01
Start
Structure, founders, first contracts, the brand.
Sydney · New South Wales · Commercial Law
The contract records who won. The deal decides it.
Most legal advice arrives after the critical decisions have already been made. DOCET LEGAL works earlier.
A full-service practice for businesses, individuals and families across New South Wales, outside the courtroom, with commercial work at its centre. Contracts, structuring, deals, people, property, compliance, disputes and succession, from one lawyer. Direct advice. Fixed scope. No unnecessary correspondence.
The deal decides it
Most deals are decided before the lawyer enters the room.
By the time a contract arrives for review, the real negotiation is already over. The leverage was set in earlier conversations. The key terms were agreed in principle. The document is just recording who won.
What we do
One practice for the whole life of a business.
Sixteen areas of work, outside the courtroom. Here they are by the stage a business is at, because that is how the questions arrive.
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Grow
Deals, premises, people, franchising, building contracts, a retainer.
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Protect
Terms, privacy, regulators, debtors, disputes, the family.
- Contracts
- Employment and workplace
- Intellectual property and brand
- Privacy, consumer law and compliance
- Debt recovery and security
- Disputes, tribunals and negotiated resolution
- Wills, succession and estate planning
- Outsourced general counsel
- Building and construction contracts
- Small business compliance and regulators
- Technology, software and online business
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Exit
Selling the business, succession, the estate.
Contracts
Every business runs on a handful of documents.
Terms of trade. A service agreement. The contract with the biggest supplier. A shareholders agreement. Getting those right is where most legal trouble can be headed off. The practice reads the ones sent to you, writes the ones you issue, and negotiates the ones that matter.
Who we help
Businesses, individuals and families.
- Business owners buying or selling
- Founders setting up and raising
- Owners, builders and trades on a building job
- Small businesses answering a regulator
- Employers, and employees when it goes wrong
- Franchisees and franchisors
- Commercial tenants and landlords
- Businesses that want a lawyer on retainer
- Owners planning succession
- Individuals and families planning wills and estates
- Professional referrers
Working together
Straightforward from the first email.
DOCET LEGAL takes on matters selectively and works directly. No hand-offs. No unnecessary layers. This is how an engagement runs.
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A short note
Send a short note about what is happening. You will hear back within one business day with whether the practice can help and the fee basis.
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Scope and fee, in writing
Before any work starts, you receive the scope and the fee in writing, fixed for most matters and staged for others. Where a matter cannot be fixed in advance, it is charged on an hourly basis with a written estimate at the outset. If the matter changes shape along the way, the fee is agreed with you again before the extra work starts, not increased after the event.
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The work itself
You deal directly with the lawyer doing the work. Advice arrives in plain English and ends with a recommendation, not a menu of options to decode.
Worth knowing
Fixed fees
Most matters are quoted as a fixed amount before work begins. The engagement terms are published openly, not sent on request.
Costs and engagement →One business day
Initial enquiries receive a reply within one business day. If the matter is not a fit, you will be told plainly and pointed somewhere better.
Get in touch →Persian · فارسی
Advice is available in Persian. The practice has served Sydney's Farsi-speaking business community since it opened.
صفحه فارسی →Leasing, Australia-wide
Lease matters run through The Leasing Lawyer, the practice's dedicated leasing site. Advice online for landlords and tenants in every state. Tribunal work is at NCAT, in NSW only. In other states the practice works with local counsel.
theleasinglawyer.com.au →Free resources
A plain-English client guide and a plain-terms glossary, free to read and print. No email required.
Resources →Insights
Short pieces on contracts, leasing, and franchising. Written to be used, not skimmed. Reading time is printed on each one.
Read the insights →On retainer
A fixed monthly fee, and the practice becomes the place the question goes first. Contracts, staff, compliance, debtors, and the dates you give it in writing, diarised with reminders. Invoiced after each month.
Outsourced general counsel →Outside the courtroom
The practice does not litigate. Tribunals, commissions, mediation, arbitration and expert determination, yes, with the leave or permission a lawyer needs at NCAT and the Fair Work Commission. When a matter becomes a contested court case, or an arbitration needs a court application, it is handed to a litigator, with no referral fee either way.
What is handed on →Sixteen areas
From the first contract to the sale, the succession and the estate. Contracts, structuring, deals, property, building contracts, franchising, employment, IP, technology, compliance, regulators, debtors, disputes, wills, a retainer, and leases through The Leasing Lawyer.
The practice →Advice in plain English and in Persian, for the people building businesses across Sydney and beyond.
The name
The name is Latin: docet means he or she teaches.
Good legal counsel brings clarity to a question, not only an answer to it.