David Markovich in the media
Recognition, press coverage and conversations about David's work, from the Law Society of Western Australia's 2026 Annual Awards to a community service law award and features with the Society.
01 Awards
Finalist, Regional Practitioner of the Year 2026
In July 2026 the Law Society of Western Australia named David one of three finalists for Regional Practitioner of the Year in its Annual Awards.
The Annual Awards are run by the Law Society of Western Australia, which represents the profession across the State. The Regional Practitioner category is for lawyers working outside the city, and three were shortlisted.
David has been a finalist once before. In 2021 a pro bono client nomination made his firm at the time a finalist in the Attorney General's Community Service Law Awards, the story told below. He also features in the Society's Lawyers Make a Difference series and on its Country Counsel podcast, both further down this page.
02 Community service
Standing up for a community club
In 2021 David's pro bono work helped a local football club stave off bankruptcy, and saw his firm at the time named a finalist in the Attorney General's Community Service Law Awards.
The Busselton City Football Club had been sued for almost $30,000 over three years, with the proceedings reaching all the way to the Supreme Court of Western Australia through multiple appeals. The club nominated David after he stepped in, free of charge and on top of an already full paid workload, to help it stave off bankruptcy. For David, that was simply the right thing to do.
"I'm in a position of privilege as a lawyer, not in the sense there's anything special about me but that I have the knowledge to assist people in legal services. Not everyone can afford legal services, and where possible I try to contribute to society and my community because otherwise these important community organisations would be at risk of closing."
David Markovich
It was not the first time David had given his time to others. He has a history of prosecuting for the RSPCA and of working with refugees, and he began caring for the Busselton community back in 2007 after falling for the region across hundreds of visits. The club was clear about what that support meant.
"[The firm] had no prior connection to our club but were willing to assist based on the principles of access and equity."
Stephen Gibson, Secretary, Busselton City Football Club
The awards, in their 14th year, are usually announced during Law Week in May, but the 2021 ceremony was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The firm did not take out the top award. As the Busselton Dunsborough Times put it, while the firm did not win the top gong, the firm and David are winners in the eyes of all those they have helped.
"For me, it's also about helping the administration of justice and my contribution to social justice, it's the driving force of what I do."
David Markovich
David carried out this work while at his previous firm. He is now the principal of Markovich Legal.
03 Listen
Country Counsel podcast: regional legal practice
David features in the Law Society of Western Australia's Country Counsel series, which profiles lawyers who practise beyond the city.
In the Country Counsel episode, David talks about the litigation and dispute resolution at the heart of his practice, and the criminal defence he takes on across regional Western Australia. The stakes can run deeper in the regions: losing a licence, he points out, carries far greater consequences where there is little or no public transport to fall back on. With legal aid and community legal centres stretched and often able to advise but not carry a matter through to court, David runs civil and criminal cases to trial and appeal, including in the Supreme and Federal Courts. He acts for clients from Perth down to Busselton, the Margaret River region and the wheat belt towns of Narrogin and Katanning.
David came to law later than most, and for a reason. He had worked as a research and policy economist in New York and helped set up a refugee camp after the Rwandan genocide, before civil and human rights work in Israel led him to study law at 36 to promote social justice. He brings that same commitment to the South West, where he sits on the board of the Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a local community bank, and plans to make the region his home for good.
"I'm a litigation lawyer so I do a lot of court work and negotiating work and that's very much the same sort of work I do in the regions. I also do criminal work and probably do more regional criminal work than I would in the city."
David Markovich, on the Country Counsel podcast
"I think it's important as someone who works in the community to engage with the community in a broader sense. I enjoy it and it gives me the opportunity to contribute to the local community."
David Markovich, on the Country Counsel podcast
04 Watch
On screen with the Law Society of WA
Lawyers Make a Difference
David features in the Law Society of Western Australia's series putting a face to the profession and the work lawyers do for the people and causes around them.
Contact
Talk to David about your matter
Enquiries are confidential and without obligation.
Call (08) 6316 4502 · or email dm@m4legal.com.au