Avsnitt
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In the first episode of Season 3 of the What a Lawyer podcast, Sam sits down with Gemma Wragg from Tavendale & Partners in Christchurch. Gemma started her career as a practicing lawyer in commercial law, property, private client and agribusiness, but also had a passion for human rights and education as a whole. She made a great start with Duncan Cotterill after clerking in Timaru, and felt she learned the basics of bigger-picture thinking from her former supervisor. In moving to Tavendale & Partners, she experienced several significant role evolutions, skillset acquisitions, responsibilities and challenges. Taking on her Firms first c-suite leadership position, she set about creating an environment that fostered growth and enhanced delivery and enjoyment. Now focussed on revolutionising the legal education and training space for the junior market in her Firm (and perhaps wider), Gemma is bringing all her experience in taking wider requirements and objectives and narrowing them down for our juniors to grasp. It is an exciting time is the education and congratulations to Gemma for taking a leading role.
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Join Sarah and Sam as they discuss the legal job market of 2024 and bring the year to a close with this bonus track.
In the final episode of Season 2, Sam is joined by his business partner, Sarah Wilson, Co-Director of Chisholm Clarke. While Sam typically interviews legal professionals, Sarah brings a fresh perspective from her experience in legal search. Although early in her career, Sarah has quickly made her mark after spending nearly two and a half years at a global recruitment agency and becoming her own boss in January this year. In this episode, Sam and Sarah delve into the 2024 legal market, sharing valuable insights on trends, salary expectations, common challenges and solutions and what lawyers may see in the coming months. They also touch on advice for young, ambitious lawyers navigating the evolving landscape, and provide guidance on how to thrive in a competitive market. They spotlight on general salary trends for lawyers, but for more specific detail - here is a breakdown below. Salaries vary by region, firm type, level and practice area. Larger firms often offer structured benefits to more senior lawyers, while smaller and medium-sized firms balance competitive packages with a focus on work-life balance and flexibility. If you're looking for more detail on comparing your salary, are interested in beginning a conversation with us or have some feedback on this episode, please reach out today. And lastly, thank you to all our listeners, lawyers and law firms of the New Zealand legal industry for supporting this podcast and our work at Chisholm Clarke. It was an honour to receive our first award for Service Provider of the Year to the legal industry this year and sponsor and present the awards at NZ Lawyer's ceremony for Young Private Practice Lawyer of the Year and Young In-House Lawyer of the Year. We are thrilled to support these young, talented lawyers and emerging leaders of Aotearoa and congratulations to the Excellence Awardees and Finalists in both categories, and to all those involved in every category across the night and the industry. We are already looking forward to doing it all over it again next year. -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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In the final episode of Season 2, we are joined by a new Partner at White Fox & Jones named Sam Thorp.
Sam started his career in the same firm and has demonstrated a keen desire to understand the bigger picture of practicing law, leading him towards a major milestone within a short time frame.
We ask Sam to spill the beans and let us in on what he does, how he empowers his people and where the road leads next. Join us for this enlightening conversation that any young ambitious lawyer might benefit from.
Thank you for all the support we have received for this podcast and the guests that generously shared their stories with our audience. -
In this episode, we are joined by a career complex commercial and civil litigator from Buddle Findlay, Cora Morrison. Cora has gained a huge amount of experience across smaller and boutique to large national and highly-ranked Firms, gaining interesting perspective on the workplace.It may have been really easy to discuss Cora's background and work, but she chose to do something a little different and address the elephant in the room - the darker side of practicing law. Of course we are talking about ambition, expectation and success, balance and burnout and how to deal with these things.As an ambitious and self-proclaimed impatient person, Cora heaped expectation on herself early to reach goals faster. With a whirlwind approach and external factors impacting her personal life, she barreled towards full-blow burnout, twice. Learn from Cora how this happened, what she did to rectify the situation and how one might prevent falling into it in the first place.
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In this episode, we talk all things Tax with Julia Johnston, Director of Johnston Law, who comes from a world of tax experience across both disciplines.The world of tax is a complex beast. It comes in the form of multiple practicing disciplines across numbers and advisory, for big international corporates all the way down to recent migrants.Julia brings us up to speed on what options exist for a recent grad to begin their careers in tax, what it is like to transition from one to the other (Law to Accounting or vice versa) and some great detail on her current practice areas with private clients, the IRD and colleagues within the industry.To tune into this conversation, please visit the below link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jKw578qFDdfsufAhUWzRR
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In this episode we delve into the deep area of Human Rights Law, primarily across humanitarian, immigration and family, with a Senior Associate from Cavell Leitch named Rabiah Khawaja.Sam and Rabiah begin with touching on live, real world issues and what sort of humanitarian responses New Zealand provides and how effective that is. Responses are allocated, but proportions of relief are not always the same.Migrants that are effected by war-torn countries or have had their families or homes lost in significant natural disasters are supported by Rabiah's work to assist refugees. One might need to hold back the tears when seeing, hearing and dealing with what she does on a daily basis. Rabiah also discusses growing diverstiy int he workplace and why personal connections are so important for team collaboration.
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In this episode, we welcome Sarah Scott from Simpson Grierson back to the podcast. The new Fast-track Approvals Bill has been a hot topic in the Environmental/Projects space for some time and Scottie gives us the inside scoop.
From what this Bill actually means to why is has been introduced to what potential outcomes may arise as a result, Scottie covers it all in her usual in-depth manner. Likening it somewhat to what we have already experienced in the Covid Fast-track Bill, this Bill already has numerous submissions to review and make decisions on.
Given the potential outcomes of more infrastructure projects and developments, it is understandable that the environmental groups have some serious concerns - particularly around the longer term thinking around our natural resources. -
In this episode, we are joined by Christian Pinkney, an intermediate civil litigator from Corcoran French in Christchurch. Christian's journey in law didn't start the usual way. He shares his journey through University, through his first role being somewhere he hadn't envisioned and working hard to get to where he needs to be now. Christian's experience at University was like most of ours, having way too much fun and on reflection, could have worked harder to set himself up for success. Starting out with a full time role in-house instead of in Private Practice meant his start was different that what he envisioned. But through working hard and acquiring skills, he landed a great role and seems to be absolutely loving it. Christian also discusses the main differences between his experience working in-house vs private practice and has an obvious piece of advice for himself at the end. Sam reviews this conversation in depth at the episode for our junior audience.
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In this episode, we are joined by Willie Hamilton, a senior generalist litigator who made his way up by throwing himself into it.
From his self-proclaimed casual performance at University to a top tier national law firm in Chapman Tripp, Willie shares how he managed to absorb experience from a range of places, situations and people and borrow their best for himself.
Willie's purpose of coming on the podcast aligned nicely with the overall reason for creating it - to reach juniors with stories from seniors as a means to relay information that might be beneficial.
Willie talks about opportunity, mentorship, choice and change, all in the pursuit for job enjoyment and progression.
Tune in on your favourite podcast app or visit www.chisholmclarke.co.nz/what-a-lawyer-podcast for more information. -
This episode was a really fun one to put together. Sunny and Sam have known each other for years so it was a bit like old times.
This conversation with Sunny is focussed on Criminal Law and the competing elements of Prosecution and Defence. During the early parts of Sunny's career he was immersed in Defence with the Public Defence Service before his more recent few years doing Prosecution on behalf of the Crown.
We tap into this unique perspective to reveal what the role of each lawyer looks like, how to navigate moral conflict whilst doing the best for your client and what the future of criminal law could look like.
Tune into this talk on your favourite podcast platform or through the link below.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/54yflmjkDyufJYUFcSncug -
In the first episode of Season 2, we sat down with Derek Roth-Biester, a Corporate (TMT) Partner from Anderson Lloyd's Queenstown office.
Derek has been around computers and technology since he was young fella, always finding interest in them and their potential. Derek's professional career as a Lawyer has taken him all around the globe and landing in the adventure capital of the world recently.
Derek's fascination with technology, and more recently Artificial Intelligence is infectious. He has a deep understanding of available tools, their purposes and limitations and has some opinions of where they could go. As the title suggests, we are in an unprecedented time with AI and no-one can really foresee what's going to happen next, but Derek and I give it a go in this episode.
If you are someone who is remotely interested in AI and the upcoming surge of demand for tools or legal services surrounding them, this will be a good conversation to tune into. -
In this episode, we discuss the world of Digital Assets with James Cochrane, a Partner in Lane Neave's national dispute resolution team.
James has had a broad career spanning large top tier Firms with challenging and intricate work to specialist practice building and really honing in on his now-refined speciality.
In this discussion, we visit James' passion for Cryptocrurrency and how his interest in the subject matter helped morph his thinking and skill-acquisition. James describes various laws surrounding digital assets and the remaining grey area in the legislation that supports it.
To listen to this podcast, visit the below link or wherever you get your podcasts -
In this episode we sit down with Fiona McMillan, an elite Employment and Health & Safety Partner in Lane Neave's Auckland office.
Fi's career has seen her faced with many opportunities, from starting out in Christchurch to opening an office in Auckland. Hear from Fi around what different opportunities you could be presented with and those you might need to search or fight for.
Fi has consistently been recognised for her work across some of the industry's major media publications and awards issuers but remains humble, loyal to her family and her firm and has a great time doing it.
To listen to this episode, please visit the following link -
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/s1-e08-fiona-mcmillan-on-bravery-and-taking-opportunities/id1704775728?i=1000637756019
If you enjoy this episode, please give our show a follow so you we can keep you informed of more conversations with leading NZ legal practitioners -
In this episode we explore Emma's backgrounds in Private Practice (8 years) and her In-house Government experience (8 years), and discuss the differences she has experienced first hand between the two of them, in the field of Corporate Commercial Law.
Emma began her career as a Russell McVeagh Scholar and moved to the capital for the biggest opportunity of her young career. She spent 4 years learning the ropes of a large corporate culture before moving to a new mid-tier firm in Morrison Mallett.
Having amassed some 8 years in Private Practice, Emma decided to try her hand fighting the good fight and moved into a Government role, and hasn't looked back.
The lingering questions are - What was her preference and why? How did the day to day work differ? What was the cultural and working environment change like? What about the people? We could go on forever.
This episode is for the curious Lawyer sitting on one side of the fence potentially keen to consider the other. -
In this episode we are joined by Ana Coculescu - an internationally-qualified, Senior Associate at Dentons Kensington Swan in the field of European Union Law, Resource Management and ESG.
We track Ana's career from Romania, France, Australia and ultimately to New Zealand where she now specialises in ESG, or Environmental, Social and Governance. This ESG concept is not as widely talked about as employment, family or commercial law and there is no legislation supporting it currently. We explore the broad scope of it, how it applies to organisations and where it could go next.
Ana is a passionate advocate for the environment, climate change and fighting the good fight for the bigger picture. She appears on multiple panels, co-produces DKS's ESG newsletter and enjoys reading outside of work.
To listen to this episode, visit ....... -
In this episode, we are fortunate to have one of New Zealand's leading environmental law specialists, Sarah Scott from Simpson Grierson. Sarah has amassed a whopping 17 years at SG that have seen her gain immense exposure to various areas in the law and the opportunity to specialise and grow where she now practices.
We delve into her expertise and knowledge of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and what has been happening here recently. With two new pieces of legislation set to be phased in over the next 10 years, Scottie shares her thoughts on why it was necessary, what we have now and where to next.
This of course all sits under an enormous cloud of uncertainty due to the change of Government in New Zealand. Could it mean that all this much-needed hard work is repealed and our Environmental lawyers, Councillors, Developers and the like are stuck in the same position, at least for now? -
In this episode we are joined by the effervescent Bec Robertson from the QLDC, who leads the Corporate Commercial function for the southern region.
Bec is all about having a person-first approach, a growth mindset and a positive attitude towards life and work. We discuss the benefits and barriers to being forward-thinking in the modern world and put some real-life examples to it.
Bec discusses how a progressive approach can benefit the lawyer as a human being, as well as the quality and efficiency of their work. She employs a task-based, project management approach to her work that she finds simplifies touch points and gives the lawyer a better view of the overall task now, rather than a pile of who-knows-what when it is too late.
Listen in here or from your favourite podcast provider and please leave us a rating so we can produce more of the kinds of conversations you want to hear.
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/ -
In this episode we are joined by tech wizard Peter Fernando from Duncan Cotterill's partnership, who specialises in TMT under the Corporate Commercial umbrella.
Generative Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic with the introduction of more tools this year in 2023 than ever before. But the written law surrounding AI hasn't changed since the Privacy Act was passed in 1993 or in more recent versions (2020) - only the subject matter has.
Peter discusses the three biggest legal risks he sees in the everyday use of these tools, how his background sparked his interest in the field and his love of Formula One, before it was made mainstream by Netflix's popular Drive to Survive series. -
In this episode we explore Sara's background and the reasons why she chose to specialise in Family Law. We listen to all the work she does on a daily basis, hear of the new areas coming into the her practice and hear her pleas for more Family lawyers in the Hawke's Bay region.
Sara is a determined Family law expert who's purpose is to help Aoteoroa's children have a better childhood than hers, listen in for some gold nuggets in this one. -
In this episode we are joined by Gerard Elwell, a Senior Associate and Head of Employment at Young Hunter.
We explore his background and expert views on the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), some proposed legislative changes and creative solutions to current issues within the framework.
We ask Gerard our quickfire five and gain further insight into him as a person as well as a Lawyer.
