New civil matters are being accepted this term — scoping calls are usually offered within two business days. Send a short brief.
A small civil practice
We take on a limited number of civil matters each term so that the lawyer who reads your file is the lawyer who argues it. Every engagement begins with a scoped conversation and ends with written terms before any work starts.
The brief
Sunday & Craft is a two-partner civil practice. We act for individuals, families and owner-run businesses who need a position argued properly — in negotiation first, and in court when negotiation has genuinely run out.
We are deliberately small, which shapes what we can promise. You will not be handed down a chain of associates, and you will not be quoted work we cannot staff. If a matter needs specialist counsel, trial advocacy or an expert we do not have, we say so at the first call and help you place it.
Practice areas
Each lane below lists the work we actually run week to week. If your question falls between two of them, describe it plainly in the brief form and we will tell you which one it belongs in.
Advice and representation for employees and small employers through grievance, disciplinary and termination processes — and the negotiated exits that usually follow. We draft and review settlement terms, restraint clauses and the correspondence that sets up either outcome.
Contract work for owner-run businesses: supply and service agreements, shareholder and partnership arrangements, and the unwinding of each when the relationship changes. We also act in payment and performance disputes where the amount justifies the fight.
Residential and small commercial property: conveyancing conditions, boundary and easement questions, body corporate disputes, and landlord or tenant matters where the lease terms are doing something the parties did not expect.
Wills, enduring powers of attorney and estate administration, including contested estates. Most of this work is quiet and procedural; we keep it that way by getting the drafting and the executor's duties right the first time.
Separation and property division, parenting arrangements and the agreements that record them. We work toward mediated outcomes wherever the facts allow, and we are direct with you about what a contested hearing costs in money and in time.
Appellate work on civil decisions, including matters first run by other firms. We review the record, give a written opinion on appellable grounds and prepare submissions. An appeal is a narrow instrument, and we will tell you early if the point is not there.
Fee basis
We use one of three structures, chosen at the scoping call and confirmed in writing. The structure is matched to how predictable the work is — not to how anxious you are at the time.
For work with a known shape: a will, an enduring power of attorney, a lease review, a settlement agreement, a contract draft.
For disputes that move in phases. Each stage is quoted and approved on its own, so you can stop, settle or continue at a known cost.
For matters whose length genuinely cannot be forecast — contested estates, appeals on a long record, fast-moving commercial disputes.
Whichever structure applies, the engagement letter states the fee basis, the scope, who performs the work, how disbursements are handled and how to end the engagement. You receive it before any chargeable work starts.
Ask for a fee indicationProcess
Four steps from your first message to a closed file. Most matters we see resolve at step two or three.
You send a short written summary. We run a conflict check against existing clients and confirm whether the matter sits in one of our lanes. If it does not, we say so and suggest where it belongs.
A structured conversation about facts, dates, documents and the outcome you actually want. You leave it with our read of the merits, the likely path and the fee structure we would propose.
If you want to proceed, we issue an engagement letter setting out scope and fees. Nothing chargeable happens before you return it signed. The file opens with an agreed first action.
Correspondence, negotiation and, where needed, filing and hearing. You get a written update at each milestone and a plain recommendation whenever the choice is genuinely yours to make.
Preparation
The call is far more useful when these are in front of you. Nothing needs to be organised or complete — a rough pile with the right dates beats a tidy pile without them.
The practice
Two partners, and no one between you and them.
Partner — disputes
Marion runs the firm's employment, commercial and appellate work. She came to private practice from a tribunal registry, which is where she learned that most cases are decided by the quality of the record rather than the force of the argument.
Partner — property & estates
Elias handles property, tenancy, estates and family matters. He prefers the work that never becomes a dispute: drafting carefully enough that the document still makes sense to a stranger a decade later.
Common questions
Yes. What you send us is treated as confidential whether or not we end up acting for you, and we do not discuss it outside the firm. Please keep the first message to a summary rather than a full set of documents — if we proceed, we will ask for the file properly.
We cannot act against a current or former client in a related matter. Before anyone reads your brief in detail, we check the other parties' names against our records. It takes a day at most, and it is the reason we ask who else is involved in the enquiry form.
Most of them can. Scoping calls, updates and document walk-throughs run by video or phone, and documents are exchanged electronically. Signing a will, swearing an affidavit and some property steps still need to be done in person with identification; we will tell you in advance which ones apply to you.
Say so in the first line of your message and include the date. Civil claims, employment applications and appeals all have limitation periods, and some are short. We cannot advise you on your deadline before we are engaged, so if the date is within a week or two, approach several firms at once rather than waiting on one reply.
Neither as a default. We prepare every matter as though it may be heard, because that is what gives a negotiation weight — and then we compare the likely outcome against its cost, delay and disruption. Most matters settle. When one should be argued, we will say that just as plainly.
Often, yes. We will need the existing file, the status of any filed proceedings and confirmation that you have ended or are ending the previous engagement. Changing counsel mid-matter costs time while we read in, so we will give you an honest view of whether the change is worth it before you make it.
Request a call
A few lines is enough to start. We read every enquiry ourselves, run the conflict check and come back to you with either a scoping call or a referral.
Please do not attach documents or include sensitive personal details in this form. Sending a brief does not create a lawyer–client relationship; that begins only when a signed engagement letter is in place.