Melbourne Lawyers

There are an abundance of Melbourne lawyers each with a different part of the Australian legal system that they practice. For cities such as Melbourne, the majority of lawyers will practice Commercial Law or Civil Litigation, actually constituting for approximately 50 percent of all Melbourne lawyers.

Other avenues of law that Melbourne lawyers can practice in include business law, criminal law, personal injury law, tax law and workplace relations.

Besides just strict lawyers in Melbourne, there are also a number of other types of lawyers such as Mediators, Collaborative lawyers and Notary Public lawyers.

Mediators are lawyers that specialize in alternative dispute resolution to avoid cases going to court. Collaborative lawyers are generally used for family, civil and commercial law matters for dispute resolution where the individual parties work with their lawyers for a fair solution without resorting to litigation. A Notary Public lawyer will administer oaths and statutory declarations, statutory declarations, witness affidavits and perform certain other acts.

Lawyers in Melbourne earn strong wages, especially those with several years experience due to a skills shortage across the law field. In fact, there are predictions that Melbourne lawyers wages could increase by 7-15% over 2009, putting them at some of the best paid jobs in the country.

Melbourne Law Firms

Like any major city, Melbourne has a great number of law firms located within the city, especially the CBD. Also similar to other cities, Melbourne law firms range in both size and specialty with the law they practice with Commercial Law and Civil Litigation being of principle focus for the majority of Melbourne lawyers with these types of law being the most in demand by both individuals and businesses.

Australia's legal system is diverse with the range of law lawyers can focus on, but with Melbourne lawyers typically focus on the corporate avenues of the law system with this being the most requested form of legal services requested. In fact, Commercial and Civil Litigation account for almost 50 percent of all Melbourne lawyers' specialties.

There are three forms of legal avenues in private practice, government, and corporate. Private practice law firms in Melbourne are by far the most prevalent with staff sizes ranging from sole practitioners to law firms with up to 40 lawyers on their books.

Melbourne law firms and lawyers in Melbourne will conduct their business in four different courts systems, being the Magistrates' Court of Victoria, Country Court of Victoria, Supreme Court of Victoria and Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal. Depending on the case and the parties involved will decide where any law cases will be directed with issues such as children also playing a deciding factor.

There are 5 suburban law associations covering the Melbourne metropolitan area and 10 country law associations.