I named my law firm Walsh&Walsh in honour of my grandfather and great grandfather, John Harold Walsh and John Ambrose Walsh.
My grandfather and great grandfather were in partnership as JA Walsh & Walsh, a law firm in Brisbane from the 1940s to the late 1970s. The firm's practice areas included defamation law and general commercial litigation. My grandfather and great grandfather were fortunate enough to conduct proceedings in the High Court in respect of a false imprisonment claim.
My great grandfather was also in the earlier partnership of Fitzgerald & Walsh, a law firm in Brisbane from the early 1900s to the 1940s. My great grandfather conducted litigation in the High Court in respect of a trespass to land and compulsory acquisition matter, being fortunate enough to instruct in the Privy Council appeal. In our day and age, it is hard to imagine having to take a boat half way around the world just so your client is represented, and barrister instructed, at an appeal.
I am deeply proud of my grandfather and great grandfather's achievements. I named the firm after them in the hope that I can live up to the high legal standards set by them. Apart from the references to the firms in the judgments, only a handful of items remain from the two firms.
Fortunately, some of the legal texts that the firms owned are still in existence and were given to me by a relative after a careful book restoration. I cherish these books as they are a physical link to the legal history of my family.
Underhill and Anson are familiar names in tort and contract law, the inclusion of those texts in the small law library making sense for a law practice of that era. The texts Wilson & Graham Criminal Code of Queensland and Wilson & Graham Supreme Court Practice are much less know. The texts are the precursors to Carters Criminal Law and Ryan Weld & Lee Supreme Court Practice respectively. They are a testament to the level of legal scholarship in Queensland at the turn of the century.
My favourite thing about the small collection of books is my grandfather and great grandfather's underlining and annotations. They summarise the elements of different claims, cross out repealed acts and out of date commentary and pencil in additional citations of relevant cases. To see these annotations warms my heart. When I read them I see the sharp and insightful minds of my great grandfather and my grandfather as they practised law in my hometown over the last 100 years. They are also a broader reminder of the practice of law in the early to mid 1900s and Brisbane's own proud legal history.
The firm I have established differs in many ways from the firms my grandfather and great grandfather were part of. The clients I am targeting, areas of law I practice in and the way I work greatly differ. With time, technology and specialisation, that is inevitable. That said, much about the practice of law hasn't changed. Cases are still won and lost on discrete legal issues that often only the sharpest of legal minds identify. Some aspects of the practice of law continue on throughout the years, regardless of how many changes occur within the legal profession.
Julian Walsh
The reported decisions where JA Walsh & Walsh instructed include:
Little v Commonwealth [1947] HCA 24.
The reported decisions where Fitzgerald & Walsh instructed include:
Duncan v Theodore [1917] St R Qd 250
Duncan v Queensland [1916] HCA 67
Theodore and Another v Duncan and Another, Privy Council, 2 May 1919
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