Why you should consider moving interstate to kick start your legal career

Starting your legal career will be one of the biggest struggles of your life. In your penultimate year of law school, dozens of applications may or may not lead you to a clerkship. If you miss out, you might do another hundred applications to get a graduate job. Once you have secured a job, you will likely experience long working hours, new areas of law, and colleagues who may edge towards the “so functional they are dysfunctional” edge of the spectrum. Just surviving at work feels like a massive accomplishment. Why on earth would you add an extra level of complication like moving interstate away from your friends and family? In this blog post I explain how moving interstate could be the best way to kick start your legal career. It is time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Why should I consider moving interstate for a legal job?

1.       You live in a state with a slow economy

This is the number one reason you may have to move interstate. There are significantly more legal jobs in Sydney and Melbourne, and in the graduate market where it is often a case of getting in enough applications, you may find moving interstate is your only option. If you manage to get a job locally, you may have to move interstate after a year or two to progress your legal career. I am from Adelaide but moved interstate to study at the University of Sydney. Most of my friends who stayed in Adelaide and went to law school at the University of Adelaide either moved interstate immediately on graduation or had to move interstate for career progression two or three years into their careers.

The states with the highest unemployment rates are South Australia (6.9%), Tasmania (6.5%), and Queensland (6.4%). The ACT and NT have the best employment rates at 3.8% and 4.1% respectively. These are general employment figures and are not specific to the legal sector, but give you an idea of the relatively poor employment prospects in SA, Tasmania and Queensland.

2.       The area of law you would like to practice in requires you to move interstate

If you are set on a career as a lawyer in the Commonwealth government, you will likely have to move to Canberra. You might as well move there immediately post-graduation so you can to build your networks and reputation. In Australia, legal jobs in mergers and acquisitions are practically non-existent outside of Sydney and Melbourne. Lawyers specialising the mining sector may have to move to WA or commute every single week. If you are interested in working in the community legal sector, you are more likely to get a job in Melbourne than Sydney. Identify the area you would like to work in and go for it, regardless of where it is located.  

3.       Your firm has offered to place you on an interstate project

If you are working at a national or global firm, you may be placed interstate for six to twelve months to assist busy teams on larger projects. You may be “asked” whether you would like to relocate, but in reality if you do not take this opportunity you need to consider whether you are serious about your career. Working on large projects is fantastic for your resume, and can help you justify pay rises and promotions. You will also have the opportunity to network with lawyers and clients interstate and learn about the law in new jurisdictions.

4.       You practice across jurisdictions and need to develop your legal knowledge

It is not uncommon for practitioners to operate across jurisdictions, and if you work in state based employment law or property you may want to work in a different jurisdiction for a while to enhance the services you can provide to clients who operate across jurisdictions.

5.       You are in your mid-20s and still live at home

A typical scenario is as follows: You were born in Sydney, went to school in Sydney, went to university in Sydney, got a graduate job in Sydney, have never moved out of home and still live with your parents despite being in your mid 20s. Living at home is a nice cushy experience when you are working long hours. It is pretty convenient to come home to dinner every night, have your bills paid for and never run out of clean socks. You are best friends with your parents and are secretly scared your Mum will never let you move out. If you fall into this category it can be difficult to move out and your life can begin to feel stagnant. Moving interstate is a fantastic excuse to move out of home without causing offence or fuss. Even if it is just for 12 months, your family will get used to the new state of existence and you can move back to your home city (if you want to after experiencing the intoxicating pleasures of interstate life) without being pressured to move back home.

6.       You want to get outside your comfort zone

Moving interstate to a city where you know no one to start a new job where you know no one is intimidating for most people. This is a good thing – see next paragraph.

The flow on effect of getting outside your comfort zone

Conventional wisdom is that making easy incremental adjustments is best for long term change. Moving interstate is the complete opposite of this approach. You will be making many massive life changes at once. Starting a new job, moving house, and having to make new friends are some of the most stressful situations a person can live through. You have to put the effort in or you just are not going to be a success. For me, the “shock” of dealing with all of these new situations at once had an amazing flow on effect on other aspects of my life. The extra effort I had to put in at work and into starting a friendship group from scratch when I moved to Melbourne meant I also put extra effort into other aspects of my life. It helped me think more clearly about where I want to go as a lawyer, make a long term career strategy and be a hyper organised individual. Getting outside your comfort zone will not only make you a better lawyer, but have a positive flow on effect to other areas of life. After you conquer moving interstate, your confidence will gradually develop and other obstacles in your life will seem easy to overcome.

Is it difficult to get a legal job interstate?

The difficulty of getting a job interstate will depend on the recruitment market in your target city (Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane have average economies and relatively stagnant recruitment markets) and the type of law you would like to practice. Prior to moving to Melbourne I applied for jobs in four different states. There does appear to be local favouritism to some extent as I received many more interviews in Sydney where I was living than in Melbourne. The smaller the city, the more there appears to be bias towards recruiting locals. However, where you are passionate about moving because the job is your dream job, you will likely be one of the best candidates. The fact you are willing to move interstate for this job speaks volumes about your commitment.  

Don’t hold back

Moving interstate to a new city is not a life-long sentence. If it does not work out you can move back to your old life and get a job in your home city. But if you never take the opportunity and never try to get that dream job, you might miss the opportunity to kickstart your legal career.    

Scared? Good. Now back yourself and make the move. No one else can do that for you. 

An open letter to supervisors of junior lawyers

I have been blessed with great supervisors so far in my (short) legal career. Some of my friends have not been so lucky. This blog post is a combination of my thoughts and my friends’ thoughts on what makes a good supervisor.

Dear supervisors of junior lawyers,

If you would like to be a fantastic supervisor that we remember for the rest of our career for the right reasons please note the following:

1.       Provide as much feedback as possible

Whenever we get direct, contemporaneous feedback, we can quickly adapt and learn for next time. Where you accept mediocre work and choose not to give feedback, we will not have a chance to improve. Do not wait for set quarterly or six monthly reviews, please tell us straight away each time you review a piece of work. Let us know if we have the structure of an advice wrong, if we have not quite understood a legal concept, if the wording in a clause we have drafted is archaic, if our email was drafted in the wrong tone, or if our attempt at plain english drafting was not correct. If you don’t tell us, we will forever be wondering in our heads, and this can lead to insecurity and a lack of confidence. Feedback works both ways. We develop as junior lawyers and you get the benefit of a more capable lawyer. We won’t be offended, or start crying, or think you are a nasty person. We just want to learn and do a better job next time.

2.       Give us encouragement and positive affirmations when we do a good job

We may come across as confident, but underneath the surface most of us are trying desperately to stay afloat and adapt to do legal work which is predominantly new to us. When we do something right please let us know because it will help improve our confidence.

3.       Value legal training and other types of professional development

Some supervisors view Continued Professional Development obligations as a necessary evil. Other supervisors view it as an opportunity to fill skill gaps. A good supervisor will take the second approach and make sure you are attending the cutting edge legal seminars and training in your area of speciality. Good supervisors also understand the importance of professional development including having a mentor who is not your boss and having professional contact with junior lawyers working in a similar field. Attending networking events should be encouraged and supported, even if it means leaving work at 5pm that day or having a long lunch to make it to a networking event. Overall, we will be happier and more productive at work where we feel we belong in the legal world and have contacts to use.

4.       We are capable of so much more than you think

Yes we can use the photocopier, do legal research, draft basic contract clauses and attend court for return of subpoena matters. However, we are capable of so much more. When the senior associate goes on annual leave, don’t be afraid to trust us with difficult work, even in areas of law we do not have much experience in. As recent law graduates, we specialise in learning new areas of law quickly and accurately (aka cramming before a law exam). Especially in situations where a niche advice is required, let us have a go before you give the work to a specialist barrister. Even where we still have to get expert legal advice, our preliminary advice can be included in the brief, save the barrister time and in turn save your client money.

5.       Share things about yourself so we can see that you are human

Please share anecdotes about your weekend/your family/your kids/your golfing trip. You might not think we are interested, but we are. We are desperate for information about you that makes you relatable (and slightly less scary).

6.       Let us know when to go home

Sometimes it is difficult to know when it is ok to unshackle ourselves from our desks and go home for the day, especially when we work in litigation or transactional areas of law where our finishing time will vary greatly from day to day. When you give us a lengthy task at 6pm, please tell us whether it is urgent or not, which will give us a clear message as to whether to leave or stay at work another 3 hours. I know we should have the courage to ask, but sometimes it seems easier and safer to stay at work and not ask the question of urgency, as we don’t want to be seen as lazy.

7.       Try and make it easier for us when we are asking for something difficult

Some junior lawyers find it extremely awkward asking for annual leave, sick leave, special working circumstances, or pay rises. If you sense this is the reason we are talking for you, please smile and encourage the question. Usually we have been rehearsing the conversation in our head for weeks and it has taken this long to gather the courage to actually have the conversation.  

8.       Keep your office door open (at least sometimes)

Although we can work autonomously for long periods of time, we will need access to you at least once a day to touch base and make sure we are on the correct path. Please make sure you keep your door open for at least part of the day so this is possible. Even better, come and talk to us at our desk where we are more comfortable and where we have all the work on our computer to show you.

9.       Understand we are not earning much money

Given the economic climate, quite a few unadmitted law graduates are being paid award rate, which under the Legal Services Award 2010 for a full time Law Graduate Level 5 is currently $882.80 a week or $23.23 an hour. Living off this much in Sydney or Melbourne is doable, but does not leave us with much of a financial cushion. When you ask us to pay for our practising certificates and claim reimbursement which can take a month, it can put us in tricky financial situations. Similarly, when you ask us to go and buy a colleague a present, and then collect money from other colleagues to reimburse ourselves, we are ordinarily always out of pocket (there is always one team member that does not pay). Please make sure this does not happen. The lowest earning member of your team should not be the one forking out. Most of the time supervisors are either not aware how little their junior lawyers are paid or are not aware their junior lawyers are out of pocket. Make sure this doesn’t happen.

10.    Care about our wellbeing (or at least pretend)

If twelve months have passed since we took annual leave, have a conversation with us. If we are sick, and there is no urgent work, send us home. Even if there is urgent work, send us home to work from home. Remind us of the workplace wellbeing services and encourage use of subsidised work yoga and meditation sessions. We actually would like to use these services, but are waiting for the all clear from you. Imagine how productive we will be once we get back from a mind clearing meditation session.

Yours sincerely,

Junior lawyers  

How to food prep like a pro for the working week

Staying on top of life administration like cooking as a junior lawyer can be tough, especially after 5 years flexible living as a university student. It can be a shock transitioning to inflexible full time work, 12+ hour days and limited time during the week. Being organised in the food department can seem impossible. But don’t give up. Food prepping like a pro is within your capabilities and takes much less time than you think.

Why should I food prep for the working week?

Food prepping enables you to plan and think about the nutrition you will need for your working week. Lawyers need their brains to be functioning optimally and bringing your own food to work is the best way to ensure what you are putting into your body will enable you to concentrate, identify errors and produce top quality work.

Food prepping will also save you time. In your 15 minute lunch break you won’t have to beat the crowds or stress about finding something mildly nutritious to eat. Instead you can go for a stress-busting power walk or keep on working so you can leave earlier that day.

Additionally, preparing your own food will save you serious amounts of money. There is also the personal satisfaction of finishing your food prep for the week and knowing at least something in your week is going to go to plan. Look at the Instagram hashtags #foodprepping  and #foodprep for inspiration and for an indication of the self-satisfaction involved.

Step 1: Make a food plan grid

Make a grid as follows:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast
Lunch					Lunch – Pho with colleague
Dinner						Dinner at Veggie Bar
Snacks

I eat leftovers on the weekend to save on food wastage, so don’t plan for Saturdays in detail. As I food prep on Sunday night, I plan for dinner on Sunday. Identify the times you are planning to eat out. For example if you know on Friday night you are eating dinner with friends and on Thursday you are eating out in your lunch break block that out.

There are two kinds of food preppers in the world:

1.       Those who prepare and eat the same food every single week; and

2.       Those who like variety and could not eat roast vegetable and quinoa salad for more than two days in a row.

I fall into the later category and thrive off variety. If you are the type of person who does not need variety in their life, you can save a lot of time by cooking large quantities of the same dish. However, beware of food poisoning. Food should be consumed within 3 days of cooking (some food goes off even more quickly and should be consumed within 2 days of cooking). If you are cooking on Sunday, it would be unsafe to eat your food on Thursday and Friday. If you cook too many portions, freeze the leftover portions before they go off and use these ready to go freezer meals in times of need.

Step 2: Plan your meals and snacks

Cooks tend to either like following recipes or not. I highly recommend following recipes if you are starting out as a food prepper. Mastering a small number of simple recipes will drastically improve the quality and taste of your cooking and give you an idea of flavour and ingredient combinations that work together. Following recipes also enables you to identify and plan the quantities of ingredients you require. Get out your cookbooks or print off recipes you have found from the internet. Recipe selection is key. Make sure you select recipes that are quick to make and nutritious. You are not going to have time to slow cook an eight hour pork shoulder in the middle of the week. 

Here is a picture of cook books I have on high rotation at the moment. Remember to look at the quantities in your recipes. If the recipe feeds four, and you are just cooking for yourself, you should halve the recipe which will make you two meals (unless you don’t need variety in your life and want to eat four of the same meals or are planning to freeze some meals). Don’t be scared to use recipes you have found on the internet. I often use the recipes on movenourishbelieve.com, as they are quick and easy for lunch and the ingredients are often substitutable.

Don’t forget to plan all your meals, including breakfast. After you become more experienced at food prepping you will probably have a few standard breakfasts you rotate through as well as snacks, so you might not need to write it down, but for now, write down everything.

Don’t forget to plan your snacks. Snacks I commonly plan for and eat at work include:

1.       Two Crackers (Vita Weat 9 Grain 100% Natural or Real Foods Multigrain Cornthins) with 20g cheese (fetta, cottage cheese, ricotta, or cheddar) and vegetables;

2.       Small container (100g) of plain greek yoghurt (Chobani is my favourite) with sprinkle of homemade granola or topping of fruit;

3.       Banana and handful of natural almonds;

4.       Boiled egg and vegetable sticks;

5.       Handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half with fetta sprinkled on top;

6.       Chickpea bombs (chickpeas I have dry roasted in the oven with paprika to much them crunchy);

7.       Thick slices of cucumber with 100% nut butter on top;

8.       Homemade fruit salad.

This is what my completed grid looks like this week

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast		Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit
Lunch		Poached chicken, pomegranate and kale salad	Poached chicken, pomegranate and kale salad	Chickpea, roast vegetable and salad wrap	Lunch – Pho with colleague	Chickpea, roast vegetable and salad wrap
Dinner	Beef and veg stir fry with brown rice	Beef and veg stir fry with brown rice	Poached chicken and roast vegetables	Miso broth, veggies and egg	Miso broth, veggies and egg	Dinner at Veggie Bar
Snacks		Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.

It does not matter if your planning grid is a bit less formal. It does not matter if your planning grid does not look pretty. I usually do my planning grid by hand on a sticky note. Over time you may eliminate categories such as breakfast and snacks because you know what you are going to eat. Just don’t forget to continue to write the ingredients you need to buy on your shopping list.

When planning your meals, remember that meat quickly goes off, so plan vegetarian food for later in the week. You will see I am eating beef tonight and tomorrow night followed by chicken. I then eat vegetarian for the rest of the week. I usually eat fish quite a lot but because I had fish for almost every meal last week I am not having it this week. If you did buy fish, you would want to eat that on Sunday night, then the beef, then the chicken. If you don’t like cooking vegetarian you might have to eat meals you have pre-prepared and frozen in the second half of the week.

I eat breakfast at my desk when I get to work, and I love yoghurt with homemade granola (which I bake in massive batches) and seasonal fruit. If I feel like protein for breakfast I might bring a boiled egg and have it with toast.

You will also notice I am eating the same snacks every day this week. This works for me, as I bring all those ingredients to work for the week. Each week I change my snack. You can change up your snacks everyday, I just find it easier to keep it the same for the week. 

As you plan each meal or snack, write the ingredients you need on your shopping list for your supermarket shop. Make sure you assess the food currently in your fridge and cupboards to ensure you don’t buy anything you already have. This is my shopping list for the week.

If you are new to food prepping you may need to stock up on Tupperware. Remember Tupperware is your portion control. Buy smaller Tupperware containers than you think. Remember you are a lawyer and while you need carbohydrates, protein and fats to function, the quantity you need is significantly reduced by the fact you sit down all day. I strongly recommend portion control sized Tupperware containers. You don’t have to actually eat out of the Tupperware, and if you don’t like plastic invest in some glass containers. I also recommend keeping some nice plates, bowls and cutlery at work, as eating out of containers all the time gets boring quickly. Remember that if you are working 12+ hour days you will probably be eating dinner at work, so you might need more Tupperware to cater for this.  

Step 3: Go to the markets or supermarket

I strongly recommend shopping at your local food markets. This is easy for me because I live right next to the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne, but I acknowledge it is not a possibility for everyone. Even when I shop at the markets, I will still need to go to the supermarket to buy essentials like tins of chickpeas.

To try and entice you to shop at your local food markets more often, here is a picture of my food market shop this week.

 

Step 4: Prepare your food

What you prepare on Sunday night will depend on a number of factors including what type of food prepper you are. If you eat the same thing for lunch and dinner every day of the week you would cook your dish and put it in containers. Meals for Thursday and Friday will go in the freezer and take out as needed. Remember to thoroughly reheat food. I don’t food prep like this because I really enjoy food cooked fresh. So on Sunday I will cook lunch for the following two days and dinner for Sunday night and the following two days. My meals on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are vegetarian, so I will do any meal preparation I can for that such as chopping the vegetables so they are ready to cook later in the week. Then when I do get home on those nights, I just have to assemble the meal which is relatively quick and sure beats a meal from the freezer. Good luck with your food prepping! May you never be stuck in a lunch time food court line again.

I am a lawyer not a nutritionist. This blog post is based solely on what has worked for me in my personal experience and is focused on how to prepare and organise food as opposed to what to eat. A nutritionist can provide you with advice on what to eat. 

Law graduate who can’t find full time legal job sues law school - Is the United States trend of law graduate law suits about to come to Australia?

In the United States, disgruntled law graduates who have been unable to secure legal jobs have been bringing claims against their law schools under state consumer laws, which vary from state to state. Anna Alaburda’s case against the Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) which is currently before the San Diego Supreme Court could be more successful than other cases, as the consumer laws in California are believed to be more favourable to consumers than consumer laws in other states. Australian law graduates have been facing similar challenges to their American counterparts, with an increase in the number of law students graduating and a sluggish legal recruitment market creating an increasingly desperate situation. Could the trend of law graduates suing their law schools spread to Australia?

Previous cases in the United States

There have been a number of previous cases in the United States where law students have claimed their law school provided misleading statements on employment prospects for their law graduates. In the 2012 New York Supreme Court case of Alexandra Gimez-Jiminaz, et al v New York Law School, nine graduates of New York Law School brought a case claiming the entering classes of 2005-2010 had been misled as by graduate outcome statistics provided by NYLS, as facts were omitted that would have given prospective students a more accurate picture of post-graduation employment prospects. The 90% employment outcome advertised included graduates working in part time jobs and those working in jobs that did not required law degrees. The damages sought were the sum equal to “the difference between the alleged inflated tuition they paid because of the allegedly misleading statements and what they characterise as the “true value” of a NYLS degree, together with certain expenses incurred”. Many of the plaintiffs had successfully started their legal careers, including:

1.       Alexandra Gomez-Jimenez who had her own thriving immigration practice;

2.       Scott Tiedke who worked as a legal compliance officer at an investment management firm;

3.       Gergana Miteva who worked as a contract attorney for some time before finding full time legal employment; and

4.       Geoffrey Corsideo who worked at a New Jersey law firm.

Justice Schweitzer dismissed the case, citing the legal principle caveat emptor “buyer beware”, and that prospective law students are “are a sophisticated subset of education consumers, capable of sifting through data and weighing alternatives before making a decision regarding their post college options”.

Anna Alaburda’s Case

Anna Alaburda is a 37 year old TJSL graduate who completed her three year Juris Doctor in 2008 and had a student debt of about $150,000 on graduation. Alaburda struggled to find full time employment as a lawyer and felt misled by the employment prospect figures she claimed were decisive to her enrolling in the JD program at TJSL. In 2011 she filed her initiating application, claiming the TJSL statistics about alumni employment outcomes were misleading and had been inflated and that she would not have studied the JD at TJSL if she had known the true statistics. The matter took until 7 March 2016 to get to the San Diego Superior Court, as the law school made a number of applications to have the matter dismissed. Alaburda, who is currently 37 years old, has a student loan debt of about $170,000, as the interest rate on the loan is 8%.

What is the real issue?

While we can all feel sorry for Alaburda and her colleagues, the law suit distracts from the real issues. First, there needs to be some degree of personal responsibility, as people are not forced to enrol in postgraduate law. Second, there is currently a large surplus of universities offering undergraduate law and postgraduate law courses, and the quality of many of these courses is questionable. Steps need to be taken to prevent even more surplus positions at law schools becoming available and to ensure all law schools offer a quality education.

1.       Ranking and reputations of law schools

The first thing to note about Alaburda’s case is her choice of law school. TJSL ranks extremely poorly in comparison to other universities offering the JD course in the United States. The law school rankings given to TJSL are so poor that the US News Law Ranking system do not publish the rankings for TSJL and a number of other poorly performing universities (presumable to protect themselves from defamation claims). Students are aware of the ranking and reputation of their law school prior to enrolling. Students studying law are also aware that it is difficult to get a job as a lawyer and that not all graduates work as lawyers after completing their JD. Getting a job as a graduate lawyer in the United States is difficult and employment rates are far from 100%. For example in 2014, 40% of law graduates across the United States did not secure a job in the law within 12 months of graduation. While this would include graduates who do not wish to practice law, this 40% would also include a large number of graduates who want a legal career.

Similar cases to Ms Alaburda’s never made it to trial in states like Illinois and Michigan as the judges managing the cases in those states concluded law students chose to have a legal education at their own risk. Alaburda would have been aware of the difficulties of obtaining employment in the law prior to starting her JD. While Alaburda had solid grades and graduated near the top of her class, even top students would struggle to get a job after attending a law school with such a low ranking reputation. Further, while Alaburda has yet to find a full time job in the law, she failed to make the most of opportunities that arose.

2.       Not taking opportunities

On graduation, Alaburda sent her resume to 150 law firms. This is not out of the ordinary for a law graduate given the state of the legal market, though other students take the approach of quality over quantity of applications. She received several interviews and one job offer. This is more success than a number of law graduates have. She turned down the legal job as the salary ($60,000) was less than for non-legal jobs she had applied for. To me, this is a clear case of a graduate choosing a non-legal path. I have no sympathy, and neither should the courts, for law graduates who turn down an offer other law graduates would do anything for, and then later claim they could not get a legal job. The starting salary for law graduates can be relatively low, as a law graduate must be trained before they become self-sufficient and useful. Salaries quickly rise for competent graduates.  Alaburda later worked in a series of part time, temporary legal positions mainly reviewing documents for law firms, found this work unsatisfactory, could not get a full time position and filed an initiating application against TJSJ.

3.       Realities of working as a junior lawyer  

It is not unusual for junior lawyers to do copious amount of document review, discovery and due diligence related work as graduates. The reality of working as a junior lawyer is that most of the work will be less than exciting, especially when working at a large law firm, but quickly becomes more engaging as you are trusted with more complicated legal work and the next generation of graduates take on the more boring work. Alaburda had a series of part-time document review roles and found this boring. However, this kind of work is the reality for most law graduates.

Will the trend of law graduates suing their law schools spread to come to Australia?

Many of the factors leading to law graduate law suits in the United States are currently present in the Australian legal market:

1.       Increasing number of law schools offering sub-par courses

The number of law schools offering undergraduate and postgraduate law has increased significantly in the past 10 years. In NSW alone, the following law courses were accredited:

·         JD at the University of Sydney (2010);

·         JD at the University of NSW (2009);

·         JD at the University of Technology Sydney (2007);

·         JD at the University of New England (2005);

·         JD at the University of Newcastle (2013);

·         JD at the University of Notre Dame (2006);

·         LLB at the University of Notre Dame (2005);

·         LLB at the Australian Catholic University (2013); and

·         LLB at the Top Education Institute (2014).

The pattern in other states is similar. Law schools are easy to establish and tend to be high profit earners for universities, as they are low cost compared to other degrees. It is not just the increase in educational institutions offering law courses that is problematic but the quality of the courses, especially given the significant expense of postgraduate courses in particular.

2.       Increasing number of law graduates

The increasing number of law schools and expanding of programs offered by existing law schools has created a large excess of law graduates. I personally have several issues with the number of law graduates churned out of law schools. However, growth in the number of law graduates is unlikely to change, as the Productivity Commission’s Review into Demand Driven Funding System recommended that law schools’ numbers not be limited.

3.       Increasingly competitive to get a job as a lawyer

At the same time the number of law graduates has increased, the legal markets has stagnated and large law firms that traditionally employed large numbers of graduates have either reduced or maintained the number of graduates they employ. New entrants into the legal market, such as LegalVision are offering new opportunities for graduates, but there is still a significant gap between law graduates wanting to work as lawyers and positions available.

However, there are a number of factors that might prevent the spread of law graduate law suits in Australia:

1.       Less financial pressure

Law graduates in the United States face significant pressure on graduation to begin paying off their $150,000 loans, which usually have an interest rate of 8%+. Australian students do not face the same pressures, as a Commonwealth supported undergraduate combined law student will graduate with a debt of about $50,000 which need only be repaid in increments once the student has graduated and is earning a significant amount of money. Australian graduates therefore do not face the same financial pressures as their counterparts in the United States and are more likely to be able to survive part time and paralegal work for some time before securing a full time legal position, not succumbing to the temptation to accept a higher paying non-legal job. In the United States, graduates face more pressure to get a high earning job immediately to pay off their loans, even if the job is non-legal.

2.       Less focus on graduate outcomes during student recruitment

Law schools in Australia are generally very careful with statistics regarding employment prospects. Students are normally lured via alumni success stories and a university’s reputation rather than a focus on statistics. There is also a lack of statistics on law graduate outcomes available. Graduate Careers Australia undertakes an annual survey of short term outcomes for graduates 4 months after completion of qualifications (http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/research/researchreports/gradstats/). These statistics are for all graduates and do not provide university by university data. A response of “full time employment” includes full time employment not related to the person’s degree. There is a breakdown by bachelor degree, and in 2015, 74.1% of law graduates who completed the survey were engaged in full time work at the time they completed the survey, about 4 months after the completion of their qualifications.   

3.       Difficulties bringing a claim under Australian consumer law

Even if a law graduate did wish to commence legal action, it would be very difficult to bring successful action under Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, as the lead possible cause of action being misleading or deceptive conduct (s.18 Australian Consumer Law) requires the conduct to be “likely to mislead or deceive”. The test requires the identification of the audience, in this case, relatively intelligent, well-educated persons considering enrolling in undergraduate or postgraduate law. It would be difficult to mislead or deceive this target audience, as potential law students would generally consider several law schools and be aware of the general reputation and quality of the law school. The test is objective, so the fact a student was actually mislead or deceived will not be determinative if the relevant population segment would not have been misled or deceived.

It is unlikely the trend of law graduate litigation will spread to Australia. However, if the number of law graduates continues to increase and the legal graduate market fails to improve, we could see law graduates take legal action against their law schools in the future. 

How to put together a brief for a barrister

An essential skill for a law graduate is being able to put together a brief for a barrister. Even if you work in an advisory practice and rarely work on litigious matters, you may have to brief a barrister to provide advice or settle a contract or other document. If you worked as a paralegal prior to graduating, you may already have experience putting together a brief. Law firms expect law graduates to be able to put a brief together, yet the skills required are rarely taught. Mastering the ability to put together an accurate and succinct brief is important as it will help you gain the trust of your team, the barrister you are working with, and can lead to increased responsibility such as drafting observations and managing matters with a barrister directly.

1.       Identify purpose of the brief

To identify the purpose of the brief ask yourself what work the barrister will be doing for you. Will the barrister be attending court, attending conciliation, settling a document, writing an advice, providing oral advice, or providing other legal services? At this point you may want to consider the Bar Rules which provides guidance on what work a barrister can and cannot do. In NSW, Bar Rule 74 states:

74. A barrister must confine the barrister’s professional work to:

a) Appearing as an advocate;

b) Preparing to appear as an advocate;

c) Negotiating for the client with the opponent to compromise the case;

d) Representing the client in a mediation;

e) Giving legal advice;

f) Advising on documents to be used in the client’s affairs;

g) Acting as a referee, arbitrator or mediator; and

h) Carrying out work properly incidental to the kinds of work referred to in (a)-(g).

The briefs you are most likely to prepare as a graduate are:

·         Brief to advise (on a legal question, on evidence, etc.); and

·         Brief to appear (at a hearing, at directions, at a costs hearing, etc.).

2.       Select your barrister, ensure a retainer is in place and communicate need to use barrister with client

If you work at a law firm, chances are a barrister has already been selected, a retainer is in place and your client is aware of the need to involve a barrister in their matter. Ask your team’s secretary or assistant to ensure the barrister knows the brief is coming. If unsure, phone Chambers ahead of time to ensure the barrister is able to take on the brief. If you work at a smaller firm, the client’s budget may be smaller and may dictate which level of barrister you use, so it is important to communicate with your client about their budget and expectations prior to selecting a barrister.

3.       Write observations

If you are fresh from university, a more senior lawyer is likely to have written the observations for you. If that is the case, ask if they need you to proof read the observations. Even if you do not need to proof read the observations, you should read the observations thoroughly, as they will identify the documents you will need to locate and collate for the brief.

Points to note when drafting observations:

·         Prominently position the text that explains what you expect the barrister to do (e.g. attend a hearing on 17 March 2016) and any timeframes (e.g. please provide a written advice on this matter within two weeks of receipt of this brief);

·         You should include a short narration of key facts, but you can refer to documents included in your brief such as a chronology or facts contained in a client’s affidavit or draft affidavit;

·          The focus on the brief should be the legal issues you have identified and any analysis you have undertaken of these key issues;

·         Refer to all documents you intend to attach to the brief as this will help put the documents in context for the barrister;

·         If you are going to include documents of marginal relevance, justify why you have included them in the brief;

·         Number your paragraphs;

·         Triple check spelling and punctuation.

A full blog post on drafting observations is coming soon, but for the meantime, look at observations colleagues have drafted in the past to help you understand what content should go in the observations.

4.       Collate and prepare documents

All relevant but no irrelevant documents should be provided to the barrister. Irrelevant documents waste the barrister’s time and may unnecessarily increase costs for your client. Ordinarily a document should only be included if it is referenced in the observations. If a document is not important enough to be mentioned in the observations, the barrister probably does not need the document. If you have not written the observations yourself, and you are coming into the matter cold, to find out which documents to collate, read the observations, as observations should refer to each key document included in the brief. You may also have to prepare documents from scratch. Unless exceptional circumstances exist, your brief should include a chronology. If no chronology has been made, take the initiative to make one yourself.

If you have created a quality legal research memorandum for the matter, include this in your brief. Not only will this help the barrister with authorities, the document will have your name on it, and is a good way to start getting your name out there. If your boss does not want it included, they will let you know when they review the brief.

5.       Select folder and dividers

Many barristers edge on the OCD end of the personality spectrum. They like to have new white folders and the more expensive looking dividers. For the uninitiated, there are two types of folders you will encounter as a lawyer:

1.       D-Ring –a basic folder with two (or four) D-Rings at the centre. To open the D-Rings you snap them open with your hands. This is the cheaper variety which barristers generally do not like. If you look at the hands of older barristers you will see faint scar lines from past altercations with such folders.

2.       Lever Arch – similar to the D-Ring, but with a lever mechanism that opens the rings for you in a civilised and safe manner. Generally these folders will be stronger and more robust than the basic D-Ring. There are a variety of different brands out there, but if you go to Office Works to have a look, the best ones available are the Bantex A4 2 Ring Lever Arch File. A Lever Arch costs between $6 to $10, so if it is cheaper you are probably not looking at a Lever Arch. Always purchase white. Black and coloured folders are for lawyers who do not know what they are doing.

When the matter concludes, the barrister is meant to return the brief back to you in the folder(s) you provided, so if you are working at a law firm and not paying for the folder yourself, you may as well give them the best. When selecting dividers, choose plastic over paper, as they are more robust. If you only have paper dividers, try and at least use the dividers with reinforced hole punches. Some QC’s and SC’s have preferences when it comes to types of folders (2 binder or 4 binder – but always white lever arch), photocopying (double or single sided – if in doubt copy single sided), and securing documents (staple, paperclip or nothing), and types of dividers (i.e. A-E or 1-5). Ask your Senior Associate or other colleagues if they know about the barrister’s preferences. If in doubt phone the Barrister’s Chambers. You may be asked to redo the whole task if the barrister is not impressed on your first effort.   

6.       Insert cover page and index

Check if your firm has a template for the cover page and/or index. Your team’s legal assistant may be able to help you with this if you are struggling. If you are making the folder cover from scratch it should contain:

1.       Type of brief – brief to advise, brief to appear;

2.       Name of the matter – i.e. if it is a litigious matter the name of both the parties to the dispute;

3.       Name of barrister and address of barrister’s chambers;

4.       Name of your firm, name of contact lawyer and contact details of lawyer.

Remember you need a cover page for the front of the folder and a label to insert in the folder’s spine so that when the folder is on a shelf you can identify what is inside the folder.

7.       Get brief checked by more senior colleague

This step is particularly important if you are a paralegal, a graduate who is not admitted or a lawyer who is still on a probationary practising certificate. Even senior lawyers can benefit from having another lawyer read over their work.

8.       Make copies of the brief

For large litigation matters you will usually need three copies: the original for you to keep, a copy for the barrister, and a copy for the junior barrister. If it is an advice, you may just need the original and one copy for the barrister. Do not fall at the last hurdle. Make sure your photocopying is accurate and that you have not photocopied double sided documents as single sided documents.

9.       Deliver the brief

If the brief is urgent, offer to deliver it by hand. Meeting your barrister in person is one of the best ways to gain the trust of your barrister. Do not just shove it into their hands and leave, unless the barrister is in an obvious hurry, such as where the barrister is robed up and about to attend court in the morning. Stand your ground, as the barrister may ask you about the brief, and using your knowledge gained from reading the observations and the documents in the brief, you may be able to assist the barrister and even impress the barrister. Other options for delivery obviously include express post, courier and hand delivery by a paralegal. Do not send a brief by ordinary post, as you will not be able to track the brief. Express post and registered post both allow for parcel tracking. Keep a copy of the tracking number. If the barrister does not receive the brief for any reason, you will be first in the line of fire.

Happy brief making!