Joe Lawrence founded Lawrence Group, an accounting firm in Fremantle in 1996 which employed only 3 key people initially. In the intervening years, Mr Lawrence and his brother Tom, which joined the firm shortly after its inception, were the original driving forces in making the firm such a huge success it is today. After leaving school at 15, Mr Lawrence became "the world's worst motor mechanic" by his own confession before commencing his career in accounting.