Our Principal - Kingsley Liu
A third-generation Chinese-Australian, Kingsley’s career path has been previously in power engineering and investment banking from Melbourne to Canada and Asia, before focusing on legal practice and community interests.
In 2006, with the goal to act for disadvantaged persons and the less privileged, Kingsley co-founded The People's Solicitors with Jeff Shaw QC - former New South Wales Attorney-General (1995-2000) and NSW Supreme Court judge (2003-2004).
From 2006 to 2020 the firm acted in many matters across legal areas. In 2016 -2018 People’s Solicitors has represented the survivors of the 2010 Christmas Island boat tragedy, in which 48 of the 89 asylum seekers died. It was a lengthy class action against the Australian Government for negligence.
Former Co-Principal
The Late NSW Attorney General Jeff Shaw
Jeff Shaw co-founded the firm with Kingsley and Janice Gounder in 2007.
After entering politics in 1990 to fill a vacancy in the NSW Legislative Council, he went on to establish an independent Administrative Decisions Tribunal and the Drug Court.
The firm aims to help the part of the community that's left stranded between Legal Aid level and the more conventional but expensive legal services. These are those people who really need support but struggle to afford quality legal services.
Jeff's vision was to give good folks, sound legal results without having them break the bank. The People’s Solicitors had initially provided legal advice and advocacy services on a range of legal matters in the trade union and taxi industries, migration and commercial property transactions. It now provides an extensive range of services in almost every area of law
A Firm for the People
Jeff Shaw and Kingsley Liu met when they teamed up for taxi drivers in a landmark case in June 2006 at the Australian Competition Tribunal. We helped the small Australian Taxi-drivers Association defeat the industry behemoth “Cabcharge” and its group of companies in a two day hearing against a well heeled group of lawyers and silks.
Jeff and Kingsley conceived The People Solicitors shortly afterwards in July 2006 on the "back of an envelope." https://www.smh.com.au/national/ruling-makes-way-for-cab-fee-rivals-20060628-gdnuhk.html