Michael Galland in his office where he began his legal career in Goulburn. He later formed a partnership with Les Heinrich. In 1990, the firm merged to become Galland, Elder Lulham. Now a consultant, he is approaching 60 years as a lawyer. Photo: John Thistleton.
Home to Goulburn’s legal profession for generations, Montague Street never looked more fraternal when lawyer Michael Galland arrived in 1966, fresh out of Sydney University and three years as an articled clerk.
Well-regarded family legal practices lined both sides of the street.
“You had J.B. and L.A. Mullen, with Leo Mullen, Jack Mullen and John Mullen,” said Michael, who continues to practise in premises once occupied by his father, Bernard.
“Others were J.C. Walsh and Son, with brothers Kevin Walsh and Damer Walsh and later son of Kevin, Mark; Baker and Kennedy, with Colin Kennedy and his son Neil. Preston Baker and Don Elder were the other partners there.
“It was a tradition in those more genteel days [1966] for new solicitors to be formally presented to the Goulburn Court by the senior practitioner. Jack Mullen introduced me, followed by a short formal response of welcome from the magistrate in open court.”
Traditions steered his journey to law from before his teen years.
Leaving Goulburn Public School in Bourke Street with his eyes set on Sydney Grammar School, where his father and grandfather had completed their secondary educations, his primary school teacher David Donaldson said: “Listen, they’ll eat you alive down there. I want you to get some exam experience before you go to Sydney.”
That extra preparation saw him awarded a Sydney Grammar bursary, even though he had not applied for one.
Six years later, having completed his secondary education and earning a Commonwealth scholarship with good marks in physics, chemistry and maths, he was unsure of what career best suited him. Despite advice from his peers at St Paul’s College in Sydney, Michael enrolled first in law, had second thoughts and transferred to engineering, then to medicine before finally returning to law.
Switching from one faculty to another not only frustrated enrolment and scholarship staff but cost him three months of valuable lecture time. Meanwhile, Bernard Galland, who had earlier been in partnership with Ian Duffy, had by this stage established his own flourishing practice and was swamped with work. He needed Michael to complete law in four years, not the preferred six years beginning with an arts degree to prepare for the more challenging law course.
Bernard, who practised from 1936 until his death aged 70 in 1982, proved an excellent mentor as Michael began work in an office next to him.
“It was good for me because I could hear Dad, who spoke with a reasonably firm voice, conducting his interviews and generally dealing with clients. I learned quite a bit from that,” he said.
“Dad had built a terrific practice. The work was just immense. I worked very hard after I understood what I was doing, because it takes a while to work out how the practical side of law operates. I was terribly dependent on a couple of brilliant secretaries we had here. One, Bronwyn Ferguson, was Dad’s secretary. Dad said, ‘Well, you better have Bronwyn’. She would guide me through much of it.”
An early case stands out for Michael, as an inexperienced solicitor acting for an unmarried woman under the Maintenance Act (since abolished) to secure an order for maintenance of her child.
“She had an order for her first children and was pregnant again,” he said. ”We had a terrible contest with the alleged father to establish paternity. It was the type of case I wasn’t used to, and a very personal and intimate exercise.
“There was no DNA in those days, so you had to prove paternity by association. We got there in the end, but it was a fierce battle. But I was very relieved and satisfied with that result as a young, inexperienced solicitor.”
Another case, with much wider implications, arose during his partnership with his father when the Australian Tax Commissioner challenged Michael’s assignment of part of his partnership income to his family trust. The strategy had Law Society approval in principle, the prime purpose being to share income with his wife and family, like any other business.
The Tax Commissioner used it as a test case challenging its validity, because about $4 million worth of taxable income was at risk for the ATO from legal partnerships throughout the country.
“We won at all stages. First in the NSW Supreme Court, then in the Federal Court of Australia and then ultimately in the High Court of Australia. It took five years,” he said.
A thorough test of his and the Law Society’s understanding of the law, the case’s outcome underlined a career that was built on a solid foundation by good teachers and family mentors.
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