Byrne Lawyers judged Queensland Small Employer of the Year

Byrne Lawyers has transformed from a 13-person Gladstone practice into a regional legal powerhouse with 68 staff, 20 solicitors and offices across Gladstone, Bundaberg and Biloela.

Faced with the challenge of attracting experienced legal professionals to regional Queensland, the legal firm adopted a ‘grow your own’ approach, building a pipeline from traineeships and entry-level roles through to qualified solicitors and future leaders.

Thanks to its proactive and innovative approach, Central Queensland firm Byrne Lawyers has been judged the 2026 Queensland Training Awards Small Employer of the Year.

Byrne Lawyers has provided professional legal advice to the people of Central Queensland for 95 years, and it prides itself on offering modern practice with an emphasis on technology.

Byrne Lawyers also values the training of its staff and has embraced the transformative power of vocational education and training (VET) to address its workforce needs.

The firm employs seven business administration trainees and supports more than 20 other employees in external training and education that supports their individual career goals, in addition to the structured internal training that more than half of Byrne Lawyers staff are undertaking.

Underpinning their approach are 44 role-specific training plans, dedicated trainers and comprehensive digital resources that support flexible learning across a workforce that is spread throughout Gladstone, Bundaberg, Biloela, Moranbah, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and at times internationally.

This investment has contributed to a quadrupling of the firm’s workforce over the past decade, high staff retention and expanded legal services.

By combining training, technology and genuine career pathways, Byrne Lawyers is demonstrating what regional workforce development can achieve.

Byrne Lawyers Managing Director Kylie Devney said winning the 2026 Queensland Training Award Small Employer of the Year was an exciting recognition of the firm’s work.

“It feels amazing. It’s great for Central Queensland but it’s really exciting for us to get recognition of the hard work we’ve been doing over quite a long period,” Kylie said.

“We were in the regions and we were really struggling with attracting and retaining professional staff and talent. So that became the logical conclusion for me was that we needed to start to grow our own and train from the ground up and that’s what we decided to do.

“It really became the core of what we do. Overall, it means that my team actually feel really invested in and they stay for longer.

So we’ve got really, really great staff retention rates. We actually attract staff now that come to us because of our training.

“We’ve been able to grow our business from one small branch now to three branches and almost 70 people, all built on the strength of our training processes and systems,” she said.

Learn more about the Queensland Training Awards.