Here, two award-winning lawyers reflect on how they broke away from traditional legal vocational pathways to find success in ways that made sense to them – while noting that, for anyone seeking progression, it does not come easy.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Bowes Legal managing partner Jane Bowes and Nova Entertainment group general counsel Danielle Keyes about their early years as “baby lawyers” and how they met, how and why they each chose to explore non-traditional pathways and how they felt about it at the time, and having to redefine what it meant to succeed.

Bowes and Keyes also reflect on the idiosyncratic challenges that face women in law, recalibrating expectations of what a lawyer can reasonably achieve when there are other life responsibilities, overcoming cultural expectations, being empathetic as leaders in law but also pragmatic, their guidance for lawyers coming through the ranks about how to forge one’s own pathway, and recognising that success is often, if not always, hard-fought.

From cold calling to securing a paralegal role at a global law firm, this law student shares essential tips and strategies every aspiring lawyer should use to land a position and kickstart their legal career.

Speaking on a recent episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Grace Robbie speaks with Victor Yan, a law student at UNSW and a paralegal at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (HSFK), shares his unconventional journey into the legal profession, opens up about how a simple cold email to HSFK led to him securing a paralegal role months later, and discusses the crucial importance of landing a paralegal position while still at university to gain the practical skills that academic study alone doesn’t provide.

Yan also emphasises the importance of first- and second-year law students taking proactive steps to secure their first paralegal roles, highlights common mistakes he often sees during the application process, outlines five key steps students should follow on their journey to landing a paralegal position, stresses the vital need to prioritise self-care and wellbeing throughout this challenging period, and shares encouraging advice for law students about to embark on this exciting yet daunting new chapter.

In this special episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with Mary Technology, we flesh out the importance of building efficient workflows to overcome the inherent, chaotic elements of taking on new client matters.

Host Jerome Doraisamy is joined by Mary Technology chief executive and co-founder Daniel Lord-Doyle to discuss who Mary Technology is and the problems it is solving for legal professionals, what fact chaos is and why it’s such a challenge, what it means to have efficient workflows, and how urgent a priority fact chaos is for lawyers across the spectrum.

Lord-Doyle also delves into how the profession is responding to solutions to navigate fact chaos, the role of AI in overcoming such challenges, navigating trust barriers, unlocking new potential for lawyers to be more efficient moving forward, supporting rapid acceleration of efficiency, and the rewards that come with making an impact on practitioners’ operations.

With India looking to be the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, and with significant shifts occurring in its legal landscape and how it sees foreign investment, there are boundless opportunities not just for firms with an Australian presence but also for Australia-based practitioners.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Baker McKenzie’s Asia-Pacific investigations, compliance, and ethics group head Mini Menon vandePol, who also chair’s the global firm’s India practice, about how she utilises her name in the course of practice, her reflections on three decades with Bakers, what’s happening with the firm’s India practice, and how she is leading at a time of significant change for India.

She also delves into the challenges that global firms like Bakers face in gaining stronger footholds in India, as well as the inherent opportunities, what such changes to the landscape mean for Australia and its practitioners, how Australians should view the evolving legal landscape in India, and why she’s so excited by such change.

The unlawful termination of journalist Antoinette Lattouf by the national broadcaster, which resulted in high-profile proceedings in the Federal Court, has shone a spotlight on workplace policies for social media use by employees, and the need for such frameworks to be fit for purpose.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with McCabes principal Melini Pillay about her journey from being a prosecutor to representing defendants in employment and safety matters, how her background in criminal law offers perspective for her current work, the difficulties of managing five generations in the workforce for businesses, and what happened in the Lattouf v ABC proceedings.

Pillay also discusses what the court found and the employment law implications moving forward from these proceedings, the difficulties inherent with striking the right balance with a social media policy, what might constitute bringing one’s employer into disrepute, the questions that employers should be asking as a starting point, why policies need to appreciate the prevalence of and place for social media in the modern landscape, and practical steps to take in ensuring the right balance is struck when revamping workplace policies.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!

When it comes to marketing, Rex Afrasiabi has learnt that people resonate more with a person than they do with a business. Leaning into his own branding has resulted in exponential growth for his firm, which is now allowing him to expand nationally through a capital raise and a retail share offering.

In this episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Bond Property Lawyers founder Rex Afrasiabi to discuss how and why he works with the real estate sector (and targets this sector rather than a particular niche area of legal practice), creating a marketing strategy that allows for growth without spreading one’s self too thin, and his views on the importance of personal and professional branding.

Afrasiabi also delves into the investment of time and labour for such strong marketing, how his business success has been aided by such marketing, how he plans to take his operations to the next level nationally, reflections on private equity in law firms, why he is looking to raise capital and undertake a retail share offering, and what excites him about such business growth moving forward.

In this special episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, produced in partnership with LEAP Family Law, we explore how and why so many family law practitioners are leaving the profession and what can be done to better support them in practice.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with LEAP Family Law managing director Jenna Downy about her background as a family lawyer, how and why burnout impacts lawyers in this space, the unique challenges facing family lawyers, the many hats that they have to wear, and how burnout can impact female practitioners more than their male counterparts.

Downy also delves into her own experiences with burnout when she practised in family law, the moment of realisation that she experienced, the options that practitioners can and should be exploring, whether they are aware of such options, how LEAP is supporting family lawyers right now, and whether she is optimistic about family lawyers’ capacity to proactively and reactively navigate burnout in practice.

To learn more about LEAP Family Law, click here.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!

In this special episode, produced in partnership with Lawyers Weekly’s philanthropic partner So They Can, we explore the work being undertaken by the charity in Kenya and Tanzania to support children (especially young girls) living in extreme poverty by way of community health and empowerment projects, education, and family strengthening.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with So They Can’s partnerships manager, Emily Whitehouse, and country manager in Tanzania, Roselyne Mariki, about who the charity is and why it does its work in East Africa, the myriad challenges being faced by both girls and boys in certain communities in Kenya and Tanzania, including lacking access to food, water, healthcare and education.

Whitehouse and Mariki also discuss the various projects So They Can has running that are supporting children and young adults in communities, including the Empowerment Program for Women and its recent success, how individual professionals can get involved in the charity’s operations, and how businesses across Australia can support its work on the ground in East Africa.

To learn more about So They Can, click here.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!