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Wollongong firm Foye Legal set for rapid growth with expansion to Shellharbour and appointment of leading legal talent to head up Compensation Division.

In a testament to taking measured risks and never forgetting your core values, law firm Foye Legal is set to open a regional office in Shellharbour – after starting from a home office just a few years ago.

Foye Legal will open its new practice at 3/1 Memorial Drive, Shellharbour City, with a team providing the full suite of legal services currently available from its Wollongong office. The expansion is a double celebration for Foye Legal, which has appointed Lawyer Melissa Pacheco Zizic as Director of Compensation.

Ms Pacheco Zizic is a specialist in personal injury and compensation law, with 12-years-plus experience in supporting clients accessing financial compensation and insurance claims, ranging from product and public liability to motor vehicle and industrial accidents, medical and other professional negligence, workers compensation and work injury damages, assault and institutional abuse, total permanent disability claims and more.

“Many people suffering the long-term effects of ill-manufactured medical devices in their body are unaware of their rights to seek compensation,” she said. “In recent years, I have had the privilege of representing clients who received recalled hip implants that contained a metal-on-metal component that led to metal poisoning and other issues.”

“I can’t take away the pain or injuries, but obtaining compensation helps place them back in the position they were in before injury, as far as money can do that. For most, this helps soften the burden because something has finally gone their way. It can be life changing.”

With a Chilean father and Italian mother who both immigrated to Australia, Ms Pacheco Zizic has a deep understanding of the challenges people from non-English speaking backgrounds face. She was drawn to study law and finds the most rewarding part of the job is learning people’s stories and supporting them in changing their future for the better.

“Through my parents’ experience I came to appreciate that knowledge is power, and that education is the greater equaliser. So, from a young age, I was attracted to the romantic ideal of lawyers seeking justice for the oppressed. If I could make a positive difference in people’s lives. I thought that would be a truly rewarding and fulfilling career.”