The Alternate Careers Fair 2013

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t h e n o t r e d a m e s y d n e y l a w s o c i e t y

Week Twelve Semester OneMonday 20 May 201306

2 | The Obiter, Issue 6

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

From theEditor

CarOlIne MIChelhello again everyone,

This has been a whirlwind fortnight for the nDSlS and the law School. last week was our annual Careers Week, which provided all students with fantastic opportunities to find out information about the many career paths available with a law degree.

Personally, Careers Week provided me with an opportunity to sit back and really reflect upon what my goals and aspirations are. I’ve never taken much time to stop and think about my career, or what I want to do once I finish my degree. as a second year student, it isn’t really a question that is on my mind a lot. attending the Careers Week events forced me to stop and really think about what it is I want to achieve, and what areas of the law attract me. It doesn’t matter at what stage of your degree you are at- it is never too early to start discovering what opportunities lie ahead, and finding out which area or avenue might suit you the best. I think it’s important to have a goal and vision of where you want your degree to take you.

Up until last week, the idea of taking the commercial path and applying for a mid or top tier firm never really had much appeal to me and my creative mind. however, I have started to seriously reconsider that idea, and have discovered that taking the ‘traditional’ path to commercial law isn’t always just dry, boring and a lot of hard work; there are so many opportunities and experiences that come with the top-tier commercial jobs that

can’t be found anywhere else. The commercial path, whilst not suited to everybody, can be very satisfying.

Careers Week also made me ‘wake up’ to marks and results. as an extremely annoying stress-head, I try not to worry about or dwell on marks. an old school teacher always used to tell me that ‘numbers do not define you’. However, marks are indeed important…P’s might make degrees, but they don’t make clerkships, top-tier graduate opportunities and the ability to do honours. Whilst this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it is certainly something I would like to aim for, and Careers Week has given me the motivation to try my best and study hard for the upcoming exam period. Marks aren’t everything; but they are certainly important.

In this edition of The Obiter we have included many student written reflections about Careers Week and careers in general. I hope that you have found a lot of inspiration from these events like I have.

That’s all for now, Caroline

acknowledgementsObiter Issue Six

EditorCaroline Michel

ContributorsLauren AbsalomRachel BennettEden ChristopherJacob DeiganCaitlin GallagherMark van der Hout

YourSay QuestionCaroline Michel

DesignAlexander Carlos

NDSLS Committee 2013ExecutiveEden Christopher, PresidentNatalie Baladi, Vice-PresidentDaniel Austin, SecretarySean D’almada Remedios, Treasurer

DirectorsJacob Deigan, CareersJulia Lavers, CompetitionsAidan Williams, EducationPeter Gray, ITAlexander Carlos, MarketingCaroline Michel, PublicationsDominique Hermo, Social EventsRachel Bennett, Social JusticeLauren Absalom, Sponsorship

Year RepresentativesAdrian Vincent, First YearShelby van Ooran, Second YearCaitlin Gallagher, Third YearSean D’almada Remedios, Fourth/Final Year

Contact the EditorContact the Committeewww.ndsls.org

The Obiter, Issue 6 | 3

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in this issue

President’s NoteI hope you all took something out of Careers Week! even if it was only a thought, “I should probably start thinking about that...”

This year we tried to build on the great Careers Week last year run by Kate angus and the 2012 nDSlS. We took feedback that students wanted more information on what else they can do with their degree so we put on an alternative Careers Fair which had a great turnout. We organised guest speakers to give insight into life as a lawyer in practice and also deliver some content to mix up your lectures.

Overall, we are pretty happy with Careers Week and I hope next year it only gets better. I look forward to not having to wear a suit to uni so much!

next semester you can all look forward to Social Justice initiatives and a lot more fun stuff. Planning has already begun and I hope everyone can get involved.

With Week 11 coming upon us, we should all be thinking about exams and a european summer, uni games and the alSa Conference in Perth. To those doing winter school... may god have mercy on you.

Yours in law,

eden ChristopherSupreme Overlord

6 Careers Week 2013 - A Reflection

7 legal Specialty Talks - articles and reviews

9 Student articles

12 YourSay

4 | The Obiter, Issue 6

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Upcoming Events and Notices

May19

May23

alSa registration Closes

allens Client Interview Grand Final

June5-6

Study Boot Camp

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6 | The Obiter, Issue 6

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

CareerS WeeK 2013a reFleCTIOn BY

JaCOB DeIGan, CareerS DIreCTOrWhat a massive two weeks! When I received the

Careers Portfolio at the end of last year I was given

the task to build upon the work of a very successful

2012 nDSlS Committee. now that Careers Week

(or Fortnight as it became) has come to a close I

can look back and see what we here at the nDSlS

were able to come up with. This year we introduced

two new events to the line up: Specialty Talks and

the alternative Careers Fair. Both were received

with great praise by everyone involved. later on

in this issue of The Obiter you will see reviews of

the Specialty Talks, and I feel that most people will

agree with me when I say they were of invaluable

assistance to furthering our education.

The alternate Careers Fair was a great success and

although it took a considerable effort to get going,

I think it was the highlight of Careers Week. The

students who attended were able to get an insight

into the avenues available to them if they choose to

use their law degrees outside of a law firm. Both the

businesses and students present had a very positive

response to the event and I hope that this great

event can continue next year. a special thank you

to the notre Dame Business Students’ Society who

contributed significantly to the event and helped in

a big way to make the event and their Society a

success.

The annual Clerkship Seminar held on Monday

had some great feedback from students. I have

heard some very positive feedback from a couple

of students in regard to the presentations that

were made by the firms, however, due to some

complications on the day, we had to finish the event

before the networking period had started. I assure

you that next year the same mistakes won’t be

made again and you can expect a much bigger

and better clerkship seminar. The firms are all on

board with providing you all with information and

if you can’t grab some of their material from the

law School reception, jump online and have a look

at our Careers Guide. This guide will be a great

starting point for your careers preparation, and has

a lot of helpful hints and tips from students who have

succeeded in both the commercial and alternative

paths. The guide also has a list of the key contacts

and application dates for all the major firms in

Sydney.

I would now like to take this chance to thank all the

members of the notre Dame Sydney law Society.

Without their support and efforts, Careers Week

would have been a very lacklustre event. as a

student and as a member of the society myself, I feel

extremely lucky to be working with the amazingly

talented and dedicated members of the nDSlS. I

would also like to thank all the staff of the law

School who were extremely supportive of Careers

Week and endeavoured to help facilitate the event

in any way they could.

To finish, I wish our penultimate students who will be

undergoing the clerkship application process in the

coming weeks the best of luck. To them and to all our

students as a whole, please feel free to contact me

with any questions you may have about legal careers,

and I will endeavour to help you in anyway possible.

read the 2013 Careers Guide here!

The Obiter, Issue 6 | 7

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leGal SPeCIalTY TalKSrevIeWS BY STUDenTS

Introduction

For this year’s Careers Week, we were lucky enough

to have an array of legal professionals to visit many

of our classes and present talks and lectures on

their specific expertise, and how it related to the

subject. The specialty talks were a great success, and

we have received a lot of positive feedback from

students who heard from the guest speakers. We

hope to continue this initiative next year. In the last

issue of The Obiter, we invited students to contribute

reviews and articles about a talk or presentation they

saw as part of the specialty talks. We have included

these articles below.

Richard Maurice - Family Law by Rachel Bennett

During Careers Week, our Family law class was

fortunate enough to have Mr. richard Maurice come

and address us. Mr. Maurice is a Family law Barrister

with more than 20 years experience.

I found Mr. Maurice’s presentation particularly

interesting because of his involvement in some of the

most important cases in Family law, some of which

we have learnt about in class. It was interesting to

gain an ‘insiders’ perspective on some of the cases

that establish fundamental principles in australian

Family law, and to hear about Mr. Maurice’s role

within them.

It was heartening to hear anecdotes from Mr.

Maurice’s career more broadly, and the down-to-

earth account of his first law jobs encouraged me not

to despise the day of small beginnings, but to keep

working hard and knocking on doors with the hope

that opportunities will open up.

Mr. Maurice also offered our class some wise words

with regards to our personal and professional

reputation and the importance of making decisions

that preserve our integrity.

On behalf of my Family law Class, I would like to

thank Mr. Maurice for taking the time to address us.

8 | The Obiter, Issue 6

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

Diccon Loxton - Equity by Caitlin Gallagher

last Monday, Diccon loxton came to my equity

seminar to discuss how principles of equity apply in

the real world. Diccon has been a partner at allens

for almost 30 years and is renowned for his expertise

in banking and finance law. It was evident in his

presentation that he is incredibly knowledgeable and

I enjoyed hearing about his career experiences and

the work he currently does at allens.

It was interesting to listen to Diccon explain how the

principles of equity we had learnt applied to real

situations and real cases every day. So often we

sit in the classroom and forget that the cases we

read are real and that these issues come up in daily

practice. Diccon described one of the australia’s

highest value cases, which stretched to hundreds

of millions of dollars, and the profound impact the

principles of equity had on the case’s outcome.

It was a privilege to have someone of Diccon’s

experience and expertise speaking to us and I thank

Diccon for taking the time to educate us.

Ian McGill - Principles of Contracts A by Caroline

Michel

last week, my Contracts a class were very privileged

to hear from a guest speaker, Ian McGill. Ian has

been a partner at allens for over 20 years. he

specialises in mergers and acquisition, complex

commercial contracts and corporate governance.

Ian spoke to our class mostly about interpretation of

terms in a contract. I found this a very valuable talk

as it was the focus of our seminar that week, and

he gave a fantastic introduction to the topic from a

professional point of view, and definitely helped me

understand interpretation of terms.

I found it really interesting to hear Ian start his talk

with a light hearted recount of when he first started

looking for a job, and the difficulties he faced. He

was very honest, and revealed to us that he knew

nothing about drafting a contract when he left law

school, and how daunting it was when employers

would ask about this in an interview! he had to learn

through practical experience. I really enjoyed this

part of the his presentation as it gave me assurance

and hope for my future career prospects, and taught

me not to be worried about being inexperienced with

practical legal skills; the best way to learn these is

through applying for jobs. he made me realise that

we can’t learn everything at university; experience

in the professional world will teach us the most

important skills.

On behalf of my class, I would like to thank Mr.

McGill for sharing his knowledge and experience

with us.

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Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

WOrK exPerIenCeBY MarK van Der hOUT

Fifth year student, Mark van der Hout has worked

both in a mid-tier law firm and barrister’s chambers

throughout his law degree. He explains why it is

important to gain practical experience at some time or

another during the degree.

I was fortunate enough to gain employment at a

barrister’s chambers after my first year of studying.

although I had only a basic understanding of how

the law operated, working as a clerk allowed me

to observe first hand how law was applied in the

profession. In 2011, I was afforded the opportunity

to be personally involved in the high Court case of

Strong v Woolworths [2012] hCa 5 which analysed

the issue of factual causation in negligence. The

position involved problematic research on specific

areas of law, drafting legal documents and the

preparation of briefs prior to court.

Working with a barrister exposes a person to events

and situations they don’t teach at law school. I

recommend to those who wish to one day become

a barrister or anyone who seeks to gain a greater

insight into the legal profession consider a position as

a barrister’s clerk.

Towards the end of my degree I managed to gain

employment at a mid-tier law firm. This was very

different to working with a barrister however,

extremely beneficial in terms of experience. I was

introduced to the exercise of billing hours, working

with a team and having contact with clients. The

exposure cemented my decision to become a solicitor

and work in the legal profession.

In view of the competitive nature of law, students

must look towards securing an ‘edge’ over others. In

addition to gaining practical experience, it is crucial

for one to strengthen their image in the eyes of

potential employers. as a soon-to-be graduate, my

advice is that anyone studying law should take part

in the profession at some time or another.

The Obiter welcomes original student written pieces. If you would like to have something included in our

publication, don’t be shy- we are now accepting a range of original works whether they be short articles,

long essays or maybe just a piece of advice for other students. as long as they are focused on a legal or

university related issue/topic we would love to publish your work! If you are a budding writer why not send

us something? You can either upload your document here, or email it directly to Caroline, the Publications

Director at publications@ndsls.org. It’s that easy. We look forward to hearing from you.

How to Contribute

10 | The Obiter, Issue 6

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

GeTTInG a JOB - nOT aS eaSY aS YOU ThInK!

BY laUren aBSalOM

half of us think that we are guaranteed a job

because we’ll have law degrees; and the other half

are sure no-one will hire them. no matter which end

of the scale you sit, or if you are somewhere in the

middle, understanding your career, or really how to

get one can be confusing at the best of times.

The nDSlS gave you an insight into this, as they do

every year, through the multitude of Careers Week

events. half the battle is working out what you

actually want to do with your law degree. Private

practise is not the only option, and if you didn’t

realise the other exciting alternatives, the alternate

Careers Fair was able to expose you to that. Maybe

the other events convinced you that you do want to

join a big firm; maybe you got tips on how to get a

summer clerkship or a graduate position. The College

of law was on hand to introduce to you PlT and they

will be back very soon!

So what can you take away from Careers Week

2013? here is a list of tips, all of which came from

someone who has ‘been there, done that’!

1. Be Prepared! If you apply for a job, you have to

want it – “I want a pay check” is not good enough!

2. Know your Cv and your Cover letter well; you

can be assured they will before they interview you. If

it’s in there be prepared to talk about it!

3. When applying for summer clerkships or

graduate positions, make sure you think carefully

about what you write, be sure it’s what you actually

want to say. Well thought out and reflective of you!

4. Don’t claim to know more than you do, you’re a

law student not a seasoned professional – they know

this!

5. Dress the part and be polite to everyone you

come across. The interview starts at the front door!

6. Be yourself!

hope this helps, and as always if you have any

questions or want more tips, get in contact with your

nDSlS – we’re here to enrich your experience at

university!

The Obiter, Issue 6 | 11

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

CUSTODY nOTIFICaTIOn ServICe

BY raChel BenneTTThose who have studied evidence would be aware

that the Police are required to inform the aboriginal

legal Service (alS) when an aboriginal person is

arrested. This duty is important because it enables

support to reach the often vulnerable members of

our community efficiently and consistently. The Police

Officer calls the Custody Notification Service, ‘a

telephone advice and well-check service’ which is

operated by the aboriginal legal Service, and the

detainee may speak to an alS lawyer. The lawyer

may offer the detained person early legal advice

whilst also enquiring about their mental and physical

well-being.

This service was born out of recommendations

from the royal Commission into aboriginal Deaths

in Custody and assists more than 15,000 people

per year, taking more than 300 calls per week.

Since its establishment in 2000, there have been

no aboriginal deaths in custody in nSW and the

aCT, demonstrating the importance of an early

response to the arrest of an aboriginal person,

and the importance of simply asking ‘are you

ok?’ Additionally, the Custody Notification Service

has reduced both self-harm in custody and the

incarceration rate of aboriginal people.

however, despite its successes, the nSW Government

is withdrawing its support for the Custody Notification

Service. although the initiative only costs $500,000

a year- the same price as detaining two juveniles for

one year- the Government is terminating its funding

for this life- saving initiative.

The aboriginal legal Service is currently in the

process of battling for the life of the Custody

Notification Service. To join the fight, sign the petition

to the attorney- General, the hon. Mark Dreyfus QC

MP- http://chn.ge/15JMYMj

For more information about the benefits of the

Custody Notification Service, go to http://www.

alsnswact.org.au/

12 | The Obiter, Issue 6

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

The high price of legal services means that many Australians would find it difficult to pay for a

lawyer for anything but the most basic legal issues. When people who can’t afford a lawyer

turn to government funded legal assistance services, they find that due to chronic funding

shortages, ongoing help is often restricted to those on the lowest incomes, and then only for a

limited range of mainly family law and criminal law issues. Unlike the health and education

system in Australia, there is no universal safety next for legal help: report by Community

law australia, July 2012.

We have Medicare and public hospitals, as well as free public schooling. Why is there so little

in the way of schemes and funding for universal access to lawyers?

So what did you say?

1. People have a certain dignity, requiring respect. They have various rights to the basic goods

or necessities of life (eg, food, shelter, basic education, health…). This justifies the state’s

provision of public hospitals and education. ‘Universal access to lawyers’ goes beyond a basic

good of life. eg, how can seeking advice on lawful tax minimisation be considered a necessity

of life? Ultimately, anything approaching free universal access to lawyers is an unrealistic

utopia. legal research, drafting and general work is just too time-consuming and therefore

expensive for the ‘public purse’. Of course, aid should be there to secure necessities.

2. It is fair to say that access to justice is as fundamental as health and education. Perhaps to

make it less skewed to lowest of income brackets, have a quota system for each income bracket.

Although still not universal, it definitely means the middle-income bracket (the gap between not

economically disadvantaged enough but still not financially able to afford a lawyer) is not so

disadvantaged.

3. Whilst it is definitely arguable that free legal services such as LegalAid need more resources,

I think that creating a universal legal service is taking the concept too far. legal Services are

not a necessity to life (like healthcare), or something necessary for getting a job and succeeding

(like education). Universal legal service borders too far on the socialist spectrum for an economy

and budget like ours to sustain. as Thatcher once said, there’s no such thing as public money.

YourSay Last Week

The Obiter, Issue 6 | 13

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recently, the nSW government passed laws to end the right of

silence whilst being questioned by the police. a right to silence

has always ensured that a court cannot use silence as evidence of

guilt. Some argue that taking away the right to silence will abolish

this protection for the accused. Is the right to silence a necessary

protection? Or does it delay justice? What do you think?

let us know what you think! Jump online and send us your thoughts to have your say published in the next

Obiter! Contribute by clicking here.

Disclaimer: All submissions will be considered for publishing provided that they do not contain offensive language

or themes. The NDSLS reserves the right to refuse a submission if it is inappropriate.

YourSay - Issue 6

14 | The Obiter, Issue 6

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WELCOME BACK!The NDSLS would like to offically welcome back on board Allens for 2013.Allens will be sponsoring our client interview competition once again this year.Without their support, the NDSLS would not be able to provide students with the many events and competitions we run every year.

The Allens Client Interview Competition commenced in Week 10 with Round 2 in Week 11. The Grand Final is set to take place in Allens’ offices in Week 12.

Notre Dame Sydney Law Society

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The NDSLS would like to recognise the significant contributions of our Gold Sponsors.

These sponsors have been with us for many years and have made significant contributions

to YOUr society during that time. Check out their website and like them on Facebook to

stay informed on how they can help you more.WELCOME BACK!The NDSLS would like to offically welcome back on board Allens for 2013.Allens will be sponsoring our client interview competition once again this year.Without their support, the NDSLS would not be able to provide students with the many events and competitions we run every year.

The Allens Client Interview Competition commenced in Week 10 with Round 2 in Week 11. The Grand Final is set to take place in Allens’ offices in Week 12.