George Constantine Pharmacis

George is the Principal Lawyer of a thriving legal practice. He has experience as a Solicitor practicing in multiple areas of law, particularly Family Law. He has a broad range of experience helping clients in all facets of family law, including: parenting and property matters, child support, spousal maintenance, financial agreements and de facto relationship matters. George provides a personal and tailored approach to all of his clients.

George is also an excellent Business lawyer with many years’ experience in all aspects of business law. Whether it be establishing new businesses, franchises and copyrights or successfully resolving commercial disputes and litigation, George can help you.

After completing a Bachelor of Laws degree, George undertook a Post-Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at Bond University and was admitted as a legal practitioner in both the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia.

George currently serves as Treasurer of Robina Community Legal Centre Inc, Committee Member of Community Legal Centres Queensland  and is a member of the Queensland Law Society, Family Law Practitioner’s Association of Queensland, and Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia.

In recognition of his devotion and commitment to the community, he was recently awarded ‘Volunteer of the Year 2018’ by the Robina Community Legal Centre.

George is an avid martial artist and in his spare time (those few minutes he occasionally gets!) can be found enjoying these pursuits.

Debra Jane Canning

Debra is the founder and practiced in family law for more than 20 Years.

Darren Hayes

Special Counsel

General Expertise

• Is an Accredited Specialist in Succession Law (wills, estates and trusts) in
• Has returned to private practice in Australia following

a number of International Aid placements in the Pacific where he worked as a technical advisor to the Governments of Samoa and Papua New Guinea to overhaul and modernize their trust and estate administration laws, to prepare a suitable will and estate administration precedents, and to provide training to enable the Governments to expeditiously administer intestate estates.

• Drew the Statement of Corporate Objectives, Board Rules, and Code of Conduct for the Public Trustee of Samoa and the Public Curator of Papua New

Expertise in Litigation

• Prepared, advised and appeared in guardianship proceedings, as well as incapacity and advocacy matters in the Supreme
• Conducted innumerable claims for and against estates involving every type of challenge to
• Appeared in the Queensland Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts and the Family Court of Australia, the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal and the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal as a solicitor

Expertise in Wills and Estate Planning

• Has personally made hundreds of Enduring Powers of
• Has drafted specialist clauses for a wide range of transactions undertaken by attorneys nationally and
• Established wills precedents and trained staff in will-making processes in Australia, Samoa and Papua New
• Has checked and supervised and drawn thousands of wills, including innumerable testamentary discretionary trust
• Provides broad-ranging estate planning advice and services for high net worth individuals and their families, including designing estate plans for individuals with assets in multiple

Expertise in Estate administration

• Obtaining Probate & Letters of Administration in all States and Territories of Australia, and arranged to reseal grants in foreign countries, and advised on the administration of real and personal property in dozens of foreign
• Advised on the effect of Uniform Succession Law legislation for National Charities, Trustee Companies and the
• Provides specialist advice on difficult estate administration

Expertise in Business & Personal Succession and Related Areas

• Estate and business succession planning, advice in respect of every type of express trust and
• Establishing structures to give effect to philanthropic and charitable intentions of
• Knowledge of the tax and other laws applicable to international and national FIFO
• Involved in the administration and protection of assets in a wide range of foreign jurisdictions from a number of countries including USA, UK, Russia, France, Singapore, NZ, PNG and
• Advised on matters involving SMSF change of control, foreign travel, removal of inappropriate co-trustees, and dealt with transitional arrangements and court applications where trustees lost
• Experience in restructuring complex business arrangements of individuals who had lost capacity, who had adopted business structures many years ago, generally driven only by tax considerations, who had not maintained those structures or who required substantial work to modernise their company constitutions, trusts and business arrangements to minimise penalties and to ensure compliance with modern company, tax and trust laws. This process invariably also involved engagement of a wide range of suitable financial, accounting, tax and business

Christine Smith

Christine holds a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Laws from Southern Cross University. Following this she completed a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice with Distinction at the Australian National University.

Christine was admitted as a Lawyer by the Supreme Court of Queensland and holds a current practicing certificate. She has nearly twenty years’ experience working for the Government and has represented many clients before the Fair Work Commission and various tribunals having a passion and commitment to employment law. She is a published writer on health and safety and currently teaches Law two days a week at Southern Cross University. Currently she assists the office in all clerical functions and allocated legal matters.

Colleen Victoria Erin Battersby

Colleen has worked at Pharmacis Canning Lawyers since  September 2019. Colleen assists with accounts and customer enquirers and acts as Executive Assistant to Mr George C Pharmacis.

She is currently studying a Bachelor of Laws at Griffith University with an anticipated graduation date of October 2020. Colleen received the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence at Griffith University in 2019.Colleen also volunteers at My Community Legal and is the Treasurer’s Executive Assistant. Colleen is also President of the Griffith Canadian Law Students Association (GCLSA) and is a member of the Gold Coast District Law Association (GCDLA).