When Jeff Garrett first walked through the doors of Attwood Marshall Lawyers as a young articled clerk in 1981, he stepped into a firm that had already established strong community ties.
Those ties continue today – 80 years on – with the firm celebrating an important milestone and its proud local history in the Tweed/Gold Coast region.
Back then, the firm was a modest operation on Griffith Street, Coolangatta, with a staff of about 20 and a reputation based on the names of its founding families: Attwood, Marshall and Woodward.
They were not just names on the office door; they were, and still are, part of the local community – respected and trusted in the Tweed and Coolangatta region.
The firm’s origins stretch back to 1946, when Eric Attwood moved his family north from Sydney after World War II and began practising in Tweed Heads.
His partnership with Fred Budd, of the still-operating firm Budd & Piper, helped shape the legal landscape of the region.
By the 1970s, the Attwood, Marshall and Woodward partnership had become a familiar and respected name. Bob Marshall and Jack Woodward joined forces with Eric in 1969, eventually becoming Attwood Marshall Lawyers in 1979.
Eighty years on, that legacy remains one of the firm’s greatest strengths along with its people. It is not uncommon for staff to have been with the firm for more than 10 years.
Partners Debbie Sage (Aged Care, Wills and Estates) and Angela Harry (Wills and Estates) celebrated their 21-year and 20-year milestones this year.
For Jeff, those early years were marked by a sense of continuity and strong role models.
“My master was Bob Marshall, and Richard Atwood, Eric’s Attwood’s son, was the other senior partner,” he recalled. Bob and Richard were admitted as solicitors in February 1969 in New South Wales and Queensland respectively. Bob did his articles with F.K. Budd, Son & Attwood. Richard did his articles with T W Biggs & Biggs in Brisbane.
“They’re still around today and live locally, although long retired. They still deal with the firm and refer family and friends. They still have clients they’ve looked after for decades. Those original partners were all very well‑known local families. They were very well respected within the area.”
That respect, he believes, is one of the reasons the firm has endured.
“It’s a testament to those two firms,” he said. “Budd & Piper is still going strong now in Tweed Heads, and our firm – Attwood Marshall Lawyers – the same in Coolangatta and Kingscliff. We’ve probably grown a lot more than some of the other local firms and have offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It’s a powerful brand and the name opens doors.”
Angela says the founders still send matters and that connection remains important.
“The founding partners are still very well known in the community,” she said. “As the firm has grown and expanded, we’ve still tried to maintain that small town or local firm reputation and experience.
“We’ve got a lot of clients who we’ve acted for – grandparents, parents, children – through the generations.”
That enduring connection between past and present is something the partners speak of with genuine pride.
Debbie said: “I think starting as a smaller, more community-based firm meant that we built stronger connections with our community.
“And it also meant that we embraced learning and growing together. When we did start out small, there was more accountability, more support and then as we grew, we grew with demand as clients needed more from us. We’re having this issue now, again, Angela and I, have an influx of constant matters coming through the door.
“That’s our moment of expansion, not because we want to scale, but because we want to deal with the demand that we’re having with our clients.
“So building those strong community foundations, building those connections in our community is so important. And we still have those connections. It is very common for us to act for clients and their families for many generations.”
While the firm’s roots run deep, it continues to evolve. A turning point came in the late 1980s, when Attwood Marshall Lawyers made the then-unusual decision to bring in a management consultant – an unheard-of move for a regional law firm at the time.
It worked. Processes modernised. Professional standards sharpened. The firm expanded rapidly, growing from a few dozen staff to more than 80 by the mid‑1990s. Today, Attwood Marshall Lawyers has surpassed that number again, with a renewed sense of direction and a culture that blends tradition with innovation.
Technology has transformed the practice of law since Jeff’s early days of dictaphones, mag cards, and plug‑in switchboards. But while the tools have changed, the firm’s philosophy has not.
“Bob Marshall was always very forward thinking,” Jeff said. “Even back then, we had what was probably one of the first central dictation systems.
“We all had a dictaphone with buttons on our desk. You’d pick it up and there were three lines – non‑urgent, urgent, and precedents.”
“The typing room would receive the recordings instantly. They had a mag card and a word processor, which in ’81 was quite advanced.”
The firm even had computerised accounts at a time when most regional practices were still using ledgers. “That was unheard of,” Jeff said.
But that was nothing compared to the arrival of email in the 1990s.
“When email came in, it just turned everything on its head,” he said. “Before then, everything was done by post. You’d send a letter, and the expectation was they’d get it in a few days and respond accordingly. Backwards and forwards would be a week turnaround, sometimes more.”
The next phase of evolution is the firm’s ability to capitalise on artificial intelligence.
“I think for us, it’s probably continuing to evolve, but not reinvent,” Angela said.
“We’ve always embraced technology. AI is at the forefront and it’s something that we are using in the firm. And for us investing in the next generation of lawyers, because ultimately the firm’s strengths lie in its staff.
“We’ve got the systems, we’ve got the knowledge, but what’s really important to us is continue with our foundations. We’re open to change. We always have to move with change, particularly where we are at in today’s age.
“But I think for me, investing in the staff, continuing with that relationship-based connection with our clients, our referral sources, and growing that with the people that we move through the firm is going to be really important.”
“That’s right,” Debbie says. “I keep saying how you communicate is just as important as the advice itself, because you need to build that trust.
“And it’s all about your judgement as well. You may have the technical experience, but it’s understanding that your judgement as well as your technical experience is just as important when you give advice.”
Relationships and the firm’s culture remain important, creating that sense of “Attwood family”, as cliched as it sounds says Angela. Both Angela and Debbie have celebrated personal and family milestones while at the firm.
They don’t need any time to ponder the question of what makes the firm special.
“I think for me, and Debbie probably will agree, because this is something that really permeates through the firm, is the culture,” Angela said. “We’ve both been here for, what am I, 20, Debbie, 21, and the firm’s grown so much, even in the time that we’ve been here.
“But for me, the firm’s always been really aligned with living our intent, which is helping people and changing their lives for the better. And what we’ve tried to do is really bring that into the culture and not only how we interact with our clients, but also our staff.
“The legal side of it is obviously very important. We want to be giving the right advice to our clients, which I think we do, but that culture and the relationship-based business that we’ve built, I think really has been a large part of the success of the firm.”
Debbie does agree.
“Another thing that comes to mind is the investment that we’ve put into our people, not just our systems and development, but also our own personal development,” she said. “We have a lot of programs which help us with that as well, which I’m really proud of, and it’s been available ever since we started, which has been great.”
Ask Jeff what has kept Atwood Marshall strong for 80 years, and he doesn’t hesitate.
“It may seem corny,” Jeff said. “But our whole purpose is to help people and hopefully change their lives for the better.”
It’s a simple statement, but one that carries weight. The firm continues to practise in the traditional areas of law – personal injuries, family law, property, estates, litigation – the areas where clients are often facing the most stressful periods of their lives. That responsibility isn’t taken lightly.
Jeff believes the human element of lawyering is more important than ever. In a world of emails, texts, and digital overload, he sees immense value in face‑to‑face connection.
“There’s so much that’s lost when people only communicate through screens,” he said. “Being a trusted advisor – that personal relationship – still matters.”
The Atwood family moved from NSW and Richard Attwood (right).
The firm is still committed to the community with Angela and Debbie’s teams running community wills days and holding educational sessions at local libraries, Probus clubs and other community groups as well as doing community radio. The firm also supports local charities such as the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital and Salvation Army.
As Attwood Marshall Lawyers celebrates its 80th anniversary, Jeff feels humbled to be part of a story that began long before him and will continue long after.
He speaks warmly of the younger partners now carrying the torch – professionals such as Angela and Debbie who embrace the firm’s culture, its history, and its commitment to service. He knows the founders would be proud.
“Bob Marshall and Richard Attwood are both in their 80s now,” he said. “They’re proud that their names continue with the operation of the firm. And it’s really nice to have their approval.”
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