A CONVERSATION WITH AN A CONVERSATION WITH AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER IMMIGRATION LAWYER

A conversation with Miss Mari Chaffey Jones, an immigration lawyer from AHWC Immigration Law, enabled the quelling of several law myths and eased a magnitude of stress students are burdened with today She discusses her path from being an immigration lawyer, to a criminal lawyer, and then back to being an immigration lawyer She discusses the invaluable experience she received from each role and the positives and negatives of each role

What was the path from Immigration to Criminal to Immigration Law?

I initially started off in migration law and was offered a position in criminal defence law I walked into immigration law not knowing anything Just completely blind I hadn’t even taken it as an elective in law school But the firm that had hired me was completely understanding of this and supported me So do not be worried if you do not know anything when entering the field because firms expect that, and they will support you

Being a criminal defence lawyer can be very stressful. The main issue is the lack of time you get to prepare for each case The lack of time was a very challenging aspect of being a criminal lawyer because it meant that you didn’t have much time to prepare for cases and that meant not being able to produce your best work.

Sometimes I would be reading a client’s police brief in the Uber on route to see the client However, in criminal law, there was potential to make a bigger difference in the lives of clients

Immigration law is a bit more relaxed in nature if you are prepared and aware of deadlines You are given more time to prepare each case. but what’s interesting is that the law is always changing and evolving, keeping you very engaged and on your toes.

What does a day in the life of an Immigration Lawyer look like?

We hear all the time, and even in our textbooks, that law is a profession that encompasses 60 – 80-hour work weeks, and that it is the norm For law students starting out, this may stand as a huge discouragement for pursuing law Luckily for us, Miss Mari Chaffey Jones was able to quell that myth by clarifying that not all firms adopt the 60 – 80-hour work week In fact, Miss Jones says she works standard hours from 9

5:30pm (with reasonable overtime when required) and has autonomy to plan her day She is also granted early finishes on Fridays and work from home days where she does not need to come into the office

I work from 9 – 5:30pm I plan my day according to what needs to be done Typically, in the morning I will spend an hour replying to emails and then I will do some consultations for potential clients, and then spend a few hours making case notes, emailing the potential clients, and then work on any active case files

Planning my day is entirely up to me, with the exception of meetings We have targets to meet which means that we must ensure that we keep bringing in clients and that we keep completing existing files So, as soon as we feel like one case is coming to an end, we have to sign on another client I don’t do much work outside of the firm

I might do about 5 hours per week on top of my normal working hours if I have an urgent case that needs working on I typically come into work an hour or two earlier to complete this work

What advice would you give an aspiring young lawyer?

My advice would be to build up soft skills. Whilst it is still important to learn the hard skills, it is also important to be able to display those [hard] skills in practice by using soft skills Communication is key in the field You can be an amazing lawyer with amazing knowledge on the law, but it won’t matter if you don’t have the practical skills to convey your knowledge As a lawyer, you need to sell yourself to gain your client’s trust and to show that what you ’ re offering is of value to the client To do so, you need exceptional people skills and communication skills.

Also, my advice is to get involved as much as possible Seize any opportunity that comes your way and participate in events held by Deakin such as mooting These opportunities will definitely help improve your legal skills and will prepare you for your work in the field