Deej Eszenyi refl ects on her accomplished career By Michael Esposito

‘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.

Deej 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 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.

It was a form of knowledge transfer, not just socialising.

While relishing the social camaraderie that was fostered by these mass court gatherings, she acknowledges there are both benefits and drawbacks of more contemporary practices.

“I think online court attendance is absolutely fabulous, but it does further isolate practitioners from each other,” Deej said.

“Many sole practitioners really enjoy attending at the big CPDs (Continuing Professional Development sessions). They provide an opportunity to socialise with others. It’s great some of that capacity has been taken up by face-to-face CPD attendances.”

Of course, the increase in productivity has given rise to better remuneration.

“As an articled clerk I was being paid $110 a week, which was not really enough to keep body and soul together”, Deej reflected. “One trade-off for young lawyers being paid a living wage now is that need to be productive. You can’t spend all Friday afternoon hanging around for a 5 -minute ‘interloc’.”

SUBURBAN LAWYER

In 1983, Deej joined Camatta Lempens & Cashen as it was then, practising general law at offices in Kilkenny, Port Adelaide and Elizabeth.

It was during this time that Deej’s awareness of the barriers ordinary people face in accessing justice really sharpened.

“One thing that struck me at that time was that it was clear that many of my clients would not have come to see a lawyer at all if our offices had not been in among them,” she said. “I repeatedly met people who had never been to North Adelaide despite it being literally up the hill.”

“These were people whose understanding of their rights and whose notions about enforcing them were shockingly and depressingly humble.”

During this period, Deej volunteered at the Parks Community Centre evening advisory service, the Working Women’s Centre Sunday advice line, the Law Society legal advisory service and did her share of duty solicitor work at Port Adelaide.

Volunteering provides a critical service in allowing otherwise disenfranchised people to access justice, but it is also a great way to develop skills and understanding of the law. Deej encourages young lawyers to volunteer as much as they can.

“I think all young practitioners really need to accelerate their matching of the knowledge of law that they come out of law school with, to the application of law to real life. The more real-life situations you can expose yourself to, the more quickly your understanding of the system accelerates. All of those volunteer services are really useful because you’re bringing your legal knowledge to bear against multiple practical legal situations.” PROVIDING LEGAL AID

Deej spent two-and-half “productive and enjoyable” decades at Camatta Lempens. “I possessed for 25 years what I now recognise as remarkably unrestricted energy,” she said, and was fully supported by the firm’s partners in her “side activities” including stints as Commissioner and later Chairperson of the Legal Services Commission (LSC).

Deej said her role at the LSC was an “enormous balancing act.”

“That was balancing access to justice – as much access to as much justice as we could get - with the money that we had, and balancing the needs of the private profession (who do need to be adequately remunerated and who still are not) with the argument that its cheaper to do everything in-house. The private profession is still to this day being paid substantially less for legal aid work than if they have a privately funded matter.”

Deej noted with some pride that there was a rise in the remuneration for private and in-house practitioners every year that she was Commissioner and Chairperson of the LSC, as well as an increase in State and Commonwealth funding for the Commission.

A positive development, in Deej’s view, has been the expansion of the LSC’s advisory section, which has enabled more people to get legal advice on a wider range of matters. However the Commission is still very limited in its capacity to provide representation.

“Representation remains out of reach for most people unless, for example, an insurance company is at the end of it,” Deej said.

LAW SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT

Before Deej became Law Society President in 2005, she had been an enthusiastic member of several committees, but has particularly fond memories of the Costs Committee.

“I absolutely loved being on the Costs Committee,” she said. “I think it is almost the central committee for philosophy about law and access to justice. That’s where the discussions are: that’s where we wrestle with questions of what are fair costs.”

Deej joined the Executive of the Society at the encouragement of former Law Society President Tony Abbott.

“I learnt so much about what’s going on in the law, how we are structured, how we relate to the rest of the profession, how we relate to other professions,” she said.

As last year proved, the best laid plans can be can be upended, and rather than methodically setting out to achieve clearly though-out objectives, one can be thrown into crisis mode. Last year’s President Tim White experienced that with COVID-19.

For Deej, is was the Magarey Farlam scandal. Any hopes she had as President to execute her agenda took a back seat to the fall-out from the revelations of an established law firm’s trust account suffering serious defalcation.

“That was a real reminder of how careful solicitors have to be about how their trust funds are managed and the heavy personal responsibility they all bear,” Deej said.

“The defalcation was large enough that it threatened to have all lawyers put in to pay it back. If the Fidelity Fund goes bust, we get levied. So there was as a lot of work that year working through that, and working through the political fall-out.”

In that same year, the Rann Government adopted the “rack ‘em, pack ‘em and stack ‘em” policy in relation to criminal justice. It was a populist and popular policy that reverberates in the justice system still. During Deej’s presidency it led to somewhat strained relations between the Premier and the Society.

JOINING THE BAR

Deej’s move to the Bar in 2008 was prompted by her husband’s terminal illness.. “This was a step that I took in genuine fear that I might not be able to make my way as counsel. But I found a warm welcome at Wright Chambers,” she said.

“My first two years of practice at the Bar were tricky ones marked by my grief over Stuart’s death and my own struggle with cancer,” Deej said.

Deej said she received “constant gentle encouragement” from her Chambers colleagues and others at the Bar and received a steady flow of high-quality, interesting briefs.

“I absolutely loved being at the Bar. After all those years of solicitor’s practice running up to 300 files, to be able to concentrate on one matter at a time, to read actual law, it was just wonderful,” she said.

LEAVING THE PROFESSION

When one enters retirement, one has usually accumulated enough experience to be able to offer some pearls of wisdom.

Deej has plenty of valuable advice to offer, but one lesson she was especially keen to impart was the importance of planning for the future. “Pay tax first, pay super second,” she implored.

“When you’re a young lawyer you should make a plan for leaving the profession. Even if you’re in private practice on your own account, you should always, after you have paid your tax, pay as much superannuation as you possibly can. Your tax and superannuation should be non-discretionary items, then you make your way with what’s left over.”

A consequence of not doing this, she suggests, may be that lawyers need to work well into their advanced years, rather than enjoying retirement.

“There are wonderful young practitioners coming through who are well capable of continuing to serve the community,” Deej said. “I think it is a mistake for people of my age to think we are vital for the functioning of the system. We are not: we can hand it over.”

A NOTE OF THANKS

I remember with deep respect and gratitude the guidance and generosity of the late David Haines QC, the late Mark Griffin QC and the late Pat Amey. Each of these good men holds a warm place in my memory.

Likewise I cannot forget the help, patience and collegiate sharing of my former Chambers colleagues especially Rick Manuel, Margaret (now Judge) Kelly, Vanessa Lindsay and Stuart (now Magistrate) Cole.

A barrister is of course nothing without briefs. I had so many interesting, sometimes very challenging, briefs. Those briefs gave me a life at the bar that I relished. I thank those instructors and their clients for entrusting me with that work. – Deej Eszenyi B