PROFILE
‘Plan for retirement now’, and other pearls of advice from Deej Eszenyi as she reflects on her accomplished career MICHAEL ESPOSITO Former Law Society president Dymphna “Deej” Eszenyi, who retired from practice last June, speaks to the Bulletin about her career, her observations about the changing nature of the law, and advice for those embarking on a career in law.
D
eej Eszenyi’s entry into the legal profession was not a result of a burning childhood desire to become a lawyer. In fact, it was more due to the realisation that her first career as a Latin teacher had no real prospects for progression. “It was made clear to me that Latin teachers would never be promoted, unless we gave up teaching Latin,” Deej explained. “I had the pre-requisites for social work and law - I knew nothing about either of those except that I had been at uni with a bunch of law students. I was confident that if they could do it, I could too.” One might assume that having a command of the ancient language of the Romans would be an advantage in a profession that persisted with Latin terminology, but Deej did not find it so. “At law school Latin was pronounced completely differently from the way it was in the Classics Department, and you sound like fool if you pronounce it the classical way but I just couldn’t bring myself to pronounce it the ‘legal’ way,” Deej said. So, despite a background in classical Latin being more of a hindrance than a help, Deej flourished as a young lawyer. After graduating from Adelaide Law
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School in 1982, she was articled to Stanley and Partners, at that time a pre-eminent employment and general firm. She worked under the tutelage of Fred Field, Peter Mullins, Richard White and Simon Langsford, and colleagues included Tim Bourne, the late Lincoln Siliakus and Cathy Parsonage. “Every day was exciting, often terrifying, as Stanleys provided the opportunity to get straight into court work with frequent interlocutory and directions hearings, minor magistrates criminal work and, in that first year, three trials only two of which I lost” Deej remembered. While Deej was sent down to do an interlocutory application on her first day in articles, in no way did she feel like she was thrown into the deep end. “I went down with a perfectly organised brief. I was told the exact words to say. I had a script. My principal, Peter Mullins, recognised that if you’re going to do court work at all you need to start as soon as you possibly can so it doesn’t loom large in your mind.” Nevertheless she recalled that those few steps from the gallery to the bar table seemed a very long way on that first day. Encouragement to get stuck into court
work early is something that Deej remains grateful for. Decades later when she joined the Bar she observed a widening separation between solicitor and barrister, despite SA having a fused profession. “When I joined the Bar I had a number of briefs from younger lawyers that I thought they could have done very well themselves. I would ask them ‘Why aren’t you doing your own court work? You’re all over this. You know this stuff ’. Their response was to express concern at their lack of experience in court work and, I’m sorry to say, a fear of judges and magistrates.” “I would encourage young lawyers and even not so young lawyers to make their own submissions, make their own court appearances.”
CHANGING TIMES Deej acknowledges that things are done a bit differently these days. Going to court is a more structured and formal affair than it was in her younger days. “These days you have appointments for interlocutory applications,” Deej said. “When I started out they used to be on Friday afternoon in the Magistrates Court, and about 40 of us would go down and wait until our matter was called on. That of course meant you were chatting, you were learning from other people. You could learn from your colleagues about the judicial officers you were about to appear before, and about the usual trajectory of the type of matter you were involved in.
