Law students experience rich, rewarding practical work, even before they graduate, writes Melinda Ham.

Imagine giving free legal advice to young people on the beach or to homeless people and refugees. These are some of the interesting situations in which NSW law students are trying their new-found skills.

At the University of Newcastle, students bring their legal expertise to ordinary people by setting up a free advice outreach drop-in clinic every Wednesday for five weeks over the summer holidays at the Newcastle Beach Surf Life Saving Club.

The director of the university's legal centre, Shaun McCarthy, says students initially interview the clients by themselves.

"Then they discuss the issues with the lawyers at our legal centre, who return with the students to the beach clinic to give the client advice and see if the centre will take on their case," McCarthy says.

"It's held in a relaxed and accessible setting and we get a lot of young people and families."

At the end of their third year, all students are required to spend 100 hours working at the university's legal centre and a further 360 hours in a law firm or government department over the next two years of their studies.

Issues clients present at the university legal centre include tenancy disputes, family law, debt, discrimination and problems with government departments. Other clients want to draw up a will or invoke a power of attorney. "We try to help people who fall between the cracks," McCarthy says.

At the University of NSW, Alex Steel, associate dean (education) in the law faculty, says his lecturers also try to create well-rounded graduates who are ready for work.

"We teach students that law can be used in a broader context, from the boardroom to a community legal centre or a refugee camp," he says.

UNSW students get the opportunity to work at the university-run Kingsford Legal Centre with real clients, who face issues such as domestic violence, family problems or discrimination. In addition, students can choose an elective internship with one of about
60 non-profit organisations, including the AIDS Council, the Australian Red Cross, the Asia Pacific Forum or Greenpeace.

"When you talk to many graduates, they say their internship was a life-changing moment when they saw the purpose of their degree in a different light," Steel says.

"Students love getting authentic experience."

Meanwhile, attitudes to law education are also changing dramatically at the University of Sydney, says professor Gillian Triggs, dean of the faculty of law. "The old sandstone universities, like Sydney, used to take a doctrinal, jurisprudence, black-letter attitude to teaching law but in the past few years, practical training has become much more important to us."

Since 2009, legal students now get to work on cases through the university's social justice clinical program, which gives them the chance to research, interview real clients and write up cases.

This work involves working with the most disadvantaged members of the community, such as homeless people, prisoners and refugees, as well as helping public advocacy groups, she says.

A unique dimension of the University of Sydney's law degree is it requires all students to take international law, which feeds into its highly successful exchange and global internship program for six months. Students also get opportunities to work at United
Nations departments and the World Trade Organisation.

"We want our students to be able to operate across borders and internationally," Triggs says.

In addition, students get to take part in moot court competitions across Australia and overseas, where a team of five students prepares arguments on points of law in a simulated court environment, competing against other university teams.

"They get to look at issues in criminal law, constitutional law, international law," Triggs says.

"There was even an international space law moot competition talking about the moon and outer space.

"We love to see the students on their feet and talking about these issues."

Careers in law:

Solicitors:
According to the Australian government's Job Outlook for 2011, Australia's 63,000 solicitors have good job prospects. Employment is expected to grow very strongly in the next five years, as the internet vacancy level is also very high. Most solicitors work full time (88.4 per cent) and earnings are high; about $1567 a week before tax.

Barristers:
Similarly, the country's 9000 barristers have good employment prospects over the next five years and job growth is also predicted to grow at a substantial rate. Most barristers work full time (87.3 per cent), with an average weekly wage of $1400 before tax.
While the male-to-female ratio of solicitors is almost on par, most barristers are men, with fewer than a third (28.4 per cent) women. All barristers and solicitors hold a university degree of a bachelor or higher..

Barrister - Fiona Roughley

Fiona Roughley has been a barrister for just a few months but she has been enthusiastic about representing clients in court for some time.

The 28-year-old discovered a love of advocacy while taking part in mooting competitions — in which students simulate court proceedings and argue points of law in front of a judge — at the University of Sydney.

Her mooting experience reached an exciting climax in 2007, when her university team won the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition in Washington, DC.

"I was thinking at the time, 'This is what I want to do. It's got the energy and interest I hope to have in a career'," Roughley says. But she didn't become a barrister straight away.

For 3½ months after completing her law and English degrees — for which she was awarded a university medal — Roughley went to work in Darwin as an intern at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency.

"I got to go inside real courtrooms for the first time," she says. "I got to experience how litigation can be a bridge between the state and its citizens and I liked that aspect very much."

She then worked for a year as an associate for a High Court judge, Justice Kenneth Hayne, followed by a year as a graduate solicitor in corporate law firm Allens Arthur Robinson while doing pro bono work at the Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic.

At this stage in her career, Roughley decided to do more study. Armed with three scholarships (including the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), she went to Cambridge University to study a master of law. "It was a unique opportunity to really diversify and deepen my experience at a leading university and learn from other students coming from all over the world with passions about law," she says.

After returning in July and completing her bar exams, Roughley is a junior barrister, or "reader" — a role that is mentored by senior barristers.

"Everyone has been incredibly supportive and generous with their time," she says. "It's already been very stimulating, very fun and very rewarding."

Solicitor - Derek Wong

Derek Wong has always loved arguing (have pity on his family) and he also adores reading, so he's a perfect fit as a solicitor working for corporate law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques in a job that incorporates his passions and provides daily challenges.
"I really enjoy the analytical part of law; solving problems, asking what is rational and why a rule exists and looking at particular scenarios," the 24-year-old says.

Wong did his legal training at the University of NSW, combining a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of commerce.

"One of the biggest things for me in law school was taking part in moot courts, which simulates a courtroom," he says.

Wong travelled to Tasmania, Victoria, Canberra, Queensland and Washington, DC, to take part in moot competitions on topics ranging from human rights to the federal constitution. He was also involved in peer mentoring, tutoring and edited the UNSW Law Journal.

The summer before his final year at UNSW, Wong did a clerkship at Mallesons and was offered a graduate job. He deferred it for a year and in 2010, took up a role as a "tipstaff", a research assistant to Justice Roger Giles, a judge on the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court of NSW.

"I would sit behind the judge in court with all his books," Wong says. "It gave me a real insight into how judges deliberate, what goes on behind the scenes and [gave me] the opportunity to discuss things with someone with so much in-depth experience and knowledge."

Wong has spent the past year going through two six-month rotations at Mallesons — first in the investment, property and construction team and now in mergers and acquisitions. He has one more six-month rotation this year before deciding on a particular area in which to practise.

Victim support - Cindy Grahame

It has taken Cindy Grahame more than three decades to achieve her goal but today she works as a lawyer at a community legal centre on the western fringes of Sydney dealing with victim support, domestic violence, debt and family law issues.

"The best thing about the job is talking with people who are dispossessed and can't initially help themselves," says Grahame, who graduated with honours from the University of Newcastle law school in 2009.

"I met a client in the street the other day who said 'Cindy, you changed my life.' He felt he had been heard. He felt really empowered. It doesn't get any better than that."

Grahame started a double arts and law degree at the University of Newcastle in 1976 but was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had to put university on hold.

She finally finished her arts degree in 1985 and had a varied career as a teacher, retail manager and consultant but never lost sight of her aspiration to practise law.

"At one point, when I was teaching adult literacy and numeracy, I kept finding that my clients had extra problems and I had to refer them on," she says. "They were getting the gift of reading and writing but I wanted to give them more."

So she returned to study law in 2006 as a mature-age student.

"I found it very intellectually rewarding," Grahame says. "I might have had more altruistic reasons than some other students who saw the high incomes lawyers make and were seduced by that lifestyle."

After completing her practical training at the College of Law in Sydney and working at the Aboriginal Legal Centre and a commercial law firm, Grahame became a fully qualified lawyer.

"I guess the really important message from my experience is that, while it took a long time and a lot of hard work, it's important for students to realise you can have a second chance. Look at me, I'm 53 but I'm here now."