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Levitt Robinson Solicitors is a Sydney-based law firm specialising in a range of legal services including class action lawsuits, commercial law, and human rights law. The firm is known for ‘punching above its weight’, tackling difficult cases and powerful adversaries both in Australia and abroad, and has emerged as a worthy adversary, competing with industry giants like Maurice Blackburn, and going head-to-head with ‘top tier’ law firms like Norton Rose.
Senior Partner and founder Stewart Levitt estimates the firm has had tens of thousands of clients since it was founded almost four decades ago in 1986, and its impressive 4.8-star Google rating, is testament to the firm’s staying power and adaptability.
Levitt is not your average lawyer, he is a published poet, and an advocate for those who lack the financial or social capital to advocate for themselves. Much of the battle is fought outside the courtroom; “in my forty years as a solicitor, I’ve become acutely aware of the power of the media, public relations, and lobbying to actualise clients’ goals, and to drive policy and legislative reforms.”
Levitt Robinson’s track record
Levitt Robinson has been at the forefront of high profile and complex litigation, which supports Levitt’s contention that “we often succeed where others have failed and take on cases that others are too scared to touch, including against large corporations and state, federal and foreign governments.”
The firm’s capacity to run cases both in Australia and abroad, is at least in part derived from Levitt’s own multi-jurisdictional experience, having run Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 cases in states across America, represented a logistics company with substantial interest in both Australia and South Africa, and one of Hawaii’s largest luxury property developers.
Today, the firm’s client base is as diverse as its practice areas, which includes indigenous residents of a remote Northern Territory community, justice-involved youth in detention in Western Australia, franchisees across almost every sector in Australia, shareholders, and traditional owners in Papua New Guinea, to name but a few.
Striking a balance between social justice and profitability
For Stewart Levitt, Senior Partner, and founder of Levitt Robinson Solicitors, litigation is a means to more than one end, namely the resolution of legal disputes, a catalyst for legislative and policy reform, and a mechanism for safeguarding the public interests over those of governments and large corporations.
Levitt is steadfast in the belief that “justice must not be reserved for those who can afford to pay for it up front” and in so doing demonstrates that profitability and social responsibility can coexist, challenging the status quo and setting a new standard for law firms.
Surviving market forces
Thomson Reuters recorded a record decline in demand, which was offset by a surge in the second half of the financial year, resulting in 1.3% growth in demand year on year. But the turbulent start to the year did not deter Levitt Robinson from commencing new litigation against corporations and governments in Australia and abroad, unsurprising given that this is not the first, nor will it be the last, period of unpredictable market fluctuations and looming financial crises, the firm survives.
By eschewing the bells and whistles associated with large corporate law firms, Levitt Robinson has minimised the impact of fixed costs and inflation on profitability.
Opportunities for growth
“The practice of law shouldn’t be confined by geographical boundaries,” says Levitt. “We are in the process of establishing partnerships in Europe and North America.” He sees substantial opportunity for growth in tackling corruption, exposing injustice in the educational and rural sectors, and leveraging legal frameworks to drive fundamental changes through human rights class actions.
Whether driven by adept marketing or advancing the principles of social justice in the Australian legal sector, there can be no doubt that Levitt Robinson makes a significant contribution to a dynamic legal sector.
