History

 

50 Years Logo - Gold

History of the Firm

Marsdens Law Group was founded by John Marsden as a one man practice in 1968. He commenced the practice physically on the site that we now occupy on the corner of Queen and Dumaresq Streets, Campbelltown. John occupied the back room of Warby’s Bakery. There was only he and his then first secretary Terry Turner.

In the first couple of years of the practice John made a name by taking on the establishment. On behalf of the Australian Hotels Association led by John & Jim Marsden’s father Guy, he led the challenge against the granting of a licence to the then emerging Campbelltown Catholic Club.  Obviously that challenge was unsuccessful but it made a name for John and lost a lot of friends for John & Jim’s parents who owned Lacks Hotel. 

John challenged the local Police Sargent on his practices which were then typically 1968 Police practices. Again, John made a name for himself but not a lot of friends within the local establishment.

At the same time as he was doing this he was out in the community. He was personally teaching swimming at St Johns School where he attended. He was President of the Swimming Club, became President of the Kangaroos Football Club, became an advocate of the arts in Campbelltown and was eventually responsible along with others for the establishment of the Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery.   

The two main people working with him at that time were the soon to become Premier John Fahey and Rod Smith. The firm at one stage was known as Marsden Smith & Associates.

John’s brother Jim Marsden then joined the firm in 1973. Jim had always made a promise that he didn’t want to join John in practice – they were like chalk and cheese. John didn’t approach Jim however!  John Fahey and Rod Smith approached Jim on John’s behalf. After lots of discussions and offering to double Jim’s money plus a car he agreed to join John. Jim did so at the Ingleburn office, he then went to our Liverpool office when Rod Smith moved from there to Campbelltown and then went to Campbelltown when Rod Smith left the firm. John and Jim had their offices at the opposite ends of the building but from there on they started to develop a great working relationship.

John and Jim were pretty good at being lawyers and very good at getting clients. It wasn’t until John Adam joined the firm in 1980 and later decided to become Managing Partner that they were able to use their combined skills with John Adam aka Addo taking over the management. This gave John and Jim the freedom to do what they did best and Addo the ability to do what he did best – manage the business. 

During the early days John Marsden wanted to expand. However, his expansion was really all about geographical expansion. At one stage we had 9 offices from Mittagong to Sydney with always our base being at Campbelltown and it still is.

Our late Partner Ken Searle, ran our Camden office for many years commencing in 1986. First in John Street, then moving to Argyle Street, Camden after amalgamating with John Fahey, Searle & Co.  Ken was always a community man, he was actively involved in the Camden area for approximately 40 years.  

Retired Partner, Drew Percival ran our Liverpool office for over 20 years, Drew was an integral part of our team for many years.  Our Liverpool office then amalgamated with John Henshaw at Henshaws Late Night Lawyers in 2007.  After Drew’s retirement in late 2015, Domenic Mosca, Partner who successfully ran his own law firm in Liverpool for many years took over the running of our Liverpool office.

However, in the mid to late 80s we all recognised that geographical expansion wasn’t what it was about. It was more about developing our skills to the extent where we could have specialised areas of law. This was unheard of out of the Sydney CBD.

Now we have specialist areas in Land and Environment, Property, Commercial Law, Commercial Litigation and of course the mums and dads basic areas of law including Conveyancing, Estate Planning, Family Law, Criminal Law and Personal Injury.

John and Jim Marsden were born and raised in a pub in Campbelltown. Their parents made really good beer but more importantly they involved themselves in the community and they realised the importance of service. From a lawyers point of view of course we’ve got to have the legal skills but if you don’t have community and community in a very genuine sense and if you don’t have service then you are not going to grow and you’re not going to sustain any growth that you might have anyway. Those elements of service and a sense of community are two of the major factors contributing to our success which have been passed onto the rest of the firm.

There have been many lawyers come and go at Marsdens. Most have gone on to bigger and better things. A lot have stayed. Another factor that John, Jim and subsequent Partners have always believed is important is the attachment to the locality. Originally the attachment to Campbelltown but as the area grew the attachment to Macarthur and South West Sydney. We try to employ our people from local education establishments and local schools. People who have been brought up in the area, people who are grounded. That way they have a better understanding of what is going on in the community, which then follows with a better understanding of client’s problems.

The view that we’ve always taken about being in a position to give back to the community is a view that has been maintained by us from the start and to this day 50 years later. It has put us in good stead for another 50 years.

 

The late John Marsden AM

3 January, 1942 - 17 May, 2006

JRM

John Marsden Wikipedia

Marsdens Law Group was founded by John Marsden as a one man practice in 1968. Since he started the firm, John set high standards of service, professionalism and commitment. It was these standards and John's voracious appetite for work and innovation that saw the firm expand, at times rapidly, to become one of the largest firms in the State.

John Robert Marsden, born the son of publicans Guy and Tibby Marsden, was the eldest of six siblings. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1968 with a Bachelor of Laws degree and awarded a Master of Laws Degree in 1974. In 38 years at the helm, John steered the practice from a one man operation to a leading firm of 140 personnel with offices in Sydney, Liverpool, Camden and, of course, the head office in Campbelltown where it all began.

John not only had a voracious appetite for work, but a passion for the law, his community, social justice, understanding and tolerance. This commitment to the community and various causes saw John serve many organisations, most of which he led at some period or another. The following were amongst many of John's involvements, some included the following:

  • Foundation President and President of the Macarthur Law Society
  • Councillor of the Law Society of NSW 1984-1993.
  • President of the NSW Law Society 1992.
  • Councillor of the Council for Civil Liberties 1976-1988 and 1992-1997.
  • Patron of Civil Liberties Australia from 2005.
  • Deputy Chair of the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Sydney 1994-1996.
  • Director of the Australian Aids Trust.
  • Member of the NSW Police Board 1992-1995.
  • Chairman of the Campbelltown Art Gallery.
  • Chairman of the Board of Management of the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
  • In 1994 John was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (AM).

John lived by the philosophies of some famous Australians, one of the most important of whom was Ben Chifley.... "If an idea is worth fighting for, no matter what the penalty, fight for the right, and truth and justice will prevail". It was this quote from Ben Chifley that John embraced. Every day of his life he fought for his clients' rights, his beliefs and he fought for equality and justice.

John was an openly gay man. For that openness and candour, he ended up fighting for his own reputation and justice from 1995-2001. He had been defamed by Channel 7 and in this period he prosecuted Australia's longest running and most famous defamation case - which he won.

John Marsden was diagnosed with stomach cancer shortly after the defamation case was over. Whilst fighting the cancer on a daily basis, he refused to give in. He attended work as often as he could, he took holidays and he defied his doctors in typical fashion. In defiance of advice from doctors and family, he took a holiday to Turkey in the middle of May 2006 and it was in Turkey that the cancer finally won the battle.

The strength, courage and passion John instilled into the firm and, in particular, his Partners and the now Senior Partner, his brother Jim, still exists. The success of the firm has been recognised in many areas including Western Sydney Business Awards in 2004 and the achievement of Law 9000 Accreditation a week after John's death.

To Marsdens Law Group, even in his final days, John was a backbone with the strength of a steel rod. His legacy of commitment to service, to the client and the community will be continued by the firm.

 

The late Ken Searle

1 May, 1946 - 28 May, 2017

Ken Searle - History Page

Ken was the partner in charge of our Camden office and was a lawyer for over 40 years.  Prior to joining Marsdens in 1986, Ken was in partnership with the former Premier of New South Wales and Federal Minister for Finance, John Fahey.

Ken was always a community man, he was actively involved in the Camden area for approximately 40 years.  Ken held roles in several community organisations including President of the Camden RSL Club, member of the Camden Rugby Club & Camden Rotary Club, as well as Chairman of the finance committee of the St Paul's Catholic Church.

Ken left behind a huge legacy, one that we know his children and colleagues of Marsdens will cherish forever.

 

The late Grant Butterfield

20 August 1969 – 16 June, 2020

Grant02 002

Grant was the Partner in charge of our Dispute Resolution and Litigation Department.  He came to Marsdens in 1996 having started as the Partner in charge of our Parramatta office. At that time, there was no such thing as a Commercial Litigation or a Dispute Resolution department and many of our Partners were GP’s and did litigation as part of their general services to our clients. Whilst at Parramatta, Grant demonstrated a particular skill in litigation. As a former Police Prosecutor, advocacy came natural to him so we asked him to move to Campbelltown and start our Commercial Litigation Department. Over the next 22 years he built the Department to be one of the largest in the firm with more than 10 solicitors serving our entire client base.

Grant was a good lawyer, a good father and a good man, but at the same time quite a unique individual.  He did not follow the crowd and whether it was his interest in history or American politics or his myriad of quotes and sayings that invariably confused most people, he was without doubt liked by everyone who had the fortune to cross his path. As for his clients, they respected him and relied heavily on his judgement. He was unrelenting in his desire to get the best for his client and he worked around the clock to achieve that outcome. A Sunday afternoon call from him was something clients had to get used to as their interests were never far from his mind.

Over the years Grant built relationships with people at all levels from Supreme Court Judges, Senior Counsels, large and successful commercial clients and of course, people in our community who needed Grant’s help. He treated everyone the same, everyone recognised his passion and energy, and that was why he was so respected and liked.

Grant was also well known in the local community having been President of the Campbelltown Chamber of Commerce and industry for a number of years and since 2014 with his good friend Mark Scarce as organisers of the Corporate Clash in Macarthur, which raised over $660,000 in those few short years.

Grant leaves behind his wife Donna and three lovely kids, Sam, Scarlett and Toby and the entire Marsden legal family who miss him dearly. Although he has gone, he will always be remembered and held in the highest regard by everyone who met him.

Marsdens Law Group's History Video