While Sunshine Coast firm Bradley & Bray Lawyers is proud to celebrate 50 years in the profession next month, the practice’s hallmark has been its commitment to ongoing innovation.
Founded in 1976 as AG Bradley and Associates, the firm has grown over the past five decades to become an award-winning practice, specialising in business and commercial law, property and real estate, succession and estate planning.
In 1980, Mark Bray joined the firm and later bought the practice in 1986, renaming it Bradley & Bray Solicitors. In 2019, Jacob Corbett became a Partner and focused on incorporating innovation and streamlining legal processes.
The firm became an early adopter of electronic conveyancing in Queensland, completing the state’s first commercial e-conveyancing transaction.
Now Director, Jacob said while the firm was proud of the historic milestone, there was a lot of “newness” around the practice.
“I do feel old, but I don’t feel 50, that’s for sure,” he joked.
“There’s a lot of modernness about us now, so I guess when you hear 50, it can be quite an interesting concept because you look around and you know the way we’re doing things is very modern.
“All of the processes are very modern, but we also have clients who have been here for a long, long time and we’ve got Deb (Davis), who’s our Practice Manager. She’s celebrating 40 years in Bradley and Bray. So there is a lot of history.”
Jacob went about establishing strategic partnerships, including a successful collaboration with PEXA. Since 2021, Jacob has served on PEXA’s Member Advisory Council, helping to shape the future of e-conveyancing.
“We did our first ever PEXA settlement. It was a commercial settlement,” he said.
“It was the first PEXA commercial settlement in Queensland and we were selling an old agricultural farm up in Maleny.
“It was a really sort of an older client who we just thought was never going to let us do it.
“We presented the idea to him and said look, ‘Are you okay for us to try this new platform to settle?’ And he goes, ‘Do I get my money quicker?’ And we said ‘Yes, you get your money quicker’. And he said ‘Well, then do it’.”
Jacob has also focused on growth including the acquisition of three law firms in three years.
“What I’ve learned from that is what I should have been strong into was sustainable growth because I did a lot of hours during that period and probably took a few years off my life,” he laughed.
“What I’m interested in now is sustainable growth but very much based around innovation, and not just because innovation’s fun to say.
“I’m more talking about how we can position things better in our law firm so that we’re doing less stuff and more legal work.
“Where I’d really like to get to is to build a really, really optimised business and once I can get to a point where I’m pretty happy with that, I can help others. We as a firm can help others do that.
“Maybe in the future that would be great. It won’t be me, but I hope someone’s talking to you guys about the 100th celebration in 50 years. So that’s what I would hope for us.”
Part of the firm’s growth included the appointment of Peter Griffin in 2021. The succession lawyer was made Partner in 2022.
Another part of the firm’s success story has been recognising staff.
Sunshine Coast local Bridie Edwards started with the firm as a law student in 2019 before becoming a lawyer in 2020. She was appointed the firm’s youngest and first female Director in 2023 and became a Partner in 2025.
“It really felt like such an honour and still does. It is something I am very proud of. I absolutely feel part of the history here. It has been a big few years and a lot has happened in the last seven years,” Bridie said.
“We have all of these clients that have been around for a really long time. I deal with a lot of the same clients all the time. They started with Mark, then they go to Jacob, then they come to me. I feel like I’ve been a part of that history because I’ve seen what they’ve done before, and probably even before I was alive.
“Having Deb around who’s been here for 40 years, I think is one of the most incredible things about the firm. She knows everything. She knows everyone.”
Bridie, a commercial lawyer, was also the youngest elected member of the Queensland Law Society Council. She was first elected in 2021, bringing that experience to the firm and representing early career lawyers and regional practice.
“It was pretty amazing to have firstly the support of the firm because it does take a lot of time to be away from the firm,” she said. “Then also the support of the legal community especially being however young I was back then.
“It was a pretty amazing experience. I wanted to run because I just love the regional vibe that we have and I wanted to bring that into the city.
“Being a young lawyer, I wanted to bring the regional experience but also give the younger people a voice because especially on the Sunshine Coast. I was the second cohort at the uni to go through, so the Sunshine Coast Law School is very new.”
Bridie said being able to study and work in the area she grew up in was an attractive option.
“I’m a big advocate for the uni being on the Sunshine Coast because I got to stay at home,” she said.
“I’ve grown up here. It was a lot easier for me to study law here than to go to Brisbane and now to have a job on the coast where everyone who I studied with has jobs here.
“I can still be around my family – it’s a lifestyle thing. I was just a big advocate for that and I wanted to get QLS support for the people on the Sunshine Coast, in the regions and the younger people that are coming through behind me.”
As the firm continues to keep an eye on innovation and technology, both Bridie and Jacob are excited about AI. They don’t see it as a challenge to their firm and its half-century of history.
“I think it’s one of the biggest opportunities for law firms,” Jacob said.
Bridie was quick to agree. “That’s what I was about to say. We’re hoping that AI advances quicker than it is, so that we can start using it. To be honest, we’ve been waiting.”
Jacob elaborated. “It’s like any tool or technology that you find. At one point we were writing down our time billings and then passing them to a PA and then that PA was then entering them manually into a into a spreadsheet.
“To record your billings, now I send an e-mail and it automatically bills for me.
“There’s ways in which I think you can use it. I mean, the hope I have, at least for the immediate term, is that AI takes away some of the simple jobs we get requested to do that don’t really need our intervention.
“At least, it doesn’t seem very capable of replacing a lawyer from what I can see, maybe in the future it might, and we might be having another discussion.
“Law firms can utilise it in such a way that maybe we can put our feet up a little bit more, you know? But what I actually think will happen is it just will create more opportunity for higher volumes.
“There’s all those little bits and pieces, in-between jobs that you know, it’s not really sexy to think about. There are workflow issues within firms of how to deliver things from here to here to here. And if we could utilise AI to scoop up a lot of that, then we hopefully we can just get back to being lawyers.”
And for now the future continues to look bright for both Bridie, who is looking forward to mentoring staff, and Jacob, who is not buying any more law firms – at least until the Practice Manager calms down from the last one!
To mark the anniversary, the firm will host a private celebration for referrers, professional partners, and long-standing clients.
“Reaching 50 years is a proud milestone for our firm,” Jacob said. “Our longevity reflects the trust placed in us by our clients and referrers, and the dedication of our people over many years.
“We are grateful for these relationships and remain focused on delivering high-quality, practical legal advice well into the future.”
As Bradley & Bray faces its next half-century, the firm remains committed to innovation, professional development and its long-standing values.
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