2020 was a challenging year for many, including for our team here at Keystone. However, it did mark a significant milestone for us.

In March, we quietly celebrated ten years of being in business – or, as we see it, a decade of helping clients in the construction, property and commercial sectors achieve legal best practice and realise growth and success.

To document the occasion, we wanted to share our story so far, our successes, and what the future looks like for Keystone.

The story of Keystone

Keystone began when our founder Lou Stojanovski first opened our doors back on Wharf Road, Newcastle in 2010. From there we grew, employing specialist lawyers across construction, commercial, property and development.

Prior to setting up Keystone, Lou was a highly-qualified practising lawyer with experience working for both a national law firm and as an in-house counsel for an international mining company. His passion was always in construction and business.

Thanks to Lou’s direction, a lot of hard work by the initial team – many of whom are still with us today – and a growing base of loyal clients, in 2015, we moved into our current, larger premises on Darby Street, Cooks Hill.

In 2019, we opened our Sydney office, located close to the NSW Supreme Court, to further expand and better serve our clients in the city.

The foundations of our success

Lou attributes Keystone’s success to its highly-qualified and dedicated team who follow our mantra of providing clients with no-nonsense, strategic advice. We value our staff and invest in their development so they can provide the best possible service.

Our success also comes from working closely with partners in the construction and commercial industries to better understand the needs of clients.

Our recognition & expertise

Over the past decade, Keystone has received several accolades, including winning the 2019 Australian Law Awards for state/regional firm of the year. We were also a finalist for Boutique Law Firm of the Year in the same awards and received an ‘Excellence Award’ in 2020 for Boutique Firm of the Year.

Lou was a finalist in both the 2019 and 2020 Lawyers Weekly Construction & Infrastructure Partner of the Year award. He’s also a NSW Law Society Accredited Specialist in commercial litigation, an Adjudicator in NSW and Victoria, and an independent solicitor for search orders appointed by the Supreme Court of NSW.

One area we specialise in at Keystone is security of payments in the construction industry – a topic Lou regularly presents on across the country. Lou has also developed SOPA Toolbox, Australia’s first app to help contractors and principals easily navigate security of payments legislation and schemes in each Australian state.

Thanks to our specialist expertise and client focus, we’re continuing to attract clients from all across Australia. We recently advised on several multi-million dollar residential towers, the Sydney Metro and Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project.

What’s next for Keystone?

As we continue to grow and appoint additional staff, Keystone is firmly looking to the future. Our focus is on further expansion in Sydney while continuing to deliver an exceptional level of service to our existing Hunter and national clients.