HAVING run an e-commerce business and founded her own law firm, it's no surprise that many of Emilia Cardillo's legal clients are entrepreneurs and startups.
"They might have a small team of a virtual assistant and outsource but it's essentially a single operator, everyone is keeping overheads low, which is the goal," she says.
The 34-year-old is principal lawyer at Cardillo Commercial Lawyers, which she launched in late 2018.
Recently she became Newcastle's first female accredited specialist in business law - a peer-judged qualification of which she is proud. [There are 115 accredited specialists in business law in New South Wales and she is one of eight females with the title.]
"It's important for women in the legal profession (but also generally) to put themselves forward for opportunities such as this, whether it being recognised as an accredited specialist, nominating for awards or even putting themselves forward for a promotion," she says. "You don't need to feel 100 per cent ready to take that next step because as women [we] generally underestimate our own skill level."
Mrs Cardillo's love for law began in Year 9, perhaps fuelled, she jests, by being a fan of then-popular American law television show Ally McBeal. She did Legal Studies in her final school years before finishing a law degree and bachelor of business, industrial relations and human resource management.
She worked for a decade for three Newcastle law firms, specialising in commercial and property law.
In late 2016, weeks after having her second son and while on maternity leave, she launched online children's fashion store Royal Rhino. Two years later she took her brake off the venture to launch her law firm.
"I wanted to be there for key moments for my children, and not have that worry that I was letting a team down or seen to not be pulling my weight," she says. "I realised that if I had the freedom to run my own practice, I could combine the things I enjoyed - marketing, creative and the legal work."
With broad commercial and property law experience - from negotiating commercial leasing to helping clients understand what legal documents they need to start and scale a business - Mrs Cardillo says the move to be an accredited specialist in business law commits her to continuing education to maintain the status.
"It was about showing my clients I am not a generalist, this is the area I enjoy and am good at," she says.
With clients across the nation, she offers fixed fees for a reason: "Clients then don't have a perception of lawyers charging for every minute on the clock. They aren't fearful of asking questions, it opens the relationship."
