LSB December 2021 HR

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 STOCK 1
The 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 Hess 7 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
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
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THE BULLETIN December 2021