According to the firm, this move is a result of the demand for family law legal services in Alice Springs, an issue acknowledged by the Family Court in its establishment of a localised registry to service the Northern Territory.

AFL executive chairman Grant Dearlove said that Alice Springs would provide the group with a number of new opportunities.

“For over a decade, Withnalls has been visiting and serving clients from all over the territory, which has included Alice Springs as the second largest city in the territory. With a population of circa 25,000, Alice Springs is not to be underestimated for the prosperity of its business, pastoral and agricultural stakeholders and the people that support these industries,” he said.

“In addition to our desire to capture market share in Australia’s largest centre, it is notable that we are the first specialist family law firm in history to open in Alice Springs and provide specialty services and support to central Australia.”

This news follows the announcement in October last year that AFL was acquiring majority ownership of Darwin-based family law firm Withnalls Lawyers – and the completion of the Withnalls acquisition in January this year. This cemented the expansion of the AFL footprint in the Northern Territory region – a move which gave the firm a presence in seven Australian jurisdictions and followed its acquisition in late December of ACT-based firm Strong Law and the finalisation of its acquisitions in June and July of 2021 of NSW-based practice Watts McCray and Melbourne-based firm Kordos Lawyers, respectively.

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AFL also reported a record year in FY21, reporting revenue of $16.4 million, a 61 per cent jump on its FY20 numbers, and naming a new chief executive in August last year.