About

So, what's this blog about?  Well, here’s the long and the short of it, literally.

Scroll to the end for the short version, or, if you’re in the mood for a story, simply kick back, relax with a cool drink, and enjoy the following fairytale – or is it?

The Giants, the Law and the Boy who found Gold: A Lawyery Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a boy named Richard, who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

This is him.  (Isn’t he cute!)

Richard Mahler - A budding lawyer

Wait! Perhaps we’ve gone a little too far back.  Let’s skim a little.

So, Richard grew to be a man, and had noble dreams and aspirations of the great things he’d do as a lawyer.  But first, he knew he must travel to the Academy of Law on the Golden Coast to seek his qualifications.  The journey was long, but inspired by some great and noble lawyers who had turned their trade to the Academy, he found the seeds of law spring like a forest in his heart and stir something precious.

Finally, the day dawned that he skipped down the steps of the Academy and into the great big world, and with hope in his heart and naivety in his step he walked to the castle where he signed the ancient Book of the Lawyer.

This is that moment.  (Not quite as cute as he was, poor lad!)

Richard Mahler - The Lawyer

“I’m choosing the path of the Giants to begin my legal adventure,” he told the people of his village.  So, he and his family packed their cart and travelled to the land of Giants, where the tallest castle in the world stood.  It towered so high no-one had ever before seen the top, and the outside shone with diamonds and gold, which glittered and shimmered in the morning sun.  This was where he would practice his noble trade and his heart beat with pride.

His office was set in the tallest turret and he industriously took to his work like paper to a flame.

Diverse creatures from all backgrounds shared his workplace.  Fairies, careful and timid; Goblins, aggressive and ruthless; Pixies, resourceful and strategic; Trolls, sly and cunning; Gnomes, cheerful and hardworking; and then, there were the Giants.

The Giants ruled the office, and one day the King Giant said to Richard, “I will set you a task.  You will sit in this room until the cock crows, and if you can make the words on this legal parchment turn to gold I will grant your heart’s desire.”

“Turn words to gold?” Richard asked.  Why had he never learnt this at the Academy?

Yet, he rolled up his sleeves and set to work.  He tried to catch some stardust from evening’s brightest star to smear across the words.  He crushed the petals of a sunflower and squeezed the juices over the ink.  He rubbed and pulled and stretched the parchment till his fingers bled.  But, it was no use.  The crow at sunrise sealed his defeat.

Richard heard the thundering steps of the Giant climbing the stairs to his room. 

“Does this mean I’ve failed?” he whispered to his reflection in the window.

“Yes,” a voice squeaked from a dark corner of the room.  He winced in disgust as a sewer rat climbed from the pipes and onto the table where the parchment lay.  “No gold, no gold!” cried the rat, running her polluted tail across the law.  “We do not like it!”

“I thought the law was a noble profession,” said Richard, a tear welling in his eye.  “To stand in the shoes of one who cannot; and bring them justice.”

“Ha!” replied the rat.  “You stupid little man.  The bottom line is, it’s all about the bottom line.”

With that, the rat disappeared back down the pipe.

Suddenly, in a puff of smoke, a miniature wizard appeared in front of him, his wings buzzing in the air like a firefly.

“You want gold on those words, boy?” he asked.

Richard stared at the wizard and nodded.

“I will grant your request, but you must promise me one thing,” said the wizard.

“State what it is, disclosing any fine print,” replied Richard, in true lawyer fashion.

The wizard raised an eyebrow, but continued nonetheless.  “There is more to the law.”

“More to the law?”

“Yes, more to the law.  And you must find the door to the real gold.”

“Is that it?  Rather a vague request,” said Richard, scratching his head.

The rusty bolt at the door of his room clunked and clanged, heralding the entrance of the Giant.

“Quickly!” whispered Richard to the wizard.  “Yes, yes.  I agree.”

So with that, the wizard waved his wand, turning the words to pure gold, and with another puff of smoke disappeared into the dawn.

“Well done, well done!” the Giant smiled, his fingers stroking the gold greedily.

“Now, as for my heart’s desire-” Richard began.

“Patience brings treasures,” said the Giant, a cunning gleam in his eye.  “Your heart’s desire will be realised as you work each day, turning the words to gold.”  He moved his hand to show the door to another room, this time filled with piles upon stacks upon piles of legal parchment, filled with legal words to be turned to gold, gold, gold.

“But you said-”

As the door slammed on Richard’s face, he realised.  The once lush forest of his heart was razed by the flames of reality and, to replace it, a hole with the rawness of a freshly killed lamb was seared there instead.

Richard hung his head in despair, but then a hint of sun shone through a corner of his window.  It shone like a shard of gold on fire.

“The real gold.  I will find the real gold,” he said, and a yearning began to itch in his heart, a yearning to find his place in the law.  It grew bigger and deeper and stronger until it spread to his ears and called out like a trumpet.

So leaving the parchment, the room, the stairs, the turret, the giants and their castle of shimmering gold, he ran, ran, ran to the Court House at the top of the mountain.  He looked at the world from the view of the Court and remembered.

“The gold is the healing power of law,” he cried to the wind.  “The healing that justice brings.  The healing of a broken soul when wrong is put right.  The empowering strength that comes when someone stands in the place of another and defends them.”

“It can be done,” said Richard as he walked back to the village.  “And I will.”

So, he did.  He practiced the law, taught the law, researched the law and found gold in the law, happily ever after.

The end.

Richard Mahler - Accredited Family Law Specialist, Lecturer & Mediator

Well done if you managed to get through all of that!

Here’s the short version of what this blog is all about:

Richard and his team are passionate about family law and want to disseminate family law information, providing the community greater access to the law and hopefully generate healthy discussion in the process.  

The evidence of Richard’s passion for family law can be seen in that he practices as: an Accredited Family Law Specialist as principal of his law firm, Mahler Family Law; as a Specialist Family Law Mediator; as an Academic, lecturing and researching predominantly in Family Law (including Comparative Family Law and International Family Law); and as a passionate blogger and social media proponent in Family Law issues. 

Richard carries the hope that his work as a Family Lawyer may empower, alleviate burdens, and ultimately (in some small way) help in the healing process needed for those families he serves.  


As an Academic, Richard aims to be a strong voice in actively debating and formulating solutions to help pave the way to make improvements in family law throughout the world, creating a stronger base for the children and families of the future.