Holly and Olivia Boylan pose in the courtyard of the Supreme Court of Victoria after Olivia was admitted to the legal profession.
Move over Dennis Denuto and Lawrence Hammill QC, Victoria’s got a new favourite pair of lawyers.
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Echuca sisters Holly and Olivia Boylan are a duo to mess with at your peril, with younger sister Olivia recently joining Holly in being admitted to the legal profession.
The pair have had anything but a conventional journey to get to this point.
Indeed, both planned to pursue other careers before changing their minds, gaining invaluable experience under Cosgriff Lawyers’ tutelage, and making the leap into Melbourne’s legal world where, along their respective journeys to admission, they would end up working together.
“I kind of stumbled into it by accident,” Holly said.
“I was originally enrolled in a bachelor of psychology but after high school, I was fairly burnt out and decided to take a couple of years off before going to uni.
“In the meantime, I applied for a job at Cosgriff Lawyers to use the time to do something a bit more substantive than the common gap-year jobs.
“I ended up staying there for two years and it ultimately inspired me to change courses.”
Olivia took a similarly roundabout route, moving to Melbourne and completing 18 months of a degree she wasn’t enjoying before making the challenging decision to come back to Echuca.
“I felt in a sense like I’d failed,” Olivia said.
“But I also took the view I needed to take a step back before I could move forward again.
“I knew it was a difficult decision, but with the support I had from my family, I recognised it was probably the right one.”
Both sisters’ experiences back home and at Cosgriff Lawyers shaped their futures, inspiring their passion for law and helping give them the confidence to give university another crack.
Olivia and Holly credit their parents, Chris and Deb, and Cosgriff Lawyers with providing them with the support and guidance that helped them to chase their legal dreams.
“I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for people like my sister, my parents, and Jim Cosgriff and Skye Engwerda, the directors at the firm,” Olivia said.
Holly agrees, explaining her time at the firm helped her realise what area of law she was most passionate about.
“It was sort of a process of elimination,” she said.
“I basically practised or assisted lawyers who practised in every area other than crime at the firm.
“From my practical experience, I knew I liked what the day-to-day work looks like, but I also realised the practice areas I was working in weren’t exactly going to be my passion.
“It wasn’t until I was at uni and in my first semester where I did a class on crime and realised ‘yeah, okay, this is for me’.”
Both sisters slogged away while at uni, working part time in various Melbourne firms, including a stint where Olivia served as Holly’s assistant.
The late nights, long days and excess caffeine paid off, with Holly now working as a partner at criminal law firm Doogue & George and Olivia as an associate to Justice Michael Croucher KC in Victoria’s Supreme Court.
Olivia’s recent admission to the legal profession served as an opportunity to take stock of the journey they’d been on, and celebrate the duo’s successes.
“It was surreal,” Olivia said.
“His Honour Justice Croucher was on the bench for my admission ceremony, my sister was moving my admission, my parents were sitting right behind me and I had my co-associate and another friend sitting in the gallery, all watching and supporting.
“I just felt extremely lucky to be surrounded by those people, role models, and supports in my life and I’m so grateful for everyone who helped me get to that moment.”
Both sisters are full of praise for their parents and Cosgriff Lawyers, but ask them who the most important figure on each of their respective journeys was, and the answer is unanimous: each other.
“We worked together at the same firms, and she was my legal assistant for a number of years, which was awesome,” Holly said.
“We both work in similar ways, so to have someone I knew was going to give the same care and quality to my files I would was invaluable.
“We’re really quite close, so having a sibling around with the same background, who’s come from the same place, gone through lots of the same experiences and to have all those qualities transfer into a working relationship, it was just amazing and I’m so grateful.”
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