FEATURE
THE NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE CITY COMMERCIAL PRACTICE: ENCOURAGING LAW STUDENTS TO WORK WITH REGIONAL AND ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES DR DAVID PLATER, CHLOE WINTER, CHARLOTTE ORDYNSKI AND CAYLEIGH STOCK1
T
he legal profession in both private and public practice, despite reports of an oversupply of law graduates, has difficulty in recruiting and retaining lawyers and legal professionals in rural, regional and remote (RRR) areas,2 including in South Australia.3 Many RRR law firms and community legal agencies (including those working with Aboriginal communities) continuously struggle to find suitable lawyers to fill vacancies when they arise and are impeded by the drain of corporate knowledge caused by a constant staff turnover.4 Law students generally consider RRR legal work to be somehow ‘inferior’ to city commercial practice.5 Students are typically unaware of the nature, diversity and quality of rural and regional practice. Students are also often unaware about the value of working with Aboriginal communities. On 15-16 July, 2021, as part of an Adelaide Law School initiative to address these issues, eight diverse Law School students; Chloe Winter, Mitchell Dunn, Arissa Robles-Rangel, Christina Akele, Charlotte Ordynski, Izak Coombe, Jack Woolford and Cayleigh Stock, joined a trip to Port Pirie and Port Augusta led by Dr Mark Giancaspro,6 Nadia Hess7 and Dr David Plater.8 The aim of the trip was for students to hear firsthand about working with regional and Aboriginal communities and to encourage students to think beyond city commercial practice and consider working with RRR and/or Aboriginal communities.9
18 THE BULLETIN December 2021
This trip proved eye opening. As one student, Charlotte, summarised: The trip provided more than the opportunity to network with our peers and legal professionals, but the ability to see a future of legal practice beyond the typical corporate pathway, and see the ability to make a difference and be a meaningful part of a community.
THE PROBLEMS There are regular reports of the oversupply of law graduates in Australia and the difficulty in finding employment.10 There are even reports of law graduates ‘so desperate to kickstart their careers they’re
willing to pay big bucks to land their first job’.11 The former Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, advised: ‘I think too many kids do law.’12 One law student even said: ‘It is near impossible just to get an unpaid clerkship.’13 However, such negative perceptions do not convey the whole picture.14 As early as 2009, a Senate Report noted the lack of lawyers willing to work in RRR areas as a ‘fundamental problem’.15 Both community legal services, as well as RRR private practices, struggle to attract and retain staff.16 There is an acute shortage of lawyers in regional and rural Australia,17 including those working with Aboriginal communities.18 Aboriginal legal services also face challenges regarding their
