Sep 2020 | Susie Flynn | Clayton Utz
I became a lawyer because...
I felt like it was the best way I could use my skills to combat injustice. My friends have said the phrase, "to be fair" is my personal motto as I'm always able to think of an argument for both sides of an issue. Working as a lawyer means being able to understand and respond to the nuances that are evident in every matter and thinking about how people may respond to an argument is one of the most fascinating parts of my job. Since commencing practice, my understanding of what injustice means has become much more complex and I have seen how structural the obstacles impeding access to justice are. Teachers, social and health workers, journalists and many more professions play just as important role in responding to those obstacles but advocacy seemed to best fit my skillset. Now I am equally interested in exploring how the private sector can effectively support the community sector who are working on the front line of injustice.
The best piece of advice I received was…
Your job is to give your clients the best experience of the legal system they can have, which sounds much simpler than it is! I work with vulnerable people who have complex histories. Often their experience of the legal system has contributed to their experiences of trauma. Often their legal situation will be difficult to overcome. Often no one has actually taken the time to simply listen to them. Beyond giving your client sound legal advice - listening to their story, giving them agency and treating them as a person instead of a fact scenario is just as important when providing them with a service. In essence, your pro bono client should receive the same level of service as your highest billing client. I received my legal education through university and practice but I would say my skills in treating people like people were definitely developed working in retail. I am sometimes of the view that a summer working retail through the Christmas rush should be a mandatory rotation for a lawyer…
A key mentor who influenced my career is...
Professor Rosalind Dixon at the University of New South Wales. Ros taught me in my undergraduate and you always felt like your brain was maxed out after leaving her lecture. Ros takes an incredible amount of interest in her students and was someone who encouraged me to take on a graduate role at a corporate law firm which seemed like a diversion for someone who had always seen herself in the community sector, in order to explore my options and gain exceptional legal training. Four years on, it proved to be excellent advice as I love the work I get to do and the people I get to work with. Since then Ros has continued to be very generous in providing support and excellent advice as well as letting me agonise over Master's degree choices with her including late night calls the day before decisions were required to be made. I am exceedingly grateful to Ros for showing such an investment in her students and their careers.
If I wasn't a lawyer...
I would absolutely be working in the theatre. I'm a complete theatre nerd. It is a cliché but it is true that a lot of lawyers are frustrated actors. I would actually prefer to be behind the scenes writing and getting to watch a story come to life. One of the best experiences I've had was getting to spend an hour wandering around the prop room at the Sydney Theatre Company. I love attending a show and experiencing the live transfer of emotion or getting to see how a crew have transformed a space to tell a story. Every time I see a show, I spend half of the time enjoying it, half considering how they have done certain things and a third half being very jealous that this is how people get to spend their working days. You might be able to tell that if I wasn't a lawyer, I wouldn't be a mathematician.
