Bridget Coutts

SENIOR ASSOCIATE

Bridget is part of SMR Legal’s experienced family law department, working in both the Melbourne and Shepparton offices.

Bridget commenced her legal career as a family lawyer at SMR Legal under the guidance of Director, Fiona Merrylees. Following this experience, Bridget gained diverse family law experience working in a community legal centre and specialist family law firms in Melbourne, including a period working as a duty lawyer in the family violence intervention order list at Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court. This experience has enabled Bridget to hone her family law skillset and her ability to assist a variety of clients across all areas of family law, including parenting, property, child support, spousal maintenance, financial agreements and family violence matters.

Bridget is also a confident court advocate regularly appearing in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. Bridget’s experience working in the family violence sector enables her to bring a valuable multifaceted jurisdictional approach to the family law work she undertakes. In her final year of her law degree, Bridget successfully completed an honours thesis which considered how intervention orders are used in family law parenting matters.

Bridget continues to contribute to the legal profession outside of her day-to-day work at SMR Legal. Bridget is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria and Law Council of Australia Family Law Section. Bridget currently sits as a committee member of the Goulburn Valley Law Association and has previously sat as a committee member for the Law Institute of Victoria Young Family Lawyers Working Group. Bridget continues to be actively involved with Victorian Women Lawyers, as a previous Executive Board Member and currently sitting as co-chair for the Outreach Committee.

Bridget has undertaken training in collaborative family law practice. Bridget seeks to assist all her clients to navigate the family law process in a timely, amicable and cost-effective manner. Bridget is sought after by clients for the professionalism, collaboration, skill and care she provides to her clients as they navigate their family law and family violence related matters. Bridget is able to support clients regardless of location offering both in-person consultations in Melbourne and Shepparton as well as virtual consultations.

Bridget often receives feedback from her clients commenting on her care, professionalism and attentiveness to client service:

“Bridget was wonderful assisting & guiding me through my family law matters. Great experience dealing with the entire team. Thank you.”

“Cannot recommend Bridget Coutts highly enough. From the first consultation, Bridget was professional, knowledgeable, and genuinely caring. She took the time to clearly explain every step of the process and made sure I felt confident and informed throughout. Her attention to detail and dedication to achieving the best possible outcome really stood out. Bridget handled everything efficiently and with integrity, always responding promptly and going above and beyond when needed, I’m extremely grateful for her support and outstanding service.”

“Alex and Bridget handled my case expertly and achieved a very fair outcome for me. They also offered great moral support throughout a very stressful and protracted time in my life. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.”

Bridget can be contacted on 5821 0777 or via email at bcoutts@smrlegal.com.au