Jonathon Naef started his career working almost exclusively in Family Law within an all service law firm.However, being “a bit of a tax and super nerd” attracted him to the complexity and strategy inherent in estate planning. Like many lawyers, he took up an LLM in Applied Law (Estate Planning) during COVID, and was recently honoured as the Best Graduating Student in Estate Planning. Insights spoke to Jonathon about his LLM experience, and how his early career experiences led him to co-found Balance Family Law.

Congratulations again on being recognised as a best graduating student. What was your favourite part of study? Do you have a lecturer you want to shout out?

Thank you! Receiving “Best Graduating Student” was certainly a surprise.

I genuinely enjoyed the entirety of the Masters program, and it is definitely something I would recommend to lawyers who want to build their area of specialisation, or even branch out, learn and begin to practice a new area of law. Unlike university study, the courses provide the opportunity to not only learn more technical and nuanced aspects of the law, but the practical and soft skills that are equally important in turning that knowledge into a solution for clients, with advice and documents that clients can actually understand.

All of the lecturers I had - Allan Swan, Marie Brownell, Nathan Yii and Adeline Schiralli - were amazing and incredibly supportive, and deserve a shout out. You truly are learning from some of the best lawyers in the field. But particularly I’d like to thank Marie, who got me across the line with the Capstone unit!

What was your first job in law? What led you to your current role?

I started my legal career as a paralegal at an all-service law firm. I had a very brief stint in the personal injury team, but quickly moved into the family law team, where I spent the rest of my undergraduate degree. Estate planning was handled by a different team, on a different side of the building, so my experience with that practice area expanded only after my admission. At this time, I got to work with an estate planning lawyer, and I learnt that I really enjoyed the complexity and strategic thinking required in estate planning (I quickly found out it estate planning was so much more than just a will), and as a bit of a tax and super nerd, it just seemed like a really good fit. I left that firm, and co-founded Balance Family Law with my mentor Perpetua Kish. We did a little bit of estate planning, but once COVID hit the demand grew, so I decided to take up Masters study, to increase the service we offered clients in this area.

Where do you work now, and what is the most rewarding aspect of your role?

I presently work at the firm I co-founded, Balance Family Law. We founded the firm to solely focus on family law, and more specifically, non-litigious family law solutions. However, the practice has grown to include estate planning as well, so that we can continue to assist clients after their separation and divorce is finalised to help get their “life admin” sorted. I work both as a family lawyer, and also as the leader of Balance’s estate planning practice.

The most rewarding aspect of my job, specifically the estate planning side, is being able to work with clients through their wishes, answer their questions, and ultimately, put together a plan which meets their objectives, and will provide the most benefit for their families. As we work with many people who are newly separated, it’s really rewarding to continue that relationship, to ensure that all the effort they have put into settling those matters, and the property they retain following their separation, is protected for their children and family.

How have your studies helped with what you do at work? Has it helped progress your career? Do you have any examples?

Prior to beginning the Masters program, I, of course, knew how to draft wills and advise clients, but as much as I thought I knew, there was still so much to learn. The Masters helped me to expand my knowledge in the area, not just in the technical legal aspects, but also, and potentially moreso, in the practical side of identifying potential risks, putting together strategies and problem solving those risks, and then, most importantly being able to implement those plans and advise clients in a way that is clear and easy to understand.

Throughout my Masters, there were many times I would attend a seminar and later that week, meet a client who had a question about what we had just covered, which allowed me to apply my learnings from the course. 

Completing the Masters has definitely helped me to progress my career, and also the success of my firm, as it has allowed us to grow the practice area, where we now help (or for our family law clients, continue to help) families plan and protect themselves. 

What advice would you have for lawyers looking to move into Estate Planning?

Estate planning is such a rewarding area in which to practice. It is definitely so much more than just wills; it is also an incredibly important service to be able to offer. Unfortunately, everyone dies. We also can’t prevent bad things from happening - for example, losing capacity, or falling on hard financial times. Estate planning is a way to offer assurance to people that when those events occur, everything they have worked so hard for is going to be protected as far as possible. It’s a way of ensuring that their families and loved ones are going to be okay.

Specifically for me, estate planning has been incredibly complementary to my family law practice (as it can be to many other practice areas), as it has allowed me to add more value to my clients. Also, where your practice might involve high-conflict or emotional situations (as is the case with family law) it can be a nice and welcome change of pace, to sit down with people to work out how to avoid those situations occurring for their estate.

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