you can rest assured that your matter is being well looked after from start to finish.
From traditional legal methodologies, Peter has led the development of a variety of creative alternatives and strategies harnessing information technology to manage files and deliver real-time, useable answers to clients' questions.
On a personal level, Peter is actively involved with five local charities. He sits on the board of two of them and is one of the key fund raisers for these charities, mixing his business skills to help others in need. Peter also sits on the committee of the local chamber of commerce,
Peter’s passions outside of work include is his family, personal fitness outrigger canoeing, mountain bike riding, landscaping, interior and exterior design, spending quality time with friends by hosting parties and cooking & entertaining for them.
The rest of the time he is actively fund raising and looking for the next challenge. You can contact Peter on 1300 334 566 or info@bcglaw.com
Warren is head of the Family Law Department at Bennett Carroll.
Warren has been working in the Law since the early 70's having served his Articles of clerkship with McCafferty Waters and Ward a firm at the time, which ranked as one of the largest and most respected legal firms outside the Brisbane city centre. Warren was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and of the High Court of Australia in 1979.
Post admission Warren worked in an employed role with a colleague also from McCafferty Waters conducting general Litigation with a focus on Personal Injuries. By early 1980 Warren went into partnership as a Principal of his own firm and remained a Principal and practicing Solicitor of that firm until 2001 when he merged the Practice with Bennett Carroll.
Warren is in a real sense, what used to be called a General Law Practitioner. He has been fortunate to spend many years working in various roles throughout his Career however by 1976 the Family Law Act had arrived on the scene and he took a keen interest in this new work taking it on for his then employer. While Warren also has a solid grounding in general Litigation, Commercial and Business advice, Wills and Estate work his real area of significant experience is Family Law.
In developing his Practice through the 80's and 90's Warren developed a number of innovative ways of assisting the community in general should a Family split occur. From the mid 90's in particular Warren joined a national Network participating in running call lines that gave people in distress immediate assistance with Family Law legal issues. This work continues today within the Bennett Carroll service framework.
The experience Warren has amassed over three decades of Family Law work provides him with the tools needed to assist clients troubled by what seems at times the most intractable of problems. His goal is to get to the root of any problem and find a practical solution.
Warren also spent the years between 1989 and 1994 training and working with Relationships Australia as a mediator. This work and the skills acquired doing it have proven invaluable in the current Family Law environment, where particularly in children's matters at least an attempt at a mediated result is mandatory.
Warren has most recently completed training as a Child representative and continues to update and add to his skills as an advocate every year. His experience tells him that nothing is more certain than the fact that Family law will continue to change with time and the progression of Australian societies views. He remains committed to staying ahead of that curve.
Separate from his work Warren remains an active member and supporter of the Queensland Law Society (QLS). He has served on many QLS committees since the late 80's and is still a member of the Practice Management Section committee with his focus being small and regional firms. Warren has achieved and surpassed the recognisable milestone of 25 years continuous service as a Solicitor admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland.
His interests outside of the Law include cycling for fitness and Motor racing. He is an avid racer of Historic Touring Cars in Queensland hence the need for the fitness.
Call Warren or email for a Fixed Fee consultation. He developed this concept in the 90's to give client's in need a thorough grounding on the Law and the issues affecting them so that they might be well prepared to make informed decisions about their future.
Originally from Northern NSW, Kate studied at Queensland University of Technology graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Business. She has a strong interest in Family Law, which extends to international law relating to marriage and children. Kate was admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2006 and will be admitted to the High Court of Australia in Early 2007. Kate has over 4 years extensive experience in Family Law, as well as engaging in Criminal and Commercial Law. Kate has also had the benefit of being trained with Pauline Tesler, with a strong focus on negotiation. Kate is a member of the Queensland young lawyers association.
Fran Hayes is the office manager as well as the senior consultant to our conveyancing team. She has had over 30 years experience in conveyancing and has been with Bennett Carroll for 25 years. Fran has a strong rapport with many of our clients and they just keep coming back. She prides herself on quality service and going the extra mile for her clients every time.
David Friend has practised as a solicitor in his own practice on the Sunshine Coast for over twenty-five years, specialising in commercial, conveyancing and estate planning fields, and is familiar with sales of businesses, leases, trusts, partnerships, companies, contracts, mortgages and other forms of securities, subdivisional and strata titled developments, wills, enduring powers of attorney, testamentary trusts, estate administration and many other aspects of general legal practice. He was a member the Sunshine Coast University Association which successfully lobbied for the establishment of the University of the Sunshine Coast, a member of the Board of The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital at Buderim, and a director of numerous other private companies, which have been involved in a variety of commercial enterprises and businesses on the Sunshine Coast.
In recent times, he has developed a keen interest in business facilitation in China, following a number of business trips to that country.
Kym-Marie joined the firm in July 2009, having practiced in various sized firms in locations from Brisbane to Rockhampton. During that time, and since her admission to the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia in 1993, Kym-Marie has advised in most areas of family law. Recently she has presented on Binding Financial Agreements (pre-nuptial type agreements) and the requirements for commencing Court action. Kym-Marie has been invited to speak with support staff at a Queensland Law Society conference and in a mentoring capacity with young women who are currently completing their high school studies.
The welfare of children and young people is close to Kym-Marie's heart as is encouraging people to be the best they can be. Kym-Marie completed her high school studies at Balmoral State High School and then went on to Bond University. At that time, Bond University was already establishing its reputation as a leader in its field. At Queensland University of Technology she completed a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. Further studies are on the horizon. Kym-Marie has undertaken, sometimes at her own expense, ongoing professional development and recently undertook some studies to further her knowledge as to the responsibilities of an Independent Children's Lawyer in "custody" matters.
At the present time, Kym-Marie is a member of Women's Network Australia and is a regular attendee of their events as well as Brisbane Woman and Brisbane North Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the Queensland Law Society, Family Law Practitioners Association and the Law Council of Australia Family Law Division. Some of Kym-Marie's writings have appeared in Working Women Magazine and Quest Newspapers.
Sharon White is the Department Head of the Conveyancing division of Bennett Carroll. Sharon joined Bennett Carroll in 2010 bringing with her over 2 decades of experience in the legal industry primarily in the area of Conveyancing and is a Commissioner for Declarations. The purchase or sale of property is often one of the biggest financial decisions made in our lifetimes. Sharon handles all aspects of a clients needs when buying or selling residential property and enjoys helping to make the process as easy as possible for them. Sharon appreciates the complexities involved in the sales process and understands that is often a very emotional time for people. Her expertise helps to make the whole process easier, giving clients the peace of mind that their transaction will progress smoothly.
Tania completed her Bachelor of Laws degree at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2002. Tania is admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of Queensland, High Court of Australia and is also admitted to practice as a solicitor in the United Kingdom. Tania advocates and upholds the highest professional standards and is a member of the Queensland Law Society.
Tania's expertise covers the broad range of general law, with a focus towards commercial work. Tania's current case file portfolio with Bennet Carroll includes:
If you would like to speak to Tania please contact her on 1300 334 566