On clear summer mornings in the Pilbara, the sun rises early over blood-red dirt and impossibly straight, dusty roads. It’s a wild and humbling part of Australia that few people truly get to know. In Albany, in the Great Southern, epic hiking trails and rocky peaks peer over some of the world’s most spectacular beaches.
The two regions are vastly different and separated by almost 2,500 kilometres – or roughly 22 hours in a car – and are a vivid reminder of just how enormous Western Australia is. And, for some of the state’s lawyers, just how far they’ve come on their professional journey.
In these parts, legal assistance isn’t a 10-minute drive from the nearest courthouse or a quick phone call away. It requires planning, travel, and a special kind of ingenuity – a workforce willing to navigate distance, patchy reception, and logistical complexity to serve their communities.
A profession built on resourcefulness
Someone who knows this all too well is Mark Jeffreys, Principal Solicitor at the Pilbara Community Legal Service (PCLS), which has offices in Karratha, South Hedland, Roebourne and Newman. Recently named Regional Lawyer of the Year at the Law Society’s Gala Awards in November, Jeffreys has built his career around remote legal service delivery.
“After admission in Queensland in 2007, I worked in various private firms that included legal aid work,” he says. “I also volunteered at community legal centres in Brisbane – an experience which gave me an appreciation for the valuable work CLCs can achieve for less privileged members of the community.”
His earlier career as a police officer in western Queensland instilled in him a taste for remote community life, and it never really left him. He now leads the PCLS, a vital hub providing legal assistance to tiny towns and communities scattered over hundreds of kilometres across the Pilbara.
“From our point of view, access to justice is about using the resources we have and our initiative to find solutions that provide the people here with the best possible service that helps them pursue their legal rights,” he says.
The sheer scale of Western Australia means lawyers and their clients must constantly juggle logistics, time, and limited resources.
“Clients in many remote places necessarily need to be more patient,” Jeffreys explains. “We can address this as best we can using electronic communications, of course, but it also has an impact on our costs and the use of limited funding. Delivery of services to Tom Price, for example, requires half-day travel each way for two staff with overnight accommodation – this then affects our overall budget availability.”
Those practicalities shape almost every part of the job, as does the fact that court infrastructure in regional towns often falls well short of what would be expected in the city, with rundown facilities, limited courtroom availability, and patchy technology. The Law Society and local media have repeatedly highlighted these issues, noting that some regional courts have no drinking water, access to toilets or meeting rooms – the kind of basics metropolitan practitioners take for granted.
For many lawyers in regional and remote areas, the real challenge is continuity. How can they deliver quality legal help over such vast distances, week after week, on shoestring budgets?
Jeffreys says that while the obstacles are real, so too are the rewards. And for those who choose to practise in the country – particularly early in their career – there can be significant benefits, as long as they’re willing to be adaptable and resourceful.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to see restricted practitioners gain confidence, learn from mistakes, and grow into effective leaders in the community,” he says. “Regionally, there is so much more to learn – not only the law, but how to be an effective leader in the community.”
Building a stronger workforce
Workforce shortages, isolation and retention are perennial issues for community legal centres in the regions. The conversation has long focused on how to attract lawyers to remote areas. But perhaps the more important question is how to help them stay.
That’s where the Regional Alliance of Justice Associations (RAJA) is stepping in. In 2022, a group of WA regional, rural and remote (RRR) community legal centres came together to explore how they could improve regional access to justice. Kirsten Pitt-Nash of Tribed Consulting, an impact-led consultancy, was engaged to lead the group’s work. Workforce was the key issue that emerged. That group, now formalised as RAJA, launched its funded Workforce Development Project in 2024. The project takes a systemic approach to one of the most persistent problems in the sector: recruitment and retention of lawyers and allied staff in RRR communities.
With only around 260 community and other lawyers serving vast areas across Western Australia, even small staffing gaps can destabilise entire networks of service delivery. The RAJA initiative aims to create practical, longterm solutions. Pitt-Nash says the RAJA project deliberately looks beyond traditional recruitment campaigns.
“Regional infrastructure deficits – housing, childcare, connectivity – aren’t legal-sector problems in themselves, but they disproportionately impact community legal centres,” she says. “Some practitioners feel isolated, and the absence of visible career pathways means regional work can seem like a career plateau rather than a valued specialisation.”
RAJA’s approach is to build those pathways. It’s part workforce planning, part professional-development reform, and part cultural-change campaign. “We’re taking a systems-led approach,” Pitt-Nash explains. “The goal is to identify where interventions can have the greatest impact – whether that’s in housing, training, or local leadership – and to ensure those interventions are sustainable.”
Growing local talent
One of the project’s most promising elements is its commitment to grow-your-own models, which supports local recruitment and training rather than relying solely on short-term secondments from the city.
“We’re prioritising local recruitment and ensuring training includes cultural capability components,” Pitt-Nash says. “Ensuring that model design and governance is co-led with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations is key. Local people are best placed to support their own communities, and that’s where the long-term strength lies.”
Kylie Kerin of Kerin Consulting agrees. “For an individual client, workforce stability provides consistency of service and relationship,” she says. “They’re more likely to receive assistance no matter which service provider’s door they walk through – avoiding the experience of being referred from one service to another hearing ‘Sorry, we’re not taking new clients right now’.’ For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients, a stronger workforce also means culturally responsive services, early intervention, and capacity building within their own communities.”
Short-term objectives include piloting Legal Workforce Hubs in strategic locations, developing training and mentorship networks, and establishing evaluation frameworks that track the impact of workforce strategies over time.
The long-term ambition is cultural: to make regional practice a respected, aspirational part of a legal career, rather than a sidestep.
Kerin, a former RRR community lawyer and leader, now runs Kerin Consulting, a values-led consultancy for social and community impact.
“Regional planning frameworks and policies need to embed community legal workforces with – in essential services responses, alongside other workforces like health and education,” Kerin says. “Funding must recognise the complexity and highly specialised nature of RRR practice. And, culturally, we need to shift perceptions of regional legal work from sacrifice to opportunity.”
Albany’s example: a new generation of regional lawyers
That shift is already visible in Albany, where Kylie Sexton, Principal of Albany Family Law, is part of a growing wave of lawyers redefining regional practice. After nearly two decades across multiple jurisdictions, Sexton decided in 2025 to open her own family law practice in Albany, alongside plans to launch Great Southern Dispute Resolution, reflecting her deep commitment to mediation.
“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, really,” she says. “After finishing at Mount Barker Legal, I decided to return to practising family law and open my own dedicated firm. As an ac – credited FDRP, my real passion lies in dispute resolution, so that’s where I’m focusing next.”
Sexton’s background includes a decade as an Independent Children’s Lawyer with Legal Aid NSW, as well as experience across wills, estates, criminal law and child protection. But it’s family law, and the accessibility of services in regional areas, that drives her now. “As with most regional communities, Albany simply doesn’t have enough lawyers to service local demand,” she says. “That means people can’t always access timely advice, which leads to de – lays, misunderstandings and, sometimes, ad – verse outcomes.”
Sexton’s approach is both pragmatic and community minded. “One of the things that changed with COVID is that people have become more comfortable accessing services remotely,” she says. “But in regional communities, there’s still a real desire for face-to-face contact. People want to sit down with you. They want to know you’re local.”
That trust, she says, is central. “The first thing I’m usually asked by a new client is, ‘Do you live here?’ Once they know you do, the conversation becomes more relaxed.”
Connection and collaboration
For Sexton, access to justice in regional WA is as much about education as representation. “Working with another new firm in Albany, HLPA Legal, we’re in the process of setting up regular legal information sessions for the local community,” she says. “We want to provide clear, practical legal information about the issues we keep seeing – things like parenting disputes, separation, and navigating systems.”
She also provides pro bono work through Redgum Community Legal Centre and remains on the Legal Aid family law panel, ensuring affordability doesn’t become a barrier.
“In matters where we don’t have the experience, we build strong referral pathways – locally and to Perth,” she adds. “It’s about making sure people can get the help they need, even if that means pointing them elsewhere.”
Like Jeffreys, Sexton identifies workforce shortages as a persistent challenge – not only lawyers, but skilled administrative staff.
“Recruitment is tough. Doing all my own admin has been one of the most time-consuming and challenging aspects of starting a practice,” she admits.
But the rewards are tangible. “The lifestyle is fantastic – minimal commute times, a supportive community, amazing schools, beaches, hikes and markets. We moved here for the lifestyle, and it hasn’t disappointed.”
Mentorship and technology
Both Jeffreys and Sexton agree that technology can help bridge some of the gaps, but only up to a point. “Online and phone based services provide options, but effective legal services are based on rapport,” Jeffreys says. “Technology can assist, for example in court appearances, but there’s still a need to be place-based and develop relationships in person.”
Sexton adds a similar caution. “While online court processes have helped by reducing travel, they shouldn’t come at the cost of face-to-face circuits. People still need opportunities to physically access the justice system,” she says. She also advocates for modernisation that reflects regional realities. “Legislative amendments allowing electronic signing and remote witnessing of documents would make a huge difference. For many clients, getting to an office isn’t simple – roads, weather, and distance can all get in the way.”
Mentorship is another pillar of sustainability. Kerin and Pitt-Nash both highlight the need for structured professional networks to combat isolation, while Jeffreys sees it as one of the most rewarding parts of his work. “Seeing restricted practitioners develop confidence and leadership is one of the great joys of this job,” he says. “You see them grow from tentative graduates into lawyers who truly understand their community and their purpose.”
The road ahead
The path to sustainable regional practice is complex, requiring policy reform, funding, and a professional culture that values community-based work. But the momentum is building. RAJA’s project is already catalysing collaboration between community legal centres, education providers and support services. Corporate law firms are exploring partnerships to support regional placements. Universities are embedding RRR experience into curricula.
For young lawyers, the opportunity is enormous. “Live and work in the regions for at least two years, be a contributor in the community, and take on challenging things,” Jeffreys advises. Sexton echoes that sentiment. “Lawyers are desperately needed in regional areas,” she says. “Whether starting your own firm or joining an existing one, go for it. Working in regional communities has given me so many opportunities – both as a lawyer and as a person – that I wouldn’t have had in the city.”
A profession with purpose
Ultimately, the Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Great Southern and every remote corner of WA needs lawyers who see their work as more than a posting.
Those who do, like Jeffreys and Sexton, find the rewards are professional, social, and deeply personal: a chance to contribute meaningfully, learn fast, and make a difference where it matters most.
RRR practice in WA is both challenging and inspiring. It’s defined by long distances and limited resources, but also by resilience, innovation, and the unwavering commitment of those who choose it.
As Jeffreys reflects, “True access to justice in rural and remote WA is never about the absence of inconvenience. It’s about steady, well-thought-out improvements, flexibility, and a stream of dedicated and resilient people keeping these roles filled.”
In the vastness of Western Australia, these lawyers are proving that justice doesn’t have to be limited by postcode, and that lasting change begins with the courage, ingenuity, and community spirit of those who build their careers far beyond the city limits.
This article originally appeared in Issue 52, December 2025, of the Brief magazine, produced by the Law Society.
Issue 53 is due to be published and posted to Law Society members in late June 2026.
