Clarke is a barrister and solicitor, and has practised solely in criminal law for the last eight years.

The law chambers are named after Clarke’s maternal ancestors, who arrived in Australia aboard the First Fleet as convicts.

According to Clarke, research of the larceny trial of Nathaniel Lucas at the Old Bailey on 7 July 1784 has raised suspicions of a set-up designed to ensure that a highly skilled carpenter would be sent to the new colony.

Clarke said he is unashamed of his convict ancestry and hopes to build Lucas Chambers into a well-respected institution that supports ordinary people through the justice system — the kind of support he believes that Nathanial Lucas needed but did not receive.