Pathway to HSF

PATHWAY TO HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS

RACHEL LEE

Senior Associate, Employment, Industrial Relations and Safety

How did I get here? I am a Senior Associate in the Employment, Industrial Relations and Safety team. I started in January 2014 as a vacation clerk and then as a graduate. Prior to clerking I was uncertain whether I wanted to work in government, criminal law, commercial law, community law or perhaps something entirely different. One of the key reasons I chose to work at a large commercial law firm is the opportunity to work with smart, dedicated people who challenge you to become the best lawyer possible. I have met great mentors here who have helped me shape my career direction and discover new interest areas. I have also had the opportunity to balance my passions for working on challenging, large “front page” commercial matters and pro bono human rights matters.

Secondments Some of the other key experiences that have shaped my career journey are the secondments I have been on. This has enabled me to diversify my experience and develop understanding and empathy for the client-side. In 2015, I undertook a six month graduate secondment to our London office. The clients that I worked with included pharmaceutical manufacturers, FMCG companies and self-driving cars. I worked with top QCs, assisted with a Court of Appeal hearing and worked on market leading advice for emerging products (including research on Twitter Tweets for a matter!). I provided EU migration law advice to vulnerable people including trafficking victims, prepared human rights law position papers on issues such the rights of the children of prisoners and an appeal of a murder case from the Caribbean to the Privy Council. In 2019, I undertook a four month secondment to an employment legal role within Coles. It was great to be involved in strategic projects (involving food!) behind the scenes of a top brand. A highlight was having the Masterchef contestants cook our team dinner using Coles products paired with Coles wine, and a Mexican themed parade through the office to launch a new product. Also in 2019, I undertook a pro bono secondment through the Jawun program to Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring, a language and culture centre in Kununurra in the East Kimberley. My role was to support an Aboriginal-run organisation to develop governance frameworks. This required me to experiment with different communication and consultation strategies than we would use in a commercial law firm, including by developing ideas through painting. I am currently on secondment to the BHP Group employee relations legal team. My role involves advice and representation on strategic projects and litigation across BHP’s Australian assets, with a particular focus on COVID-19 response. This has again been a great new challenge to further build my professional network and understanding of how one of our firm’s key clients operates.

Senior Associate I became a Senior Associate in July 2020. This presented an opportunity to take a greater leadership role in my team with mentoring junior lawyers and also take on more challenging work. In particular, I have run a few merits hearings in the Fair Work Commission as advocate, involving crossexamination of witnesses. I also project managed a large matter that involved enhancing a client’s sexual harassment response frameworks to support them to ensure a safe and respectful workplace, at a time when this issue was of great focus in the media. A key difference to firm life from law school is that you have people sitting in front of you with a real problem – often involving millions of dollars and non-legal commercial risks and pressures to factor in – and no clear answer. This can be scary, but it is also what motivates you to do the best work and give a clear, commercial answer to help the client. My advice is to always be genuine, be a person of integrity and pick the area of law that is aligned to the kind of professional brand you want to build within