Lawyer

Peta Wittig

Rachel Emerson comes from a family of lawyers and grew up always knowing what she wanted to do.

“I don’t actually remember a defining point when I decided I wanted to be a lawyer.  I always knew,” said the 24-year-old Brisbane first-year lawyer.

“I’m one of six girls and four of us are lawyers and my dad is a lawyer.  I think it was probably in my blood,” Rachel said.

Rachel said that while her father was a positive influence on her career decision he never pushed. He wanted Rachel to make her own decisions regarding her career but was always on hand with helpful advice.

In Rachel’s third year of Arts/Law at The University of Queensland she lined up paralegal work with law firm, Blake Dawson Waldron.

“There was a big commercial litigation matter that BDW was working on and they needed a lot of uni students as paralegals for assistance with document management,” Rachel said.

Already planning for a graduate position, she applied for a summer clerkship in December 2003 at the same firm.

“Participation in summer clerkship programs is really integral in getting a job in one of the top tier law firms these days. Generally, the firms try and recruit all of their graduates, or a large proportion, from their summer clerks,” Rachel said.

On completion of her degree, Rachel’s forward thinking paid off and she landed a graduate role in March 2006.

Within eight months of the one-year graduate program, Rachel was offered a full time role working with a team with energy and resources matters.

“I love the work, and the people are fantastic, the work is exciting especially in Queensland,” she said.
Rachel’s advice to budding lawyers is to get work experience as early as possible.

“Even if you can’t get legal experience straight away, any work experience is fantastic. It shows you can get a job and manage a job whilst studying,” she said.

Rachel also encourages students to approach their local legal clinic and volunteer their time. “Obviously if you’re not qualified it’s supervised work experience, but it’s so beneficial,” she said.