What was your journey to DLA Piper?
I studied a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Bachelor of Laws and started my career in the engineering space while I was studying. In my first role, I worked for the state government and was involved in land use planning and development and traffic and transport engineering. After two years, I moved to an engineering consultancy where I had the opportunity to work across both a structural engineering team and the legal team. Whilst I did love the spreadsheets, site visits and hard hats, I developed a stronger interest in a legal career in the projects and infrastructure space as I enjoyed the intersectionality it provided between engineering and law.
In 2020, I started as a summer clerk at DLA Piper in the Finance, Projects and Restructuring team. Whilst my rotation was technically on the finance side, my engineering background, interest in projects and the team’s support for my development naturally lead to me being looped into project work and I was involved in some pretty exciting major infrastructure projects (both in Australia and internationally!). Not long after, I participated in the graduate program, and am now back as a solicitor in the Projects team.
What’s the coolest thing about your job?
Being able to be meaningfully involved in a variety of work that I am genuinely passionate about.
During my first graduate rotation in the Insurance and Litigation (Insurance) team, I was involved in all sorts of matters in areas from cyber and technology to construction, professional indemnity and personal injury, but my favourite was the work I undertook in the ESG space. I’ve prepared client presentations on the importance of ESG and how we can guide our clients through the green transition, as well as summaries of the environmental liability and litigation framework in Australia. I was also heavily involved in the preparation of a multi-jurisdictional climate change litigation strategy which involved me attending and actively contributing to meetings with colleagues from other offices and senior executives of international organisations whilst I was still a graduate. In my current team, I still use this knowledge to contribute in other ways, for example by helping with pitches for sustainable projects.
DLA Piper’s D&I networks also are another platform where I’ve had the opportunity to make an impact. Outside of work, I volunteer as a Portfolio Manager for Diverse Women in Law (DWL), a relatively young not-for-profit organisation with the aim of supporting diverse women in law. Through my involvement with DLA Piper’s gender-balance network (LAW) and the amazing support of the LAW committee, DLA Piper is now a silver sponsor of DWL. It has been so rewarding being able to see the impact of the sponsorship first-hand when planning DWL’s 2023 events, but also to see how this has led to conversations regarding an Australian chapter of Mosaic, DLA Piper’s network for racial, cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, which have been extremely interesting conversations to be a part of!