While things are improving, traditionally, professions like law have not catered well to a diversity of idiosyncratic personal needs. Here, one senior in-house counsel reflects on her experiences with neurodivergence and how she identified ways that she could flourish vocationally. In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Procreate head of legal Sarah Standen about her work in intellectual property at a software company, why it is so important to talk about neurodivergence in law, her own experiences and diagnoses, and the stigma that is often attached to neurodivergence across the community.

Standen also reflects on how her diagnoses led her to identify the best pathway forward for her career-wise and how she could play to her strengths and interests, the thought process and practical steps she undertook, the questions one needs to ask of one’s self, and what excites her about her own journey moving forward.

For this BigLaw special counsel, it has been hugely encouraging to see the elevated investments and priority being placed on pro bono by Australia’s largest law firms, which is better positioning those businesses to create positive change nationwide. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Gadens special counsel in sustainability and social impact Shabnum Cassim about her background and interest in social justice and human rights, the emotionally draining nature of such legal work, her perception of the growing importance being placed on pro bono practices by large law firms, and why they are making such investments.

Cassim also touches on the continued trajectory of pro bono arms of law firms, balancing a firm’s business and social impact interests, having clients who are more socially focused, taking a more holistic approach as a lawyer in any area of law, the duties of team leaders in pro bono moving forward, and what excites her about pro bono offerings in Australia into the future.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

For anyone, starting law school is enormously challenging, both personally and professionally. For first-generation Australians, there are additional challenges to contend with. In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, King & Wood Mallesons applied legal coordinator (disputes and litigation) and JD law student Fauzia Hussein speaks with host Jerome Doraisamy about feeling vulnerable and out of place relative to those with privileged backgrounds, the need for more nuanced support for law students with migrant backgrounds, and overcoming cultural differences.

Hussein also touches on giving first-generation students a chance at employment, how she has benefited from such support, and the importance of building a legal profession that embraces and includes individuals from all walks of life.

The exiting national workers’ compensation scheme, one principal argues, is “certainly not fit for purpose” and shouldn’t be implemented nationwide. Here, she details why a better approach, covering workers of all types, is required if workers’ compensation is to better cater to the evolving needs of staff everywhere.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Maurice Blackburn principal Alison Barrett about why plaintiff work is so meaningful for her, the current landscape across all Australian jurisdictions for workers’ compensation, whether those schemes are fit for purpose, the existing issues with the Comcare scheme, and the looming consequences that will arise should those issues not be addressed.

Barrett also delves into how the cost-of-living crisis and high inflation may compound existing issues for claimants, what is currently being done to improve Comcare and workers’ compensation more broadly, how lawyers in this space can better navigate the current landscape, why mental health claims continue as a trend, and her broader guidance for lawyers looking to not only better service clients but also advocate for a better national approach.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

The new anti-money laundering reforms are part of a “perfect regulatory storm” that professionals like lawyers have to grapple with. With new reporting obligations drawing closer, firm leaders will have to ensure their practice management and compliance operations are up to speed. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Norton Rose Fulbright senior adviser Jeremy Moller about the new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) reforms and why they’ve been introduced, what the reforms aim to achieve, the responses from lawyers and member bodies and why such professionals are concerned with the reforms. Moller also delves into the challenges that legal professionals will face in light of the reforms, why the regulatory space is shifting so much and how this impacts lawyers, where lawyers can seek assistance in such times, and the opportunities that abound from setting one’s firm apart from competitors.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

The challenge of securing employment and opportunities within the legal profession has become increasingly formidable for the next generation of lawyers. However, it is essential to recognise that there are viable pathways to enter the legal field and establish a successful career. In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Grace Robbie speaks with Amelia Daou, a final-year law student at Deakin University, about how her initial aspiration to pursue a legal career was a means of financing her dream of owning a fashion company and what factors ignited her passion to pursue a legal career. She also shares her desire to enter the corporate legal sector upon graduating and addresses the specific challenges law students face as they seek to enter the legal profession.

Daou also shares her personal challenges in applying for entry-level jobs in the legal profession, discusses what motivated her to overcome these struggles and secure her first internship at a law firm, highlights the effects of experiencing setbacks and obstacles on law students’ confidence and motivation to continue pursuing opportunities, explains the benefits of gaining work experiencing outside the legal field, identified the skills that such experience foster that is transferable to the legal profession and offers supportive insights for law students facing similar challenges, reassuring them that they are not alone in their pursuits.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

For Daniel Kalderimis KC, navigating his way out of serious depression meant going beyond mere box-ticking to feel better – it required an exploration and understanding of what it means to find one’s zest for life. (Content warning: This episode may be triggering or upsetting for some listeners. Discretion is advised.) In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Daniel Kalderimis KC, who has chambers in Auckland, Wellington, and Singapore/London, about his journey in law, his experiences with depression and how he learnt to wade his way through, and how and why he discovered that “doing philosophy” in respect of his own life would offer more purposeful, meaningful outcomes. Kalderimis also reflects on the lessons he’s learnt from historical writers about what it means to live better; how he found his zest; how he is a more skilled, more rounded legal practitioner as a result of adopting a more philosophical outlook on health and life; why he wrote a book – Zest: Climbing from Depression to Philosophy – about his experiences; and his broader guidance to lawyers everywhere.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

In the coming months, DLA Piper’s managing partner in Australia, Amber Matthews, will hand over the reins to Shane Bilardi. Here, the pair reflect on the challenging and competitive legal services marketplace and their confidence in how the firm is positioned moving forward.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Amber Matthews and Shane Bilardi about their respective journeys in law (including becoming successive heads of the Australian arm of one of the world’s biggest law firms), current market issues and challenges and the hurdles for firms like DLA to overcome, and where it intends to differentiate from competitors.

Matthews and Bilardi also discuss the advantages of being a global practice in the Australian landscape and the importance of global firms, where the firm currently sits in the national market, leveraging environmental change and bringing the firm along for the ride, why courage is required to drive change, and what excites them as they both enter new phases of their careers.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

In addition to the continued acceleration of cyber, data and privacy breaches globally, there has been a raft of legislative and regulatory reform in the past 12 months. Taken together, lawyers in this space “are going to be very busy” in the coming year. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Pinsent Masons partner Veronica Scott about working in such a consequential legal practice area, her takeaways from 2024 and what can be learnt from reforms in this space, the consequences for practitioners in advising clients, and what the new laws will look like in practice.

Scott also delves into the extent to which clients are willing to work with legal on such matters, why 2025 is shaping up to be such a frantic year for practitioners in this space, how lawyers can better manage themselves and their practices against the backdrop of such voluminous workloads, and why it remains such a meaningful area to practice law in.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

Stuart Fuller – the former global managing partner of King & Wood Mallesons and former global head of legal services at KPMG – recently retired from legal practice. Here, he reflects on his extraordinary career, the biggest challenges and achievements, and where he sees legal services heading in the future. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Fuller – who returns to the show – to discuss how and why he decided to retire, what he sees as being his biggest accomplishments as a leader in legal businesses, how he rose to the top of some of the biggest practices in the world, his reflections on Mallesons’ merger with King & Wood, and the changing nature of leadership in law. Fuller also delves into his observations about KPMG’s growth, how he sees the legal services marketplace evolving in Australia, how other lawyers can ensure they are ready – personally and professionally – to transition to retirement, why he’s particularly interested in the future of remuneration and globalisation in legal services, and why he remains such a “huge believer in [the] dream” of lawyers as business enablers and servants.

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 [email protected] for more insights!

Dr Alecia Simmonds has always been interested in the ways we govern intimate life. Here, she reflects on notable cases in Australia’s past that explored gender dynamics, emotion, love and relationships, and what is says about our legal frameworks. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with UTS Faculty of Law associate professor Dr Alecia Simmonds about her academic work and interests, and the extent to which the legal battles that women have fought over the years have evolved.

Simmonds also discusses her recently released book – Courting: An Intimate History of Love and the Law – and how she came to pen it, the cases she covered that were of greatest personal and legal interest, how expectations and standards around the legalities of courtship have changed, the takeaways from those instances, whether Australian society has learnt the requisite lessons from such sociocultural proceedings, and how optimistic she is that we, as a nation, can ensure our legal frameworks can sufficiently govern love and relationships.

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 [email protected] for more insights!