Its founder, Elliott Johnston QC, was to become a Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia, and was later appointed by the Federal Government as the Royal Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Although now retired he maintained for some years an active involvement with the law through his former role as Editor of the South Australian State Reports, and an Associate Professor at Flinders University Law School.

Other past members of the firm include Judge Peter McCusker, Robyn Layton QC, Lindy Powell QC and Paul Heywood-Smith QC.

Clive Kitchin was recently appointed a Special Magistrate.

Johnston Withers now comprises fifteen lawyers, three paralegals and thirteen support staff. We deliver legal services to clients ranging from large corporations, trade unions, and community organisations to small businesses, families and individuals.

Johnston Withers have permanent offices in Adelaide, Port Augusta, Clare and visit other centres as required.

Service delivery is provided through a team structure with teams being organised to meet client needs quickly and cost effectively.

Networking - Added Value for Clients

Networking is all about putting in place arrangements that enable clients to be more comprehensively serviced. Johnston Withers is a member of two networks, one with a focus on international organisations and particularly Australian and New Zealand organisations and another with focus on legal firms within South Australia itself.

Johnston Withers is the exclusive law firm member of MSI Legal & Accounting Network Worldwide(MSI) in South Australia. MSI is one of the world's leading international networks of independent professional firms, with 250 member firms in 100 countries. MSI member firms are among the most respected, English speaking, full service accounting and law firms in their local marketplaces,and share a common desire to provide partner-led, personal, value for money solutions to the cross-border challenges faced by entrepreneurial businesses. Johnston Withers's membership of MSI enables the firm to quickly source reliable, local expertise wherever in the world clients are involved in doing business.

Internally in South Australia, Johnston Withers is a member of Statewide Legal Group which consists of four independent legal firms located at Adelaide, Clare, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, the Riverland and at Murray Bridge. Again, the affiliation enables comfortable referral of work to the benefit of clients. Periodic meetings provide the opportunity for those member firms to assist in improving each other's businesses and in improving the service that we can all offer to our clients.

At the end of the day networking is all about benefiting clients and is a valuable feature of Johnston Withers.