MADELEINE VAN BASTEN MADELEINE VAN BASTEN

BATENBURG’S JOURNEY TO BECOMING BATENBURG’S JOURNEY TO BECOMING

A Police Lawyer A Police Lawyer

Miss Madeleine van Basten Batenburg, a Police Lawyer working in the Senior Advocacy Team at Victoria Police, discusses her journey on a non-traditional pathway to becoming a Police Lawyer She demonstrates the value of exploring opportunities and the importance of finding an area of law that you are most passionate about She unveils her own struggles on her journey as well as her strength to stand her ground with the belief that she will get to where she needs to be

From the very beginning, Madeleine’s career mostly revolved around helping others She understood that this is what she wanted to continue doing, and therefore it became clear to her that she would not be pursuing the traditional corporate and commercial law pathways

Throughout my career, each job I’ve had was focused on helping people Within my first year of law school, it became clear to me that I wasn’t going to go into commercial or corporate law because I just knew that I wouldn’t have that person approach [namely], I wouldn’t be working with victims or vulnerable people.

Career Journey and Volunteer Experiences

Madeleine has taken on many job opportunities and volunteer positions aimed at assisting others, such as volunteering to help young Sudanese children with their homework, helping a Women’s group in Dandenong, becoming a Lifestyle Assistant at an aged care facility, working as a Paralegal, assisting with the Royal Commission into Aged Care, working in Medical Negligence at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and much more

In 2011, I became a student volunteer at the Brotherhood of Saint Laurence Every Tuesday after school, I would assist young Sudanese refugee children with their homework. I also attended a Women’s Group in Dandenong which focused on assisting Sudanese women with their integration into Australian society I volunteered for 5 years until I finished high school

I then began working in an Aged Care as a Lifestyle Assistant from 2016 to 2018, which involved feeding and entertaining residents in a Dementia Facility I really enjoyed this role because it fulfilled my desire to assist vulnerable people. Given the nature of the work, I found it overwhelming as I was exposed to a lot of things that I should not have been exposed to as a 19-year-old

Despite this, it gave me an appreciation of the elderly people in our society When the Royal Commission into Aged Care began, I worked as a paralegal in the head office for the same company I had been employed in as a Lifestyle Assistant This work involved legal research, looking at the Aged Care Act, reviewing complaints that came through and reviewing contracts This gave me insight into the daily duties and functions of in-house lawyers I left the Aged Care sector when I found that it had become too overwhelming

In my first year of law school, I began working as a receptionist at a local law firm on the Mornington Peninsula I completed a lot of administrative work such as answering phones and organising conferences, as well as some legal research

In 2019, I undertook a volunteer position in the Emergency Department at Peninsula Health I started volunteering at Peninsula Health as I wanted to explore what working in the medical profession may be like At that point, I still wasn’t sure whether law was the right career for me

Around the same time in 2019, I went to Victoria Legal Aid and volunteered as a Criminal Law Clerk This was my first introduction to Criminal Law and when I began to realise that this was an area of law I was very interested in As a clerk, I was responsible for speaking with potential clients to see if they were eligible for Legal Aid funding as well as assisting duty lawyers

Followed by that, I completed a 6-month exchange program in Amsterdam with Deakin Abroad I volunteered for a program run by DLA Piper which provided the opportunity to assist asylum seekers and refugees with migration law issues.

At the end of 2020, my first proper legal role was as a legal assistant at Maurice Blackburn I worked in the area of medical negligence for almost two years I thoroughly enjoyed the work and the role provided me with a wealth of legal experience which I use in my current role Despite enjoying civil litigation, I wanted to explore the criminal law path as I felt that it was the right path for me

At the start of 2022, I secured a position as a Legal Support Officer at Victoria Police I was really happy when I obtained this role as I finally felt like I had my foot in the door Since then, I have progressed to becoming a Police Lawyer Victoria Police is a great organisation to work for as they encourage you to progress in your career

Despite my career progression, I’ve rarely felt confident or capable when obtaining and starting new roles This just shows how engrained that feeling of inadequacy and imposter syndrome is in lawyers

What made you want to work for Victoria Police?

I knew criminal law was the path I wanted to take but I found it difficult to get my foot in the door

I remember reaching out to multiple criminal lawyers on LinkedIn asking them to have coffee with me to discuss their pathway into criminal law I applied for the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) clerkship and was unsuccessful which left me feeling like I was at a dead end. In addition to this, I had some lawyers try to dissuade me from pursuing criminal law, but I held my ground and kept believing that I could get to where I wanted to be

As discussed earlier, in early 2022, I obtained the role of Legal Support Officer in the Specialist Children’s Court Prosecution Unit at Victoria Police

Role as Legal Support Officer in the Specialist Children’s Court Prosecution Unit vs Executive Assistance to Prosecutions Headquarters

I started working at Victoria Police as a Legal Support Officer in the Specialist Children’s Court in January last year The Specialist Children’s Court Prosecutions Unit is responsible for prosecuting youth offenders between the ages of 14 and 18 except for offences such as murder or aggravated burglary, which are dealt with by the Office of Public Prosecutions I worked at the Specialist Children’s Court for about 4 months before becoming Executive Assistant to the Superintendent of Prosecutions Court Branch he Executive Assistant role was a lot of administrative work and taking minutes at meetings

Despite being in a heavily admin-based role, I was able to liaise and work with senior lawyers and police officers such as the Superintendent and Senior Sergeants

Through this, I was able to foster and develop working relationships with some very accomplished individuals who continue to mentor me to this day I also developed a thorough understanding of how Victoria Police works as an organisation

What does the Senior Advocacy Team do?

I obtained the Police Lawyer role in the Senior Advocacy Team in January this year The Senior Advocacy Team is part of Victoria Police’s Specialist Prosecutions Branch, and it is responsible for prosecuting high profile and complex matters This includes matters that are often reported in the media

Victoria Police offers many opportunities for Police Lawyers. There are several teams that hire Police Lawyers including the Civil Litigation Unit, Family Violence Unit and Counter-Terrorism Unit.

What advice would you give to a young lawyer?

Relax and let things happen Try and get some experience and do not worry if you don’t know everything The chance is you never will Even senior advocates who have worked as lawyers for over 40 years still come across issues that they can’t resolve.

Prior to getting the Senior Advocacy role, I applied for a few Police Lawyer positions, I didn’t get them, and was really disappointed in myself I felt like I was hopeless and that I wasn’t going to achieve my dream of being a Police Lawyer Then, I got the Senior Advocacy role, and it was the perfect fit, so I think it’s about letting things happen

Don’t stress that you don’t know anything or that you ’ re not going to be good at something; your first few roles will teach you What’s more important is that you ’ ve got the right ethics, morals, and passion; they cannot be taught

This message is important for students who don’t want to go down the traditional pathway of Commercial or Corporate lawJust stand your ground and know that someday you will get to where you need to be Follow your passion and stick to your gut Law school is tough, PLT is tough and getting your first job as a graduate lawyer is tough You will feel out of place and feel like someone else deserves to be in your place more than you do But that is not the case You just need to find your footing and have faith in yourself and your capabilities You were hired for a reason

Finally, I want to add that I am more than happy for students to reach out and have a chat with me. I really valued people doing that for me when I was in law school and struggling to find my footing in the legal world