Clarissa Rayward


Clarissa Rayward

Hi my name is Clarissa Rayward and thank you for your interest in my shop. I guess you might want to know a little more about me?

Well here goes! I am a wife, mum to two, Divorce Lawyer (don’t hold that against me!) and lover of chocolate, coffee and anything colourful! I love to write, dance and spend any free moment I have ‘crafting’ (or as I like to call it #bedazzling!)

By day I am an accredited specialist family lawyer and the Director of the Brisbane Family Law Centre, a multidisciplinary practice where my team of lawyers work alongside counsellors and financial planners to ensure that clients receive the holistic support they need through divorce. I specialise in working with families through separation in a way that keeps them away from the Courts and ideally enables them to remain friends for the future. This takes courage, and is not for everyone, but divorce is one of the most challenging moments any of us can experience and after almost 20 years in family law I have come to learn that a long, expensive and combative legal process is rarely good for anyone.

I published my first book, Splitsville- How to separate, stay out of court and stay friends in 2015 and have since spent countless hours training family lawyers in Australia and around the world in better ways we can help our clients through divorce.

In my ‘other hours’ I work with lawyers around Australia through my ‘side hustle’ ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life’. After managing my own experience of burn out thanks to my life as a lawyer, I now work helping others ensure they can build great lives in law (and outside of it too!)

My podcast and book both titled ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life’ offer insights and resources for legal professionals seeking fulfilling careers and happiness both in law and in life.

I didn’t set out to be a happiness advocate in law but it seems that is just how it has all come together and in 2019 I was recognised as the 2019 Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards Wellness Advocate of the Year and the inaugural winner of the Minds Court Individual Wellness Advocate in Law. 

These days I still work with families all around Australia helping them through divorce and separation and all the bits in between. But in my ‘free time’ I am working hard to change the way lawyers practise law, to reduce our overly high rates of anxiety, depression and psychological illhealth just in case one of my girls decides this crazy career might be for her too! So there you go.

Me in a few paragraphs!