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Barbara Campbell

Barbara is the founder and principal of the firm, which has been in business for 20 years. Barbara is in her third decade of practice as a lawyer and has been an Accredited Family Law Specialist since 2002 and an Arbitrator since 1997.

Barbara understands the importance for all family lawyers to have access to best practices, workable innovations and Family Law firm management options. These should not just be the purview of large firms.

Barbara trained as a Mediator at Bond University and has also undertaken the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (AIFLAM) course and a Military Law Diploma when in the Navy as a Reserve Officer.

Barb has also obtained her Masters Degree in Estate Law, ensuring she is up to date in both estate and family law specialities. Continuous learning and developing further qualifications is something that Barb encourages all lawyers within the firm to do.

Areas of expertise

Barbara has worked in all areas of Family Law matters including complex property matters, including those involving large scale farming property and many companies, trusts and other entities. She has extensive experience in international relocation matters and Hague Convention matters and has advised on matters involving jurisdictional issues. Barb has had clients instruct her both interstate and internationally, including from New Zealand, the USA, Austria, China and Iran just to name a few. Distance is no bar to her representation.

Barb was formerly an Independent Children’s Lawyer and brings this knowledge and experience to her current practice in children’s matters. She fully appreciates and understands that the best interest of the child are at the heart of any family law post-separation parenting arrangements.

Barbara is highly experienced in the drafting of and advising on Binding Financial Agreements (“BFAs”) prior to, during and at the end of a relationship. These controversial documents must be done with care, skill and knowledge to avoid them being overturned later and Barb is proud that none of her BFAs thus far have been challenged.

In her Estate practice, Barb has knowledge and experience in a range of matters, including advising in relation to fairly standard Wills and Powers of Attorney to highly intricate Wills, including in relation to discretionary, protective, testamentary and other form of trusts. Barb is also able to advise clients in relation to how their international assets should be treated in either an Australian or international Will. Barb provides estate law advice pursuant to all Australian State and Territory statutes.

She has litigated and mediated many Family Provision Claims where or more persons have claimed on an estate, most often than not this involves children fighting over Wills after the passing of their parent. Barb has acted in these matters both for the Estate and for the party seeking to benefit from an Estate.

Elder Law is an emerging area of law and has been very much in the legal spotlight in the ACT in recent times. Barb provides advice to the elderly and those seeking to protect the elderly from financial, physical and emotional abuse.

Having previously run coronial inquests, Barb brings a sense of compassion and understanding to all her matters and treats her clients with respect and care no matter their situation.

Barbara has presented papers in Vienna, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Melbourne and the south coast.

Recognition

Barbara enjoys her work outside the office as a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy Reserves. Her volunteer work has included the local Pro-bono Clearing House, Legal Advice Bureau and Women’s Legal Centre, as well as being on boards of an aged care village and a community FM radio station. She has also been on the board of the Canberra International Chamber of Music Festival since its inception and into this decade.

She has previously been the recipient of the Telstra Business Woman of the Year award.

Barbara now aims to work jointly with the Campbell & Co. Lawyers’ team using her decades of experience, taking on fewer clients herself so she is available to arbitrate and mediate Family and Estate Wills disputes, especially in regional and rural areas where it is so needed.

When not working, Barb loves spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren, and her friends. She enjoys swimming and plans to finish writing a book and to start her PhD when she formally steps back from her current workload.