An Interview with Rachel Tomassen, 2020 JATL President
To launch the Blog’s JATL Alumni Series, we interviewed 2020 JATL President, Rachel Tomassen. Rachel graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts/Laws (Honours) last year, and is currently working as an Associate at the District Court of Queensland. In the interview, she reflects on her time in JATL, details her future career plans, and dishes out some helpful advice for law students!
How did you find out about JATL and what was your involvement with JATL throughout your university years?
My first memory of JATL was about the stall some of their members had set up at my first Market Day in 2015, and the cupcakes they were giving out! I didn’t become involved with JATL for quite a few years, and I noticed it mostly through some older students I admired, who had written in Pandora’s Box and who had told me what JATL was about. I gravitated naturally towards the UQ Pro Bono Centre and did the Clinical Legal Education subject by volunteering at the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (RAILS), and all of these activities helped me meet more and more JATL members who were passionate about what they did.
At the end of 2018, my friend Aimi (who was involved in JATL at the time) encouraged me to apply for the position of VP (Social Justice) for 2019. I was nervous, but it sounded like a wonderful opportunity and I put my name in the running. I was very happy to be elected and to take up the mantle.
In 2019, I took on the challenge of reviving the JATL Annual Fundraising Gala by changing the venue to somewhere exciting – Mount Cootha’s Summit Restaurant – and focusing very hard on pushing the boundaries of the funds we could raise. I pioneered online raffle-ticket sales, and we opened the event to under 18s for the first time with non-alcoholic tickets. That year we raised $7600 for the LawRight Mental Health Law Practice, and we were lucky enough to have the Chief Justice speak at our event. I got a really big kick out of running the Gala, and being involved with JATL in general, and I just wanted to keep making JATL a better society. I felt it didn’t get the recognition it deserved.
In 2020, I became the President of JATL and made it my mission to publicise among students the very real non-corporate pathways available to them. I was interviewed by the School of Law about my experiences with corporate clerkships and the bravery it had taken to go against the grain and not simply feel like I had to put myself in the very best position possible. I’d learned a lot personally, and it was an honour to take that knowledge of myself and the opportunities available beyond Eagle Street and turn it into real change for younger students. Younger students deserve to know that clerkships aren’t the only way, or even the best way, forward. At the beginning of my degree, I certainly didn’t.
In your opinion, what was the best aspect of being part of a university society such as JATL?
At the time, I probably thought that the best aspects of being a part of JATL had to do with the practical “resume-building” nature of those kinds of positions. I also really enjoyed the collaborative, team-building nature of the kinds of events I got to run, and the opportunities to further engage in the social justice space.
But ultimately, the best part of JATL for me was literally the friends I made along the way. Being a part of JATL put me in close contact with many hard-working and inspiring people, who are all beginning to take different (beyond Eagle Street) pathways in life. We have learned so much from each other and will continue to learn from each other as long as we can stay in contact.
For JATL members in particular, there’s something very powerful about everyone in a society sharing a very strong ethos and belief in social justice. When you talk to someone from JATL, you know that you’re talking to someone with a similar world view to yourself – it makes it much easier to make connections and stay in contact, and creates many opportunities for future collaboration.
What are you doing now that you have graduated from university?
I am currently the Associate to His Honour Judge Allen QC of the District Court. His Honour is also Deputy President of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) and it is my job to help him manage the Health Disciplinary List. I do everything from arraigning defendants and empanelling juries in criminal trials to working on judgments and listing hearings before His Honour with various panels of professional medical assessors.
I’ve had some very unique opportunities not just to learn about the criminal justice system but also to learn about the various administrative law consequences of committing crimes. I’ve had the absolute honour to work with Judge Allen, learning more and more about the profession every day, and simultaneously gain invaluable insights into the realities of advocacy in both Courts and Tribunals.
I am incredibly lucky to have had the privilege to be His Honour’s Associate for 2021 and I will always remember this year as incredibly special.
What are your plans after this year and/or for the near future?
When my Associateship ends in January, I plan to start work as a solicitor at Samuta McComber Lawyers, a boutique law firm specialising in visa cancellations and other complex immigration law matters. I have been passionate about immigration law ever since becoming involved with the Asylum and Refugee Law Project with Professor Peter Billings through the Pro Bono Centre at University, and being able to work in the migration law space at a very reputable firm is an opportunity I’m really looking forward to seizing with both hands. My Associateship has prepared me well for the world of advocacy and I can’t wait to become a solicitor-advocate in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), as well as maybe one day even running more complicated cases in higher courts.
Is there anything you miss about law school and/or university life?
The end of law school was bittersweet for me – it coincided with the year that was 2020, and the disappointment that was COVID-19. I wish I’d been able to sit in one last physical lecture hall with all my friends and know that this was the very last time, rather than facing a year of complete uncertainty.
I miss just walking around campus – having the free time after class to just spend time with friends, laying on the Great Court with a butter chicken pie and enjoying the sun. University was stressful, and you don’t realise it until it’s gone, but you have so much more freedom when you’re not working full time.
What general advice would you give to law students who are about to graduate?
If you’re about to graduate your law degree, my best advice to you is to savour your university experience. Do the courses you want to, if you still have time. Join the clubs you want. Enjoy walking around campus. Make friends – it’s like networking, but way better. Make genuine connections with likeminded people, because you’ll come to rely upon them as colleagues throughout the years. They might brief you in the future, or they might be a reliable source of specialist information you need for a client. You never know, and university is such a valuable time to make these kinds of connections.
And don’t stress out if you don’t have a job. I have many friends who finished their law degree without a “grad job” to walk into, and they very often found themselves in positions which were ultimately more rewarding in the long run. Grad jobs aren’t the be-all and end-all.
What advice would you give to law students early in their degree?
Early in your degree, I think it’s best to be curious. Take courses out of order. Make sure you foster a love of the subjects you’re doing, and the degree you’re undertaking. Reach out to anyone you meet to ask if you can learn from them in practice. It’s very easy to start a law degree with effectively no knowledge of what it’s like to be a lawyer (I know I certainly did!) and, if you don’t already know someone who is in the legal profession, you might not get a job in the profession for quite a while. You might find it difficult. And it’ll be even more difficult if you don’t actually know what work as a lawyer is like in reality. What’s even more important, however, is making sure that you actually do want to commit to this entire six year degree to become a lawyer (and then the seventh year that is Practical Legal Training (PLT))! You’re not going to know that if you don’t ask what it’s like and try your best to experience it for yourself. You’ll be surprised how many people would be happy to give you that experience.
Fun question! What is the best book that you have ever read and why?
This is a difficult question, but I think in the last year or so my favourite book was “The Poppy War” by RF Kuang (along with its sequels). It’s a book about a very complicated, historically-informed fantasy version of China, and a girl who goes on a quest to find her purpose. It navigates the world of fantasy tropes extremely well. It tackles really difficult questions of morality while simultaneously being a page-turner. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend it.
Another fun question! Who is your favourite fictional lawyer?
Atticus Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird! I think he’s almost certainly the reason why I decided to go to law school, and the reason why I continue to be intrigued by and invested in working pro bono for those who are most vulnerable in our legal system.