What do you get when you combine city and country lawyers, one of whom speaks Russian with a Kazakhstani accent, with a cost-efficient business approach and an office in rural Queensland owned by livewire politician Barnaby Joyce? Doyle Wilson Solicitors is what you get.

With offices in the rural hub of Goondiwindi, the Queensland outback town of St George, and on Sydney's bustling Macquarie Street, Doyle Wilson is already an unusual firm. But add to the mix the ability to service Russian-speaking clients, as well as the fact that all back-end work for the three offices is done in Goondiwindi, and you have a firm that is undeniably unique.

The firm's principal, Andrew Doyle, founded the firm in Goondiwindi in 1985, at a time when rural clients, accustomed to using big metropolitan firms, suddenly found themselves in the midst of a push for international legal business.

The large landowners found they were no longer a priority.

"They'd see some spotty-faced junior associate instead of the partners, who were off overseas courting international business and multi-national clients," says Doyle.

"As a result, we picked up some clients."

In 1994, the firm expanded into the St George area and, as Doyle's five children were sent to Sydney for their schooling, he thought it would be a good idea to follow suit.

"The bean balance tipped as all [the kids] slid down [to Sydney] and I followed ... It has really grown since then," he says.

And, in such a costly environment, Doyle has discovered the benefits of retaining Goondiwindi as the head office and utilising its well-established resources to sustain the Sydney office.

"We use the resources we already had really well setup - a great IT system, experienced staff and accountants - in the country office, so all the back-office stuff is done up there. That leaves expensive space and desks in Sydney free for fee earners," says Doyle.

"That has worked out really well. At first I was a little bit hesitant about speaking about [it], but I remember talking to a senior IT guy at Telstra and I half apologetically explained to him that all our typing was done 800km away in a country town. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Or Mumbai.' He got it totally, whereas I was wondering whether to tell people. He was like, 'Isn't that the way everybody does it?'"

And the model is one on which Doyle is hoping to expand in the future, with centres like the Hunter Valley, Mudgee and Richmond on firm's the radar.

Until then, Doyle will happily continue commuting between country and city life and encouraging his clients to be a little more adventurous.

"I'd love to see more city people visit the country, and vice versa," he says. "There's a trend to be a bit insular. I'd love to see more cross-pollination, because [people would] have a lot more fun."

- Claire Chaffey

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