Hello, I am Cathryn Warburton, the Legal Lioness. Why do my clients call me that? It’s for a couple of reasons. One is that I look after my clients the way that a momma lion looks after her cubs, I nurture them, I train them up, I help them. Sometimes I give them tips that will help them be independent, sometimes when they need me to take over that’s when I’m there for them.
If you’ve ever seen any wildlife documentaries, you’ll have seen what the momma lioness does when somebody threatens her cubs. That’s what I’m like when the business bullies come out or when there’s a dispute and somebody has got my client’s back against the wall. I am that momma lioness. But where did this name come from?
I am from South Africa and many years ago when I was quite young, I was just six years old and a friend of mine disappeared. He was just three years old, his name was Mishak and unfortunately he was never found and it was assumed that he had been murdered. That experience really affected the person I became, when he disappeared I, in my little six year old mind, thought that it was maybe my fault. Was there something that I could’ve done to protect him? Should I have told him more about stranger stranger danger?
It really affected me and I became hypervigilant, I was the one who looked after everybody, watched out for everybody, looked out for danger and so it made sense later in life to look after people and take care of them and that’s what being a lawyer has given me. It’s given me the ability to channel that deep seeded need within me, to take care of people around me. Another experience which helped me develop, was going bankrupt.
This law firm that I have now, Acacia Law, was not my first law firm. The first law firm that I created when I was in my twenties was a complete disaster. I was a very good lawyer, not as good as I am now, but I was pretty good. But I was bad at being a business woman and I didn’t know many of the things I needed to know about business, and this is what I bring to my clients. Sometimes you don’t know, what you don’t know.
I find sometimes, clients think they know some legal information, but they’ve really heard a myth, I like to bust those myths. So back to when I was in my twenties and I formed my law firm, I was renovating my house at the same time. So day after day there were no clients and so within three months I ended up with a wonderfully renovated kitchen, but completely bankrupt. I ended up having to sell my house and having to rehome my pets, which was a very traumatic experience for me.
I sold at a significant loss, they actually just took over my mortgage and there was great trauma associated with it and I had to move thousands of kilometers away from my friends, my family, and my support group. In my current business, I have seen clients so far down the track of a business mistake, that they actually end up bankrupt. I don’t ever want any of my clients to go through that because I personally know what it’s like to lose everything and I don’t want you to go through the same thing. So, the way that I operate is that I try to help clients bullet proof their businesses, so that you won’t make a fatal legal mistake that will tear away all of your hard work, because I know what that’s like.
Even though I only had that first business for a few short months, it was absolutely devastating. So, all of those experiences, among other others, have led me to where I am today and this is why I really do have the backs of my clients. I am the Legal Lioness and I’ve got your back.
