Hume Taylor & Co has been an integral part of Whyalla, providing legal services tailored to the area’s unique needs for over 40 years. Senior Associate, Sriyani Partridge delves into the challenges and opportunities of practising law in Whyalla, ensuring accessibility and benefit for all. Through firsthand experiences, insightful perspectives, and invaluable advice, Sriyani explores the profound impact of legal advocacy for Whyalla and regional South Australia.

Hume Taylor & Co has been servicing the community of Whyalla since the 1980’s, a proud and long affiliation with the area. My prior knowledge of Whyalla was the socioeconomic diversity and the beauty of industry meeting the ocean. Since 2007, I have personally been travelling and practising in Whyalla…17 years! As my practice covers both private paying clients and legal aid clients, it was authentically tailored to suit the needs of the Whyalla community. The township and surrounding areas of Whyalla needed access to good practitioners, and I felt I could offer support in financial matters, children’s issues and divorce proceedings. Specialising in Family Law in addition to Estate Planning and Administration and Wills and Conveyancing, I bring expertise in collaborative negotiations. This fair approach achieves the best outcomes for my clients in the most cost-effective and time-efficient manner.

Over the years, I have gained a knowledge of the township and the major concerns of Whyalla-based clients. I love that I can arrange a handover for children’s issue matters and know exactly where that handover will occur. Or that because I know the local schools which my client’s children attend, that I have a knowledge and understanding of the support they have available to them. Being an industry-based town, I am also familiar with the way in which the steel works rosters work in Whyalla and the impacts that shift work can have on the local community and family life. These insights assist me in providing more appropriate advice, which can be practically implemented by my clients. As Hume Taylor & Co offers expertise in estate planning and also estate administration, I’ve had the ability to assist families in preparing their estate planning documents (Wills, Powers of Attorneys and Advanced Care Directives), whilst also being there for their loved ones upon their passing. I have been able to assist Whyalla families with the difficult process of estate administration, allowing them to grieve their loss, whilst leaving me with the legal obligations. This help may be in the form of applying for a Grant of Probate for them or simply updating their title deeds.

We’ve got over 40 years of experience operating in Whyalla and currently work from the serviced office of Cunningham & Harvey Accountants. We generally have a visiting practitioner in Whyalla, typically on a fortnightly basis. I am personally in Whyalla each month. This, in addition to improvements in technology, means we are accessible to our clients all business hours and days. We are happy to provide our services to our clients by any mode they like. Our older clients prefer in person meetings, whereas our younger clients often prefer the efficiencies of meeting by Microsoft Teams or telephone.

I also find, as the major courts are in Adelaide, that we can offer efficiencies in having our visiting Whyalla team working in conjunction with our Adelaide office. Our knowledge of both the Whyalla area and Adelaide ensures that we have access to many resources. This allows us to advance our clients’ legal needs as efficiently as possible.

I would encourage young people of Whyalla to pursue a career they are interested in. Country towns have just as great a need for lawyers as main cities do. Yet, it is often very difficult to recruit lawyers for a regional office. If people interested in law are willing to work locally, they will have a good chance of having a successful career. The law covers so many areas and in country offices it is important to have general knowledge. But it is also beneficial for future lawyers to find an area of law they are passionate about, whether that is family law, commercial law, property law, or estate law (the list goes on), and to focus on developing their skills in that specific field.