Renee Sapelli (formerly O’Callaghan) is an experienced lawyer and partner of Tindall Gask Bentley. She has been practising law for 19 years, beginning her legal career in Cairns in 2004, before moving to Perth. She joined TGB in 2015, becoming a partner of the firm two years later. In 2023, she moved back to Queensland, establishing a TGB office in Brisbane.

Renee honed her skills across a wide range of practice areas in the early part of her career, before deciding to focus specifically on Family Law and Wills and Estates.

When advising her clients on their family law issues, Renee has an outstanding ability to identify potential issues early in the legal process and provide comprehensive solutions with a minimum of fuss.

Renee is motivated by a desire to allow her clients to move on with their lives as quickly as possible, achieving a resolution which is reasonable and cost-effective. With a commercial background, Renee will often employ a common-sense approach in order to avoid costly litigation.

Her focus is on maintaining her friendly and compassionate personality, whilst ensuring she is informative, clear and direct.

Renee always strives for her clients to walk away satisfied with their resolution, a better understanding of the legal process and greater peace of mind.

For part of her legal career, Renee was employed as an Estate Planning Solicitor in Western Australia for one of the top 4 banks, where she gave estate planning advice to high net worth clients within the private sector of the  bank. She continues to provide valued advice to her clients across all Wills and Estates matters. Renee not only provides advice in relation to Wills, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Guardianship, but she is also able to provide assistance with applications for probate, letters of administration where there is no Will as well as assisting executors and administrators in collecting in and distributing deceased estates.  Finally, Renee has the ability to assist with litigious estate matters and has previously acted for both Executors and beneficiaries. She places a special emphasis on reaching negotiated resolutions in estate disputes. She is empathetic towards her clients as she appreciates the pain and expense such disputes can cause.

Renee has the ability to provide her clients with holistic advice. She is of the view that Family law and Wills & Estates advice can often be intertwined, so having strong expertise across both of these areas can be invaluable to clients experiencing separation and divorce.

In addition to the usual raft of issues that can arise when a relationship breaks down, Renee has specific expertise in Violence Restraining Order matters in WA, and their equivalent, Domestic Violence Orders in Qld.  She appreciates how these matters can have an impact on childrens’ arrangements in the Family Court. Renee assists her clients to resolve these matters including, where necessary, by litigation.

In addition to her legal career, Renee is a founding Director and current Board Member of the PTSD Research Foundation WA. The PTSD Research Foundation is the world’s leading research and educational centre of excellence on PTSD and traumatic stress. Renee has seen the significant impacts of PTSD on her clients throughout her career, particularly prevalent in people in uniform – such as police officers and those in the armed forces. It is a subject she is extremely passionate about.