Paying it forward
As a law student, Katherine Brazenor (LLB(Hons)’08) often wished she had a mentor to give her an insight into the realities of legal practice. Now in her ninth year as part of the MLS mentoring program and having been a mentor to 11 students and counting, Katherine reflects on her experiences and the importance of ‘paying it forward’.
After completing her combined law and science degree, Katherine worked as a law graduate at Arnold Bloch Leibler (ABL) and was admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of Victoria in April 2010. It was particularly whilst she was studying that Katherine felt the absence of a mentor who was practising in the legal profession most acutely.
“It would have been great to have someone to answer the questions that I had about being a lawyer, and the various career paths within the legal profession that are available,” she says.
The Bar and beyond
Katherine continued working as a solicitor in ABL’s litigation department before completing associateships with their Honours Justice Michelle Gordon and Justice John Middleton, then both of the Federal Court. Their support was instrumental in shaping her future career.
“Working for these Justices was, simply put, an incredible experience,” reflects Katherine. “They are both brilliant practitioners and wonderful human beings.”
With encouragement from Justices Gordon and Middleton, Katherine signed the Bar Roll in 2013. Since then, her career has gone from strength to strength. In addition to working as a barrister in corporate and commercial law, Katherine has worked as a reporter for Thomson Reuters and has taught both undergraduate law and Juris Doctor classes at Monash University. This year, Katherine was appointed as a legal member of the Firearms Appeals Committee, and she expects to complete a Master of Business Administration by mid-2021. On top of these achievements, she was awarded ‘Barrister of the Year’ at the 2017 Lawyers’ Weekly Women in Law Awards, and again at the Lawyers’ Weekly Australian Law Awards the following year.
Katherine winning Barrister of the Year at the 2018 Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards
“I am exceptionally lucky to love what I do, and I am fortunate enough, since starting practise, to have had a number of wonderful mentors who have kindly advised and guided me as my career has progressed.
It feels only right that I mentor others and pay forward this kindness.
Giving back
Wherever possible, Katherine encourages her mentees to get involved in her practice – either by refining their research and legal writing skills or attending conferences or court with her. However, building connections with students has been a challenge during COVID-19, especially when communicating via video alone.
“The reason is that the technology – even when working perfectly, which is not always the case – can inhibit human interaction. You lose body language cues and subtle differences in facial expression and intonation that might otherwise be the subject of a follow-up question, a prompt or an empathetic reaction in ‘live’ conversation,” she says.
“Given that trust is the core of a successful mentoring relationship, this is an important consideration for mentors in the time of COVID.
“As a mentor, one technique I use to build and develop rapport via video platforms is to be particular open and honest about my life in lockdown – telling a funny story about how you accidentally signed up to a camel husbandry course during the wee hours of insomniac internet browsing after working very late one night, and how the course providers now won’t stop emailing you with offers to attend ‘camel training camp’, tends to put everyone at ease.”
Katherine with former mentee Kathryn Wright
As well as mentoring, part of Katherine’s philosophy of ‘paying it forward’ has also involved donating to the MLS Young Alumni Scholarship, an annual initiative that supports MLS students with a demonstrated disability or medical condition, awarded on the basis of financial need.
“Having a law degree is a privilege. I think it is incumbent upon us all, as legal practitioners, to ‘pay forward’ the various privileges we have all enjoyed to some degree or another. Alleviating some financial stress to enable people to complete their studies is just one way of doing that,” she says.
Advice for future lawyers
“The best and worst piece of advice I have ever received is ‘say yes to everything’,” says Katherine, who admits this has been amazingly helpful in her career but not so much when it comes to maintaining work-life balance.
“It is one of the things that I struggle with the most – knowing when, and how, to say ‘no’ to work. I am very open with my mentees about this, because we all ultimately have to make our own decisions about what we want our working lives and personal lives to look like.”
Katherine tries to instil the message that there is no one ‘right’ path to follow when pursuing a career in law, and that mentees can learn a lot from all of the people that they encounter during their professional journeys, in all areas of the law – whether they are in a formal mentoring relationship or not.
“There is a lovely phenomenon at the Bar that by reading with your ‘mentor’, you become part of the lineage of barristers who have also read with that person. You become part of that ‘family’ of barristers, and the other readers who passed through those chambers are like your barrister brothers and sisters.”
Katherine plans to continue mentoring and offering a ‘safe’ space in which students can ask any and all questions about the reality of life in the law.
You can be a great litigator and also a great human being. It costs nothing to be kind.