Lesley Finn
Special Counsel
About Lesley Finn
Lesley Finn has a vast amount of experience in the area of Local Government and Environmental Law including providing advice and services to not less than 26 Councils throughout New South Wales as well as to many private clients.
Lesley’s experience extends to administrative law on behalf of Local Government Authorities and developers and proceedings in the Administrative Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. As a specialist Land and Environmental court lawyer, Lesley has been involved in numerous review proceedings in the Land and Environment Court to set aside decisions of the State Government Authorities and Local Government Authorities. She has also conducted many prosecution proceedings on behalf of Councils and has regularly made urgent applications to the above jurisdictions. Her ability to conduct onsite conciliation meetings with large numbers of residents and experts from many disciplines is well respected and will be an asset to any client needing her services and dealing with her.
Lesley is an Alternate Chair on the Local Planning Panels of Northern Beaches Council, Hunters Hill Council, and Mosman Council. She is also an Expert on the North Sydney Council Local Planning Panel.
Outside of work, Lesley enjoys the theatre, the symphony, travelling, taking long walks, and practices yoga for health and fitness.
Customer Testimonials
We’ve helped thousands of clients throughout NSW with their legal matters.
Over the past four years, my wife and I have experienced the burden of an easement that was placed over our property by the previous owner of an adjacent property. The current neighbour holding the dominant tenement rights considered that he had exclusive use of the section of our property covered by the easement. He seemed to have little or no social conscious, and caused us much unnecessary distress by his intrusion, and practice of "storing" his unwanted possessions in our place. Something had to be done about it particularly as I was fearful of leaving my wife at the mercy of his bullying and intimidating behaviour should I pre-decease her, given our age difference. I asked a barrister friend if she could recommend a solicitor(s) who specialise in easements. I was given a list of solicitors at the top of which was Hones Lawyers. I decided to seek the help of Jason Hones and his team, and it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made in my 87 years lifetime. Jason, together with his associate Peter Clarke handled our matter for the best part of two years during which they were at all times respectful to us, and attended in a most competent and professional way to every one of our concerns and steps along the way. Hones Lawyers represented us in communications with our neighbours' solicitors, and did everything in their power to achieve a mutually agreeable outcome. Their efforts were continually hampered by obfuscation from the other side until it finally became obvious that our only course of action was to take the matter to court. Under the expert guidance of Jason and Peter, our matter was heard in the Supreme Court of NSW and we are extremely grateful to have been successful in achieving judgement in our favour, and the purported easement has been declared invalid. As mentioned earlier, we are impressed with the respect we received at all times from Hones Lawyers, as well as their conscious effort to communicate with us without confusing us with "legal speak". Their selection of senior and junior counsel was spot on and achieved an excellent legal team to represent our interests. Jason personally came with us to make the introduction to counsel and sat with us through the preparation negotiations. Throughout the whole process Peter Clarke proved to be a very intelligent and extremely competent young man, a valuable representative for his organisation, and was always polite and available for our every requirement. In conclusion, we have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Hones Lawyers to anyone who wants competent legal representation carried out properly and efficiently. Max (and Janet) Petrie Max Petrie13 August 2024 Peter has recently represented me in a matter & I have found him to be incredibly knowledgeable, extremely articulate and very responsive. He also has an impressive network of professionals around him and he has a “get it done” attitude. I would have no hesitation in recommending him and Hones & I would definitely retain his services again. Matt McEwan30 May 2024 I have been working with Jane Mercer over the past few weeks finalising everything for settlement on my new place. Jane has been one of the most helpful and plesant people I have dealt with throughout my property purchasing journey. She is friendly, responsive, helpful, took a lot of time to explain things to me I was not clear on and got my settlement done in 15 days! I would highly recommend using Hones Lawyers and especially Jane who was an absolute pleasure to work with. Would happily engage with Jane any time I need help. Thank you Jane! miranda rutherford20 May 2024 I highly recommend this law firm. I recently engaged them to handle the conveyancing of my house and was very impressed with their knowledge and attention to detail. Wilana23 November 2021 Hones Lawyers, This company team can be trust, understand well your thought, professional battle a case on your behalf, and respond your question quickly. Special "Gavin" is my favorite, he is well organized, polite and so gentlemen guide us step by step for your worry since start to finish. Thanks for your help our case Gavin for finalized easement matter with plaintiff in mid this year 2020, and you and your team done great job. Minh Le30 June 2020