Geurie farmer and lawyer Claire Booth launches C.O.Booth Law & Advisory

Instead she found a different niche, using her agriculture expertise to help local farmers with tricky legal matters.

And this year the 40-year-old mother of two made another challenging decision - stepping away from a successful law firm in Dubbo to launch her own firm, C.O.Booth Law & Advisory.

"I'm proud to be able to open a modern firm that reflects our values: trust, excellence, and collaboration," she said.

"I am passionate about helping individuals, families, and businesses build and protect their wealth, and then pass it on to the next generation when the time is right,"

As well as her career as a lawyer, Ms Booth and her husband have run a successful farming operation in the local area since 2012.

The couple's mixed-farming enterprise produces high quality commercial and seed crops on 3000 acres of land in Geurie, Goolma, Wellington and Gulgong.

Ms Booth said this experience in the agriculture industry gives her unique insights into the legal needs of farming families - especially when it comes to matters of succession.

"We work a lot with farming families and agribusiness. In many cases, a successful farm represents the compounding of many generations of long term wealth," she said.

"As a result of that, when dealing with matters such as succession planning or even new renewable energy projects, we're dealing with the legacy of not just one person, but many family members across multiple generations."

In 2017, Ms Booth was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship - an experience she describes as "life-changing" which gave her the opportunity to travel to the USA to investigate equity raising, Europe to explore traditional farming family models and Brazil where long-term land leases are an alternative to ownership.

While she didn't prove the hypothesis she initially set out to, she said the experience was valuable and she learned many other things along the way.

"My research looked at the transition of assets and management, and included solutions to assist both the retiring generation, and emerging farmers trying to enter the market," she said.

"I put my hand up, full of imposter syndrome, doubts and nerves, and having been lucky enough to be chosen, can confidently say the Nuffield Scholarship transforms you in ways you could never have imagined."

"It's also a terrific opportunity to strengthen the industry as a whole, a rising tide raises all the boats."

Juggling her law career with motherhood and her stake in the family farm, Ms Booth said flexible work arrangements are a key consideration with her firm.

Unlike traditional law firms, team members work a condensed 4 day work week allowing more time to spend more time with their families.

"Operators at the big end of town are all working condensed working weeks, there's a shortage of labour, and, in a post-pandemic world, people are really valuing their uninterrupted family and leisure time," she said.

"They understand that they can work in a different way from the traditional 8am to 5pm day."

Ms Booth also hopes her practice will be an inclusive and comfortable space for her clients - who are often in very stressful periods of their lives. Within the building, the firm has created a dedicated area for children to play and mental health first aid practitioners are on hand.

"Our client's needs are often a little out of the ordinary, which means we have to operate a little out of the ordinary too," she said.

"I wanted this to be an inclusive practice not only for staff but, for instance, for those clients who have the care of children but need to be involved in the succession planning process. I didn't want anyone to be excluded because they felt they couldn't bring children along."

Since the firm launched in February, Ms Booth has mostly been working with her existing clients who she said have really warmed to the new space. In the new year, she hopes to welcome more clients to the firm.

"It's an important job. One that requires empathy, and a lot of collaboration, whether that's between family members, or with financial planners, accountants, bankers, and other farm advisors," she said.

"We take our role in people's lives incredibly seriously, and I'm very proud of the way our clients have trusted us as we've started this new chapter together."

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