Robert Cole's documented life is centred on Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, where he studied law and built his professional career. Melbourne's legal tradition reaches back to the colonial period. The commercial firm later known as Corrs Chambers Westgarth traces its roots to Whiting and Byrne, a law firm formed in Melbourne in 1841, in the years before the gold rush.
Cole studied at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws. The university's law teaching began in 1857, when its founding Chancellor, Sir Redmond Barry, established Australia's first law course. The Melbourne law school combined scholarly teaching of legal principles with preparation for legal practice, and Victoria became one of the first places in the common law world where lawyers had to complete part of their training at university. The final intake into the undergraduate Bachelor of Laws program took place in 2007, after which the school admitted students to the Juris Doctor.
Cole was admitted to practise in Victoria in 1984. Victoria formally fused its barristers' and solicitors' branches on 1 January 1892, so that later admissions were made as barristers and solicitors, although the two branches remained largely distinct in practice.
Cole worked as a partner of Westgarth Middletons. That firm was formed in 1988, when Westgarth Baldick of Sydney merged with Middletons Oswald Burt of Melbourne to create a firm with 60 partners and associates. Both predecessor firms had been established in the 1870s. Westgarth was best known for its work in building and construction, while Middletons was known for its work in the transport industry, with a heavy emphasis on shipping.
In 1991 Westgarth Middletons (Sydney) was one of three firms whose merger formed Corrs Chambers Westgarth, which was established on 2 April 1991. Corrs has since grown into a national commercial law firm with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Port Moresby.
