Key information
Company founded: In 2018 as a joint venture between 100% Aboriginal owned law firm Mailman Law and global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
Approx. number of legal staff available: Through the joint-venture approximately 450 in Australia and +3700 globally.
Australian HQ: Melbourne
Australian office locations: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
Other relevant key information: Derived from the language of the Bidjara people of Central West Queensland and the Meriam people of the Torres Strait Islands, the contemporary meaning of Jaramer is ‘One Mountain’. The name, like our firm, symbolises the strength in people coming together to empower themselves.
Jaramer Legal, Australia's first national majority Indigenous-owned commercial law firm, provides quality corporate and commercial legal services to government, corporations and businesses. With offices across Australia and connections to the United Kingdom through its joint venture partnership with global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright (with UK origin dating back to 1794), Jaramer Legal’s ability to perform services through a culturally sensitive lens makes it uniquely equipped to advise UK companies and fund managers wishing to partner with or invest in Indigenous businesses and communities.
As the first national Indigenous law firm with global reach through its joint-venture partner, the firm provides a suite of corporate and commercial legal services across a range of sectors including government, energy, infrastructure, Indigenous enterprise, technology and innovation and transport.
For professional services firms such as Jaramer Legal that have a clear role in facilitating and underpinning all economic activity, free trade agreements provide both direct benefits and indirect opportunities. Direct benefits come from certainty of the level of access and improved two-way mobility through streamlined recognition and licensing of professionals, while indirect opportunities come through a larger client base taking advantage of increased two-way trade and investment across all goods and services sectors.
Jaramer Legal's Managing Principal, Bevan Mailman said "The Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement will help Indigenous Australians connect with new opportunities in the UK and provide a unique opportunity for UK companies looking to enter the Australian market. It will provide opportunity for Indigenous Australians who have lived and traded on this land for tens of thousands of years with knowledge-based trade and enterprise at the heart of our communities. Increased export activity will also help the international community recognise that Indigenous peoples are serious business people with significant value to offer".
Mr Mailman said he could see great potential for the FTA to open up commercial opportunities for Indigenous Australians in previously untapped market areas of Indigenous knowledge and activity. "With a richness and diversity of knowledge in land and sea stewardship, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have so much to offer the international business world. As our global community seeks to tackle climate-related issues, increasingly we are turning to our Indigenous peoples for their knowledge of Indigenous land management, which includes cultural burning, aqua culture and management of flora and fauna".
“The Australia-UK FTA will help ensure that new opportunities arise in areas where ancient Indigenous knowledge is developed in culturally appropriate ways, as a response to the growing demands of the global community. Industries that will directly benefit and be enhanced include agriculture and horticulture, marine resources and industries, and the thriving Indigenous visual arts and design sectors".