NATALIE TAYLOR: My name is Natalie Taylor, I graduated from a Bachelor of Laws and I’m now a trainee solicitor at Merthyr Law.

I really think that QUT’s probably second to none in terms of their Law degree. It’s heavily focussed on practical learning experiences, which I think is beneficial in terms of making a really smooth transition into the workforce.

I’ve gone to seminars here, you know, with professionals from all around Queensland, and I sit down at a table and there’s one of my lecturers, and I think this is good because, you know, they’re keeping up to date, which means they’re keeping the students up to date and we’re getting, just the most up to date law.

Just the other day my supervisor had said, ‘Go and call this barrister, he’s the best in Commercial Law,’ and I looked at the name and I thought, ‘Hang on, I know him,’ and I Google him and he’s a QUT lecturer, so you know, that for me was cementing what I already knew.

Certainly QUT has been preparing me throughout my degree for practice, that’s what they’re gearing you towards all the time.
It’s improved my position here, because I started as a secretary and I had absolutely no experience, so as my degree continued on and I was very quickly acquiring information and they were seeing that so I then got a promotion to a law clerk position, and then to a trainee solicitor position, so that in terms of a three year period, I think is pretty good.

I’ve definitely been prepared for my role here in terms of the core subjects that we had to undertake in the Law degree is basically everything that we practice here.

JOSHUA DUFFY: Hi my name is Joshua Duffy, I graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and International Business from QUT, and I work at Mallesons Stephen & Jakes in Banking and Finance as a graduate.

I think with a Law degree you’re always going to have, it’s going to balance towards the theoretical side, it’s just the nature of the subject area, but definitely QUT pushed as much practical emphasis as they could, I think not just because of the utility in doing that, but because it’s more enjoyable for the students too.

The practical aspects of the course are definitely very important to employers because they’re looking for critical thinkers, they’re looking for people who can think outside the box, who aren’t, sort of, just academically good, they’re looking for people who are savvy in the commercial or the social sense, and I think employers recognise that, so I think it has a very good reputation.

From my perspective now looking back, when I meet students at QUT and things like that they are always very switched on, the lecturers are always up to date, they work in Law firms, they understand the pressures of Law firms and I think that they try and build that into the course and I think that that’s reflected in the quality of students that they have coming out.

QUT’s emphasis has always been on practical skills and critical analysis and critical problem solving, so I think that, you know, it’s built in through the degree at every level.

When I was a university I was fortunate enough to be involved with a few different university academic boards and things like that and just the commitment to teaching and quality of education at every single level, the corporate reviews they go through and that sort of thing, is a constant push to make the course better, is a constant push to have better graduate outcomes, and it’s relentless.

So I think that the fact is that QUT hasn’t declined it’s continued to get better, and better, and better every year and I think that’s reflected in the quality of graduates they have coming out and the quality of teachers they have there.

There’s a lot of help available, there’s a lot of information and advice and even, like I was saying, you can come and talk to some of your lecturers; they’ve worked in commercial firms or they do work in commercial firms some of them are partners at commercial firms, if you’re interested in the job application process you can ask your lecturer after class, you know so it’s kind of cool like that.

EMMELENE GRAY: My name is Emmelene Gray, I’m a solicitor working at Blake Dawson Lawyers, I graduated in 2006 from a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Justice.

I was fortunate enough to obtain a graduate position here and, I guess, I’m now in my fifth year a Blake Dawson’s, so I’ve pretty much been here ever since.

The perspective of QUT’s reputation, definitely has a very good reputation, obviously QUT have always prided itself on practical focus of their course and that certainly comes across.

We do employ a lot of QUT students and I guess the feedback from others have been that, you know, we know about the brand, we know that it’s practical and we like those students.

I think that the job market is becoming increasingly competitive and I think that even when I was going though the majority of people were doing a double degree, so I think from a competitive edge perspective I think it’s definitely good to do a double degree, and obviously it broadens your options if, you know, after you’ve finished you think that you’d like to take a different direction with your career, or for example, in Law you don’t want to take a strictly, sort of, private practice type job then you’ve obviously got, you know, another practice area which you can legitimately get different employment in.

So I think to keep your options open as well, that’s a really good thing to have.

I do feel that QUT prepared me for graduate entry, I think that the faculty of Law is particularly good at with that, I guess, stage of your career so to speak.

I remember that events would be hosted and Law firms would come along, or QUOTALS, which is the society, would produce documents in association with the faculty about resume writing and how to do interviews for example, so there’s a lot of support in that regard as well, so I think that that helped also.

But in terms of the skill base which I felt that I had when I finished, I feel that that was probably the thing that prepared me the most for starting work.