Release date: 06 October 2021

Leading compensation law firm Travis Schultz & Partners (TSP) is pleased to announce it will merge with the personal injury department of esteemed Brisbane law firm, Bennett & Philp (B&P).

The merger will see B&P Directors and QLS Accredited Specialists in Personal Injury Mark O’Connor and Trent Johnson, and paralegal Sarah van Kampen join the TSP team.

Travis Schultz & Partners’s expanding Brisbane team – Trent Johnson, Sarah van Kampen, Mark O’Connor & Travis Schultz

TSP Managing Principal, Travis Schultz, said the merger will change the personal injury legal landscape in Brisbane for the better.

“We are very excited to announce the joining of forces between TSP and B&P’s personal injury department,” Mr Schultz said.

“This is a merger designed to create a personal injury powerhouse for Brisbane that promises to bring our lower fee guarantee, industry-leading expertise and personalised service delivered with compassion and a community conscience,” he said.

B&P Director Mark O’Connor will move with the department he built and led for the past 33 years, ensuring a smooth transition for clients prior to his retirement in the coming years.

Mr O’Connor said recent succession planning at B&P provided an opportunity to review the future of the compensation part of the practice.

“Over the years we have built a substantial personal injury practice and we wanted to make sure it will have a good home into the future with an ethical and professional legal team,” Mr O’Connor said.

“The alignment of values between our two firms ensures that the B&P personal injury clients joining us in the merger will continue to benefit from the same level of personalised service with the added security of being brought into the fold of the best compensation law firm in Queensland,” he said.

TSP has outgrown their Brisbane office and will transition from their current Eagle Street office to a new city location in Adelaide Street that will accommodate the B&P personal injury department merge and provide a more fit-for-purpose space to better serve the needs of the award-winning firm’s growing client base.

Travis Schultz & Partners 484 Adelaide Street, Brisbane City Office. We expect to be ‘moved in’ by mid-November.

Also joining the TSP team from B&P will be QLS Accredited Specialists in Personal Injury and lawyer, Trent Johnson, and his highly experienced paralegal, Sarah van Kampen. Interestingly, Mr Johnson, who will head up the TSP Brisbane city office, has done a full-circle career move.

Travis Schultz met Mr Johnson at the beginning of his legal career on the Sunshine Coast almost 20 years ago and said it was no surprise the pair would work together again.

“I remember being impressed by Trent as a young clerk starting out in his legal career at the firm at which I was managing partner at the time,” Mr Schultz said.

“We have stayed in touch over the years and I cannot think of anyone else I would trust more to oversee our team’s transition to our new city office location and manage TSP’s presence in Brisbane moving forward,” he said.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received from the professional community and humbled by the fact that we are managing growth rather than struggling to maintain, as so many other firms are.

“We contribute our success to our focus on social justice rather than maximising profits. It’s a very different way of servicing clients and our clients tell us they think it’s better,” he said.

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