Austen Brown Boog

Located in the heart of Dubbo, Austen Brown Boog Solicitors provide expert legal advice to the people of the central west and beyond. In operation since 1888, Austen Brown Boog's 133 year history is nothing short of impressive.

The uniquely Australian firm was first established in Broken Hill by John R. Edwards. The firm changed names under different principals over the years and ultimately became Austen Brown Boog in 2001 when Solicitor Andrew Boog became the firm's sole owner.

Austen Brown Boog are committed to meeting the needs of all who walk through their doors. Specialising in commercial & business law, Andrew and his team of 10 also practice across several other areas of law including conveyancing, family law, debt collection, commercial & residential leasing, and succession planning & deceased estates.

Adopting LEAP as their practice management system in early 2020, the team at Austen Brown Boog are enjoying the ease of use, automation and tailored support that LEAP provides. Using LEAP has played a large role in streamlining their processes and has allowed them to spend more meaningful time with the stakeholders who matter to them the most - their clients.

The values of Austen Brown Boog

Dozens of certificates frame the walls of the ‘Austen Brown' boardroom in the Dubbo office - a real testament to the wealth of expertise of Andrew and his dedicated team.

Central to the firm's ethos are four distinct values: integrity, respect, commitment and excellence; values that are keenly displayed in each room of the office, "we want to be accountable to them," Andrew remarks.

Integrity

The staff at Austen Brown Boog strive to embody integrity; they ‘say what they do, and do what they say' in all areas of the practice. This honesty and uncompromising adherence to their principles can be observed in all their interactions - between one another and with clients.

Situated in a town with a population of 40,000, Andrew recognises a greater responsibility to safeguard relationships with clients and achieve the best possible outcomes for them, "we can encounter clients in multiple capacities. My family law client may also teach my child at school, or my conveyancing client might be the coach of my son's soccer team," says Andrew. This transparency affords a more "well-rounded view of people," perpetuating the need for a strong client service focus in order to endure the test of time.

Using RapidPay, Austen Brown Boog have improved their client service by providing flexible and easy-to-use instalment plans. Thanks to RapidPay, staff at the firm can set expectations around payments in the early stages of a matter. Andrew explains that having this conversation earlier in the process has seen their clients pay sooner and with less angst.

With LEAP, Andrew and his staff are able to direct their energy towards the needs of their clients. During his time at the firm, Andrew and his staff have had to be a lot more responsive to their clients, "we've tried really, really, really hard to be responsive to client needs and to be alert to what the market is doing," he remarks.

LEAP's ease of use and automation capability affords Andrew and his team more time to focus on providing exceptional client service and less time on mundane tasks that detract from the client experience, "I want to get on with what I'm doing, which is lawyering - not filing and accounting and all of that sort of stuff. LEAP helps with that; it's easy-to-drive software," says Andrew.

Respect

Respect for the dignity, needs and aspirations of staff and clients is another value exhibited by the team at Austen Brown Boog. Prior to the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Andrew had already placed significance on the firm's "amazingly flexible" working arrangements for staff: "we do try really hard to say to staff [that] we're not here to impose unnecessary burdens…if you're working on a major matter and you need six hours of solid concentration and you want to do it from home, knock yourself out, not a problem," he reflects.

Putting the needs of his staff first and "building maximum flexibility" is what cultivates a respectful culture at Austen Brown Boog. The respect between staff transpires into all interactions with clients, contributing to their exceptional client service.

The flexibility that LEAP provides in enabling firms to work from anywhere, at any time assists firms like Austen Brown Boog with their flexible working arrangements. Starting their LEAP journey on the verge of pandemic conditions, the software "nicely dovetailed" into the firm's existing processes to make it all more efficient, explained Andrew.

Commitment

LEAP's commitment to innovation and to providing the best in practice management software is equally matched by firms like Austen Brown Boog who proudly deliver the best in legal services.

Commitment to staff, clients and all other stakeholders is important to Austen Brown Boog, as evidenced by their remarkable 133 years in operation. The firm pride themselves on their unique heritage, so much so that they celebrated their centenary by publishing a book that explores the firm's rich history. "With all that research, we thought it would be good to capture it and so we produced a book to celebrate our centenary in 1988," Andrew recalled. On their 120th anniversary, their second book, Lawyers in the Outback was also published.

As part of their commitment to provide the best in legal services, the firm places a strong emphasis on feedback from clients, staff and stakeholders alike. "We actively solicit responses from clients, other parties, suppliers and from anybody we engage with," explains Andrew. This feedback guides constant improvement in the firm and assists them in setting higher standards - "we don't want to meet the standards, if we meet them or exceed them, they're not high enough." Having standards they consistently fall short of means that the staff at Austen Brown Boog are constantly aspiring to improve.

Excellence

Ensuring that all work is of the highest standard is a key driver of many initiatives at Austen Brown Boog. The firm's engagement with the Law 9000 accreditation process is a testament to this commitment, ensuring that their management systems exceed the benchmarks set by the profession's governing bodies.

Being the only firm in western New South Wales to obtain the well-regarded ISO 9001 certification assures clients of Austen Brown Boog that they operate with organisational maturity and that all systems are compliant with the recognised model for quality.

Having undergone the lengthy certification process, Andrew asserts that "it's nice to have the certificate and the five ticks," but that "it's even nicer to have undergone the process to [identify] what we can do to improve our standards." This commitment to excellence is what sets Austen Brown Boog apart from other firms and can be attributed to their unique endurance as a firm.

Firms like Austen Brown Boog recognise that to achieve excellence, they must have excellent systems in place to support their business activities. Before Austen Brown Boog switched to LEAP in early 2020, they had been looking around the market but found no other software provider that offered what LEAP did when it came to innovation and development.

The staff at Austen Brown Boog demonstrate an unwavering dedication to ensuring that their values underpin everything they do. This dedication, combined with LEAP's intelligent and easy-to-use practice management solution have proven to be a rewarding combination for this long-standing firm as they continue to serve the Dubbo community and beyond.

For quality legal services in the central west, head to www.austenbrown.com.au.