Jo has always loved food and wine. In fact she spent a year working in wineries in the Rutherglen wine region whilst backpacking. Last year Jo was able to follow this passion by taking up a role as Assistant Director of Food, Wine and Taxation at the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources 

Within this role Jo undertakes lots of policy work and needs to be on top of the relevant legislation which in many instances relates to the Wine Australia Act 2013 (Cth).  In particular she helps develop policy and federal legislation relating to wine and domestic food regulation 

Given that her professional role relates to more than just eating good food and drinking fine wine, Jo decided to enrol in a law degree at UNE. From day 1 she was excited to learn her law degree was directly applicable to her work. In LAW100 (Introduction to Legal Systems and Methods) Jo realised exactly how relevant her degree was to her work. In particular she learnt how extraneous materials are used to interpret legislation by the courts as she was drafting some of these documents through her work. She also discovered how to read and analyse case law and how courts worked in each of the jurisdictions in Australia.  

When asked if she has any secrets to successfully completing LAW 100 Jo noted ‘you need to keep on top of the readings and create a study schedule.’ As she is a working mum with 2 kids Jo has to be flexible and realise she has limitations. She explains ‘Whilst I am keen to do the next topics in law, particularly administrative and constitutional law, I need to be realistic about how many subjects I can undertake at one time.   

She chose to study at the UNE Law School because of recommendations from several of her colleagues who had themselves had wonderful experiences at UNE. She was also attracted to UNE’s flexible nature and strong reputation.  

Congratulations Jo on your success in LAW100 in Trimester 3!