Written by Julia Day
Like many of us, #UNELaw alum Kathrine Takac suffers from imposter syndrome- so when she finished her law degree she was heartened and gratified. ‘When I received good marks within my law degree I realised I must have an aptitude for law. When I finished my degree I was so proud of myself. I had achieved a goal I thought was unachievable!’
Before and whilst completing her law degree Kathrine worked as a nurse for 25 years. She continues as a sessional nursing academic at Deakin University. In terms of her nursing career Kathrine was both a medical and surgical nurse as well as a diabetes educator. Kathrine is ‘particularly passionate about health and caring for vulnerable people.’ Given her background, Kathrine chose to complete Medico-Legal Issues with me towards the end of her degree. She is now completing her Masters in Health and Medical Law at Melbourne University.
Like many of UNE Law’s students, Kathrine was able to use skills from her previous career when looking for her first law job after graduation. She quickly secured a position as a Junior Solicitor at the Department of Health and Human Services. In this position, Kathrine has done a myriad of tasks but if currently working in child protection litigation. Essentially she is working for the Victorian government providing legal advice.
Kathrine started doing a law degree when she was in her early 20s. Life got in the way and she had to suspend her degree. Many years later she discovered she could do her law degree online through UNE- so she enrolled. Her favourite law units were those with a ‘human element to them.’ Some examples of this included Medico Legal with me, Indigenous Law with Jenny Greaney, Administrative Law with Dr Patrick Graham and Jurisprudence with Dr Tristan Taylor. Kathrine completed her law degree as a single parent with 4 kids. It took her 10 years to get to the finish line but she got there in the end. She was able to take advantage of the flexibility #UNELaw offered by deferring her enrolment as necessary or only completing one unit at any given time. This tenacity has been welcomed by her new employer as it demonstrates Kathrine can stick to a path even when it is difficult.
She has found that many of the skills she generated from her nursing experience are transferrable in the legal context. Some of these include her excellent communication ability and other personal interaction skills. For example, one characteristic Kathrine perfected in her nursing career was the ability to read people and their emotions quickly. This and being slightly older has been very helpful in her legal career!
Kathrine has been pleased to see her #UNELaw degree is very well regarded in the community. In particular her current employer has been very impressed with her legal research skills which were primarily garnered from LAW480- the research and writing unit.
Thank you for sharing your story with us Kathrine!
