Annual ReportVice President of Careers (2019)

Sam Rotiroti

2019 was an ambitious year for the DLSS Geelong Careers Portfolio. I would personally like to thank my officers – Elizabeth Lowe and Benjamin Smith – for their efforts throughout the year. Additionally, I would like to thank Wade Blackney, Reid Hadaway and James Royce for their continuous support and ideas throughout the course of the year. Finally, I would like to thank the Committee for their endless engagement during the past 12 months.

The Careers Portfolio hosted four events across trimesters one and two. These were the ‘Annual Careers Dinner’, the ‘Seasonal Clerkship Workshop’, the ‘Legal Skills Research Workshop’ and the all-new ‘Alternative Careers Panel’. Additionally, the creation of a Regional Careers Guide was also published to showcase the potential legal opportunities available to law students during their studies across the Greater Geelong region.

The Annual Careers Dinner was the largest networking event on the DLSS Geelong calendar – with 90 individuals in attendance – with students, lawyers and industry professionals present on the night. Lawyers represented firms and organisations from across Geelong, Melbourne, Wangaratta and Sydney. Our guest speakers from Harwood Andrews, Coulter Roache, Cotton On and the County Court were able to share their experiences with students on how best to market themselves as up-and-coming future lawyers.

The Seasonal Clerkship Workshop saw DeakinTalent, Harwood Andrews, Coulter Roache and the TAC present to penultimate students on how to conduct research for individual firms alongside how to create professional cover letters and CVs for applications.

The Legal Skills Research Workshop, courtesy of the Deakin University law liaison librarian, allowed law students from all year levels to develop their advanced research skills. This is for when students are tasked with complex assignment questions or real-life legal queries during voluntary, work or clerkship experiences.

Finally, the Alternative Careers Panel, never before run by the DLSS Geelong, sought to provide law students with additional information on how best to utilise their law degrees to attain work within occupations separate to that of a solicitor within a traditional law firm. Our guest panellists from MinterEllison, LIV Young Lawyers and the Walsh Chambers were able to provide students with alternative career information and opportunities available to them upon completion of their degrees.

My main interest in representing the DLSS Geelong within the Careers Portfolio was to provide engaging networking experiences to students to help them during their law school journey. I am proud of the accomplishments the Careers Portfolio has achieved during the past 12 months and I look forward to seeing what the DLSS Geelong and Careers Portfolio achieve in 2020.

Kind regards,

Sam RotirotiVice President of Careers