Written by Julia Day
There is no shortage of amazing, interesting and strong women in the Australian legal profession.
One example of this sentiment is the Honourable Chief Justice Lucy McCallum. Her Honour has had an impressive legal career. She completed her law degree at the University of New South Wales in the mid-1980s. She worked as a solicitor in commercial litigation for a time, before accepting a position as a prosecutor in the ACT in the late 1980s. Later she became a barrister and then a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW. Most recently Her Honour was sworn in as the sixth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. Her decisions have been critiqued and discussed by the media extensively. Most recently this attention related to the criminal trial of Bruce Lehrmann and the juror misconduct issues. This case centred around the alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins.
There is no doubt that Her Honour has a sharp and articulate legal mind. Her knowledge and understanding of the law are impressive. Admittedly though, what I liked most about Her Honour was her humility, humanness and high levels of emotional intelligence. For example, when I interviewed her, she did not hesitate to tell me about her first job working behind a bar… we are not talking a ‘legal bar’ here…
Her Honour is an advocate of gender parity and diversification in the legal profession. She notes that the legal profession is becoming ‘more diverse, particularly more gender diverse but it is improving in other areas too. The profession is becoming more accessible to all manner of people. I think on the whole there is less self-importance in the profession and more down-to-earth engagement with the community.’
When asked about her reasoning for wanting to study law, Her Honour stated: ‘To be honest, I don’t think it really occurred to me to do anything else. I got the marks to get into law. Our neighbour down the road, Mrs Van Hemert, had always told me I should become a barrister because I did all the public speaking at school. I didn’t think public speaking would necessarily translate into being a good lawyer but it still seemed like a good idea.’
I was also interested in the Chief Justice’s perspective on how the legal profession will change in the next 10 years. Her Honour noted ‘The pandemic, for all the disruption it caused, at least demonstrated that the profession can operate effectively making greater use of technology. If those efficiencies can be captured, that in turn should encourage more flexible workplace arrangements. I hope the courtroom will always remain primarily a physical space, but I think the profession will become more family-friendly and more diverse as a result.’
It was also music to this academic’s ears to hear Her Honour’s thoughts on the importance of undertaking good quality, academic research. She noted ‘I think the impact of the internet has been that the quality of legal research in the profession generally has deteriorated. Lawyers are too ready to find a quick answer through a basic Google search rather than consulting textbooks.’
Overall, the Chief Justice noted that current law students should not ‘follow any particular person’s career path. Instead work out what you love doing, which is likely also to be the thing you are good at and follow that path!’
Thank you very much Chief Justice McCallum for your insights!! We are very much looking forward to hearing you speak on the 10th of March at UNELaw’s 30th Anniversary Dinner.
