Our Story

A bit about LLG

We’re a different kind of law firm designed for progressive organisations and people.

What you can expect with LLG is straight talk, human-centred processes, and modern tech-enabled delivery.

No egos. No attitudes. No BS.

Just quality advice and excellent client service leveraging real-world experience from both sides of the Pacific – in life, law, and business.

Latitude Legal was founded on three guiding principles:

  • A better client experience – our experience of consistent underwhelm from other legal service providers drove our desire to create a law firm that delivers a genuinely responsive, transparent, and human-centred legal service that clients would enjoy engaging with.

  • A focus on Australia and Canada – leveraging our cross-border experience to support organisations and people operating between both countries with high-quality and competitively priced legal services.

  • Rollin with life’s adventure – Priorities evolve and sometimes you just have to roll with it. We designed LLG as a flexible legal practice that lets us do meaningful work with good people.

Our Principal Lawyer & Director

Michael D. McLaws is an Australian and Canadian lawyer and the founder of Latitude Legal Group (LLG).

Having grown up in Alberta, Canada, Michael did all the quintessential Canadian things you’d expect – playing hockey, hiking and snowboarding in the Rockies, and spending school holidays at the lake or on the farm. His passion for aviation and an undergraduate degree in geography sparked a lifelong curiosity about the world, which ultimately led him to migrate to Australia to pursue his legal career and a new adventure Down Under.

With a career built between Australia and Canada, Michael has supported complex organisations, public entities, and people navigating change. Before entering legal practice, he had an early career in land and resource management. As a lawyer, he trained with top-tier law firms in Brisbane, Calgary, and Sydney.

Today, Michael is a dual-qualified lawyer and certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) with over 20 years of commercial and organisational leadership experience, including over a decade in senior legal and governance roles in sectors including:

  • Construction and infrastructure

  • Energy, resources, and mining

  • Public sector and utilities

  • Professional and regulatory bodies.

Michael’s in-house counsel experience with multinational and public sector organisations includes EQUANS, Rio Tinto, Seqwater, and IBM. He has worked directly with leaders and operational teams through growth, governance uplift, complex commercial transactions, and the everyday “make it work” legal support that keeps teams moving forward – from contracts and procurement to compliance and risk management.

Having lived the cross-border reality himself – starting over, setting up, and settling in, both as a single person and with a family – Michael understands the personal and professional complexities faced by expats and globally mobile families. He has navigated many of the same issues and understands the challenges firsthand: navigating visas and immigration, employment, separation from family and friends, and managing cross border assets and estate planning.

Through Latitude Legal Group, Michael now helps others do the same – supporting businesses, individuals, and families to plan confidently across two legal systems. Whether advising a multinational, a new venture, or an expat family planning to relocate to Australia, he helps clients move from complexity to clarity with advice that’s practical, precise, and grounded in real-world experience from both sides of the Pacific – in life, law, and business.

Credentials

  • Principal Solicitor, Queensland Law Society

  • Barrister & Solicitor, Law Society of Alberta, and Notary Public (Province of Alberta)

  • Project Management Professional (PMP®), Project Management Institute (USA)

Education

  • Master of Laws (LLM – Business Law)
    Osgoode Hall Law School, York University

  • Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
    TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland

  • Bachelor of Science (BSc – Geography)
    University of Calgary

Notable Appointments

  • Board Member, Queensland Division, Association of Corporate Counsel Australia, May 2021 – Dec 2024

  • Board Member (Public Member), College of Alberta Psychologists, Sept 2014 – Nov 2017

Professional headshot of a man with short hair, beard, wearing a white shirt and black blazer, smiling against a plain white background.
Black background with white cursive signature of Michael D. McLaws and text below reading 'Principal Lawyer & Notary Public.'

Memberships & Associations

Engagement Options & Fees

We offer flexible engagement options to suit your needs, budget, and preferred way of working. 

Wherever possible, we provide fixed-fee pricing so you know exactly what to expect upfront. For broader support or changing requirements, we offer flexible resourcing and monthly subscription options.

Clear scopes. Transparent Fees. No surprises.

  • Every engagement is confirmed in writing with an individual client disclosure and costs agreement that clearly outlines your scope, fees, and billing structure. No hidden costs, no surprises.

  • For well-defined scopes of work, such as contract drafting, business structuring, estate planning documents, or transactional support, we provide fixed-fee pricing so you have clarity from the start.

  • For urgent matters, time-sensitive work, when a fixed scope of work isn’t required, or just when hourly fees are preferred, we offer competitive hourly rates.

  • Flexible senior in-house legal capability for when organisations with or without an established legal function need support. We offer clients flexibility with fixed term resourcing on a full or part-time, embedded, or remote basis for a weekly or monthly fixed fee.

  • A monthly subscription service providing access to a set number of hours of legal and business advisory support each month. Scalable, predictable, and ideal for ongoing legal support without the cost of a full-time hire.

  • For governance, risk, strategy, or legal education sessions, we offer fixed fees or hourly options depending on your objectives, deliverables, and timeframe.