Practitioners: Christopher Cocks, Rebecca McDougal
Christopher Cocks LLB	email Chris: chris@strathlaw.com

Chris has been admitted as a legal practitioner for 41 years. In that time he has been, at different times and places:

• A barrister and mediator for 15 years in Adelaide
• A solicitor for 10 years in Adelaide, Meningie, Strathalbyn and Macclesfield
• A magistrate for 8 years in Adelaide and rural South Australia

Over the years Chris has represented and advised many clients from a wide variety of backgrounds.

• He has conducted mediations and facilitated meetings.
• He has incorporated clubs, businesses and associations.
• He has represented people charge with offences in the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts.
• He has conducted complex civil trials.
• He has acted in workers compensation cases.
• He has drawn contracts, wills, leases and other documents.

He has given advice in all types of matters including aboriginal communities in remote Australia, farmers and producers, educators, associations and clubs, sporting bodies, manufacturers etc.

Chris has been on government advisory boards, has conducted investigations and delivered reports to government, and was director of the Legal Practitioners Conduct Board.

He is a trained mediator and has conducted complex mediations since he did his training with LEADR in 1993.

The process of taking instructions from, and advising and/or representing, clients involves contact with people from all walks of life and all levels of sophistication, learning and experience.

The most important characteristic a lawyer must have in dealing with clients is patience, understanding, respect and a capacity to listen and understand the nature of the problem or issue the client brings to the lawyer. Chris brings these characteristics to his work with his clients and the public.

Chris lives in Macclesfield in the Adelaide Hills. His interests outside the law include motorcycling, sailing and bush walking.

For a number of years Chris was legal adviser to the national controlling body of motorcycle sport in Australia, Motorcycling Australia (MA). In that position Chris authored a new MA constitution and was the principal author of the General Competition Rules of MA.

He was also on the judicial panel of Federation Internationale Motocycliste (FIM) the world body responsible for the control of international motorcycle competition. This position took him to international FIM meetings and councils.

Chris has ridden motorcycles on the roads for about 40 years and remains a keen rider. He is the proud owner of a sailing boat moored at Wirrina on the Fleurieu Peninsula.