Leading the way in addressing entrenched social and legal inequalities, particularly for First Nations communities, Nick Llewellyn-Jones (LLB/LP ’03) has set new precedents nationwide for native title law. His effective combination of legal expertise and economic insight has enabled him to lead market-defining work in Indigenous land access negotiations where complex legal and commercial interests converge.
After tragically losing his mother at 18, who herself was a Flinders University graduate, Nick relocated from Canberra to pore himself into studying law. In retrospect, perhaps it was too soon to begin the arduous course as he questioned his direction in life but it did result in the formation of close bonds and solidifying the memory of his mother’s dedication to helping others which has guided Nick throughout his career.
“I was attracted to Flinders because it carried itself with the confidence of an established university whilst still being able to do a lot of innovative things that older universities can’t do,” says Nick.
“In some ways though, my initial exposure of Flinders was actually overshadowed by personal tragedy and this made everything that extra bit more challenging. It was a difficult time for me and Flinders was supportive, along with peer groups from the law school that I’ve remained friends with to this day.”
After completing his degree, Nick had a stint working at Minter Ellison before taking a more senior role at a community legal centre in the Spencer Gulf to gain hands-on experience.
“I was doing hundreds of things as a new lawyer and just basically learning how to practice,” Nick says.
“I had the benefit of the support of a number of other amazing lawyers throughout the profession who were really helpful.”
In 2007, after a short break travelling overseas, Nick took a role at Norman Waterhouse Lawyers. Once at Norman Waterhouse, Nick commenced founding the native title, resources and renewable energy practice bringing together a number of lawyers under him to pioneer a new way of dealing with native title.
“I have a lot of respect and sympathy for the history of the destruction of Indigenous land and the psychological impact that happens when people lose so much.” explains Nick.
“Given my mum was a social worker and I’ve experienced the loss and trauma of everything falling apart myself when I was younger, I found myself with this natural sense of empathy to the circumstances that arose for native title holders.”
Nick and his legal team were some of the first lawyers in Australia to pioneer a method to ensure fair and proper terms when negotiating native title agreements and break the cycle of ‘commercial lowballing’ . His efforts have delivered significantly stronger and more equitable outcomes for First Nations groups who have historically been disadvantaged through the lack of access to justice and meaningful participation in commercial negotiations.
“We’ve done a considerable amount of Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs), it’s probably at 85 per cent of all commercial project ILUA negotiations in South Australia in the last ten years. At one point we were even doing around a quarter of all commercial project ILUA negotiations in Australia,” Nick says.
“It’s important to clarify that our work is not based on objecting to development – renewable energy is important and so is port infrastructure and other resource development, but by and large we have seen that the first offer coming in financially is about one-tenth of what we settle on.
“Traditionally, big companies come out into the regions and develop these projects and they’ll have no idea how to value native title land or their valuer will do the work incorrectly with wrongly applied assumptions or methodologies. Often the locations are so remote that we’ve got no sales data at all, and on top of this native title holders value their land incredibly highly as it is irreplaceable for them. By and large, these companies are often trying to be engaged and aren’t trying to do the wrong thing, it’s just all new territory for them.”
As Nick and other native title lawyers try to make clear, there’s no suggestion that Aboriginal groups aren’t capable of doing this type of work, it’s just an intrinsically complicated situation taking large companies to the negotiating table with a typically small community.
“If you randomly took 100 people out of Rundle Mall and asked them to negotiate against 100 professionals from a large multi-national company, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated the community is, it’s going to be disadvantaged,” he says.
“And that’s before you even start looking at structural issues which might affect remote Indigenous communities. Before Mabo, we had a situation where Aboriginal people had no rights over their land. Companies were doing whatever they wanted, government was doing whatever they wanted and extracting all of the benefit from that and the Aboriginal people were getting nothing.
“We’re trying to provide economic justice, which is consistent with a deep-seated view I have of the need to build an ethical capitalism. If I could distil what we do into one sentence, it would be promoting economic justice to ensure an ethical capitalism”
Beyond his legal practice, Nick has shown an unwavering commitment to building capacity within First Nations communities. He has established a Flinders scholarship for Indigenous commerce and business students to address the critical gap in business knowledge and support the development of financial literacy in First Nations groups.
“I hope that by focusing on the importance of business awareness, more Indigenous students feel comfortable taking a leading role in the business world and spreading financial and commercial literacy more broadly,” says Nick.
He has also made significant contributions to Flinders as an industry leader. As part of his ongoing collaboration with the Flinders Law School, he has redrafted parts of the first-year course Indigenous People, Colonialism and the Law to incorporate practical insights covering native title negotiations and contemporary challenges arising in the jurisdiction. He is currently updating further courses at Flinders Law School, in addition to developing broader programs for First Nations’ education.
Nick Llewellyn-Jones was awarded a 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award from Flinders University for distinguished service within the legal profession in the fields of native title, resources, renewable energy and administrative law and in acknowledgement of his significant contributions to advancing economic justice for First Nations communities.