Why did you study Law?
It’s a degree that teaches you how the world works. I’ve always had a strong interest in social justice and wanted to develop a skill set that would allow me to help others and engage in work that makes a positive impact.
Where are you working currently? What does it involve?
I work as CEO of BucketOrange - a publication changing the way young Australians think about, and interact with, the legal industry. It’s the first of its kind. I manage the daily operations and strategic direction of the magazine, oversee content creation and distribution, marketing and advertising and securing funds. I also manage a small team of volunteer writers, many who work, or have worked as, senior lawyers.
In the future, I hope to be in a position to hire young lawyers who seek alternative career pathways in the law and have a special interest in writing, journalism and our ‘law for good’ ethos.
What brought you to create BucketOrange?
Working in music marketing I was able to identify a significant knowledge gap among my peers, especially when it came to avoidable legal issues. I had the intention of innovatively promoting the law, enhancing personal rights, reducing the incidence of avoidable and expensive pitfalls experienced by young Australians and referring readers to firms for legal advice.
I want to help young Australians recognise and manage business and personal legal risks by seeking timely legal counsel, before they face complex issues.
What is something you wish you had known when you were a law student?
To relax and not to worry so much about what everyone else is doing. There is a lot of pressure on later year law students (much of it self-inflicted) to have a clear career plan after graduation. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. The best piece of advice anyone has ever given me was to stop worrying about the future because “there is not one right way to go through life.”
Ignore what everyone makes you think you should achieve in your career/life by forging a unique path. I embarked on a post-graduation adventure through Southern Africa before I eventually settled down into government. In that period I didn’t lose pace with my peers, or my career, but I did gain the world.
What did you find most challenging in law school?
Admittedly, I was a pretty lazy student who would mostly work in bursts of energy at the end of semester, but I think one of the most challenging aspects of law school is learning to look at everything around you through a legal lens. Studying law gives you a unique perspective and teaches you an entirely new way of thinking about problems and how to develop effective solutions. It also teaches you a lot about yourself, society and the world, which takes some adjustment.
This process can be especially challenging for students who enter law school as undergraduates. Understanding complex legal principles and how they operate in the real world can be particularly difficult when you are straight out of high school and have limited experience of the workforce or life in general.
BucketOrange is an online magazine that provides life hacks for young Australians with a goal of effecting social change. It is a quick, fun and interesting guide that allows readers to gain a better understanding of their rights. It contributes to the development of preventative law by recognising and managing small legal risks before they become complex.
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