Issue 13. 6 September 2010.pdf [PDF File, 1.7 MB] - UWA Staff - The ...

Our young legal eagles spre
Hayden Teo’s fledgling law career
has taken flight, just a few years
after Hayden himself was flying
across the stage, in his short
career as a dancer.
Hayden has accepted one of the best
jobs that could be offered to a law
graduate, that of judge’s associate to
a High Court Judge. He is one of an
unprecedented number of four
graduates to be offered these positions
in the High Court this year.
When he completes his Honours thesis
this year (under the supervision of
Associate Professor John Tarrant),
Hayden will do a six-week internship
with the Aurora Project, working on
native title. He will then to go Melbourne
for his graduate (or articles) year, after
which he can be admitted to the Bar.
After that, he begins 12 months work
with UWA graduate Justice Robert
French in Canberra.
It is a very different career to the one
that he tasted when he left school,
completing a certificate in dance at
the WA Academy of Performing Arts,
followed by a year of full-time ballet at
a studio in Sydney.
“But I’d always loved reading and
writing and I think if you do what you
love, it will lead you to a career that
you will love,” said Hayden, who won
a silver medal for his argument skills at
the international finals of the Jessup Law
Mooting competition in Washington last
year.
This year, he led the UWA Students In
Free Enterprise team to a second
consecutive national victory.
“I think I was able to transfer the
confidence I learned from dancing on
stage to public speaking and advocacy,”
Hayden said.
Hot on Hayden’s heels is the inaugural
Law Student of the Year, Clare McKay.
Like Hayden, she is researching an
Honours project, which she will complete
by the middle of next year. And she has
just been chosen as a member of UWA’s
Jessup Moot team, which will occupy
her entire summer.
Clare will follow Hayden to Melbourne for
her articles, or graduate year, with
Mallesons Stephen Jacques, then take
up a similar offer of a 12-month position
as a High Court Judge’s associate. She
will start work for Justice Susan Crennan
in October 2012.
Hayden and Clare have both studied
Arts alongside their Law degrees. And
both have been active in volunteer
community service.
The former head girl of Shenton College,
Clare won the national title Law Student
of the Year for excellence, innovation and
leadership in the Australian legal
profession.
Two other Law students have scooped
positions as Associates to High Court
judges. They are Jackie McArthur, who
will be working with Justice Susan Kiefel
in 2012, and Laurentia McKessar, who
will be Justice French’s associate next
year, before Hayden takes over in 2012.
Deputy Dean of the Law School,
Winthrop Professor Peter Handford, said
the offering of four High Court Associate
positions was very unusual.
“It certainly says something about the
high standards of our Law students, as
witnessed also by the number of Rhodes
Scholarships won by our graduates and
the success of our students in the
Jessup International Moot competition,”
he said.
UN calls
Law student Amy Barber was on
holiday in Patagonia when she received
a call asking her to phone the United
Nations about a job in Geneva.
“I had applied for an internship with the
Office for the Commissioner of Human
Rights, but I didn’t think I’d get it,” said
Amy. “I was at the other end of the earth
and had to talk to the Commissioner,
Mariana Katzarova, by Skype, on my
iPod.”
Hayden Teo
Clare McKay
6
UWA NEWS 6 September 2010
The University of Western Australia