Calls for new ways to train and retain regional solicitors as shortage bites in NSW

When Sandra Gully went to work for a country New South Wales law firm as a receptionist in her 40s, she never dreamed her boss would encourage her to study law and become a solicitor. In 2021, the Law Society of NSW found 49 per cent of the state's 37,000 or so practising solicitors work in the Sydney CBD, 34 per cent work in the city's suburbs, and only 12 per cent in regional areas. NSW Law Society President, Joanne van der Plaat, said Census data showed more than a third of the state's population lives outside Sydney, yet distance was a disadvantage when it came to accessing justice. "Solicitors in regional areas are not as scant as medical practitioners but they are thinly stretched, especially when it comes to Legal Aid," he said.