Austin Parnell was an Australian lawyer based in Melbourne, Victoria, who was admitted to the Victorian bar in 1964 and worked as a partner of the law firm Westgarth Middletons. His documented career centred on legal practice in Victoria, and the Victorian Bar later announced his death.
Background
Austin Parnell's documented background is connected with Victoria, the Australian state whose capital, Melbourne, became the setting of his legal training and professional life. Victoria was separated from New South Wales as an independent colony in 1851, and Melbourne grew rapidly during the gold rush that followed, becoming one of the largest cities in the Australian colonies.
His formative years of education and professional entry therefore took place in a city that was developing its own legal profession, courts, and commercial institutions during the twentieth century.
Education
Parnell studied law at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree. Founded in 1853, the University of Melbourne was the first university established in Victoria and became a principal centre of higher education in the colony and later the state.
His legal education was followed by admission to the bar in Victoria in 1964, which marked his entry into the state's legal profession.
Career
Parnell's documented career was in legal practice in Victoria. He worked as a partner of Westgarth Middletons, a law firm that later became one of the predecessors of Corrs Chambers Westgarth. That merged firm was formed in 1991 from Corrs Australian Solicitors, Westgarth Middletons of Sydney, and Chambers McNab Tully and Wilson of Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
He was admitted to the bar in Victoria in 1964. Admission at that stage placed him within the Victorian legal profession, the independent bar and solicitors' practice that shaped the state's commercial and litigation work in the decades that followed.
Membership
Parnell's documented professional membership was in the Victorian Bar, the body of barristers practising in Victoria, which he joined upon his admission in 1964. The Victorian Bar later published an obituary notice announcing his death.
