There's a new breed of lawyers on the rise who are breaking down stereotypes.
In the famous words of Bob Dylan, "the times, they are a-changin'".
Meet Luckbir Singh, Renee Sapelli and Shervin Tambrchi - three of the city's most successful young solicitors. Call them young guns, hot shots or simply lawyers at the top of their game, but however you describe them you'll need to team the label with a few more adjectives than might have once been expected.
While still chained to the desk for much of the day and committed to clients and career, the new breed of Legal Eagle, unlike the media-fuelled stereotypes that have dominated in recent years, is concerned with more than simply money and position alone.
At the top of their list of priorities are goals such as spending time with family and friends, achieving a healthy mind and body and even volunteering their time to local charities, all while climbing the corporate ladder as hastily as possible.
Whether it's a product of a generational desire to have it all or simply an evolution of the field, legal professionals today are shirking the dusty stereotypes once associated with one of the world's oldest and most highly regarded professions. They're young, fresh and compassionate and they appreciate the benefits of self-improvement, be it on a professional, emotional or physical level.
Some may recognise Luckbir Singh, 30, as the recent winner of one of the state's most prestigious legal honours, the Queensland Law Society's Outstanding Achievement by a Young Lawyer award, presented to the MacDonnell's Law solicitor in December 2008.
The accolade follows Luckbir's promotion to partner in 2007, which ranked him among the state's youngest ever partners at age 28.
What many wouldn't expect is that Luckbir, when he's not leading the way as one of the country's sharpest legal minds, is a dedicated family man with a wife and two daughters, aged 9 and 3.
He says for him, the biggest struggle during his meteoric rise to the top has been mastering the balance between work and play.
"Everyone makes personal sacrifices for their careers but without putting in all those hard yards you can't build that foundation," he explains. "I've had a young family for quite some time. I married at 18. One of the key things is making sure I've got quality time to spend with them. It's a constant challenge."
Softly spoken and with a polite demeanour, not to mention a self-confessed passion for mentoring other young solicitors, it's difficult to imagine the "family man" as a cut-throat type. However, Luckbir assures when the need arises and a client's best interests are at stake, his "inner bulldog comes out".
"I think all lawyers have this desire to be really tough and strong," he laughs.
For small-town girl turned hot-shot solicitor Renee Sapelli, 27, the years of long hours and sleepless nights working primarily in migration law paid off when her boss invited her to lunch to deliver an early Christmas present.
"I was quite surprised, it was before Christmas and my boss called me up and said he was going to take me out to lunch. I automatically started thinking: Oh what have I done'. You always think the worst, especially when it's lunch with the boss," she says.
"But then he took me to a restaurant and said to me: We'd like you to be an associate' I was speechless. I didn't know what to say, I certainly didn't expect it."
Although surprised, Renee, who decided to pursue law as a career after some encouraging words from a community figure after she spoke at a Rostrum public speaking event, puts her early success down to plain hard work and a "small town" attitude.
"I come from the cane farming town of Silkwood. I've seen what my mum and dad have gone through in the sugar industry, the hard times, the good times. They always taught us to respect our money and work hard, just those old-fashioned values and I still live my life by those rules and I think that's what's contributed to my professional development," she says.
Some parting words of advice from her father as Renee prepared to make her way to Townsville to start university have reverberated through time and echo in the young lawyer's thoughts.
"He said: Don't waste my money or your time'. We (kids) all got the same ear drumming but it paid off in the end," she says.
Renee travels between two offices in Atherton and Cairns but despite the hours of travel each week, which she admits can be tiring, she insists she wouldn't change things.
"I find it a very rewarding job, especially bringing families together, perhaps married people who have been separated. It can be very rewarding getting positive results for clients who might have been sent back to their country of origin or have had to stay offshore until their visa has been approved. Most cases can have a six-to eight-month waiting period and that can be very distressing for a couple, especially if there are children involved.
"People think ill of lawyers but I think of my role as a facilitator, not a fighter. I facilitate transactions and make things happen, hopefully in a positive way for my clients."
For Shervin Tambrchi, principal at Absolute Law and specialist in commercial and property law, it was an incident involving his family that first attracted him to the field.
"One of the reasons I did want to do law is an experience my parents, who speak English as a second language, had when I was in high school. They bought a business and had a really bad dealing with a solicitor. They didn't understand what he was saying to them because he was speaking in legal jargon.
The event was enough to spur Shervin into pursuing the profession and now that he's in a position to understand the law, he makes it his mission to help others weave through the intricate web that is the legal system.
"That's what sets me apart. The average client understands what I'm saying, for me that's very important," he explains.
Not satisfied with simply representing others from under the direction of someone else's' legal firm, Shervin, who completed a double major in law and accounting, went on to open his own practice at age 29.
When asked if he's proud of the ambitious move to start his own firm at such a young age, Shervin shrugs off thecompliment.
"I guess you could say it's young and I guess being a principal has got its own pressures. Sometimes I think maybe I should be out there running around and having fun," he laughs. "But it depends how you look at it. I definitely enjoy the work and if you like something you look at it differently. I always wanted to have my own practice or be a partner. You've got to definitely make sacrifices, there's long hours in law whether you like it or not."
To help balance his working life with his personal time, Shervin says he splits his days in half with a two-hour lunch break allowing him time for a quick run or a gym workout.
"For me that's really beneficial. I didn't follow these routines initially and it did affect me so I strongly believe a healthy mind and a healthy body goes hand in hand."
When he's not helping to solve the city's legal wrangles, or sweating it out at the gym, Shervin says he makes an effort to commit some time to the local community.
"At the moment a group of people in the business community are in the process of setting up a charitable organisation that commits random deeds of kindness. Say something happens to someone and they need assistance, we raise money for them," he explains. "It's just as important to give (as to get), that's a balance that's very important."
