ROB: Well students thanks for joining me, and today I have with me not only a barrister,
but also an Australian boxing champion, Simone Bailey.
Simone thanks for joining me.
SIMONE: Thank you for having me ROB: So, the bar and boxing.
Are there any similarities?
SIMONE: (Laughs) You would be surprised to know there’s a lot of similarities.
I think obviously you’ve got two competing viewpoints or two competing arguments, is
one way to look at it, and of course a decision maker, so both sides are trying to persuade
the decision maker that they should win.
I suppose that’s probably, that’s probably the main one.
But also a lot of the elements that you would bring to the boxing ring, you would hope to
bring to perhaps one of your cases.
ROB: And how do you balance your passion for representing people before our courts at the
bar and beating the hell out of someone in the boxing ring?
SIMONE: To be honest, it’s not all that easy but I suppose you wouldn’t… in a
lot of ways you wouldn’t want it to be easy.
It’s all about putting in the hard yards.
So I suppose, it’s the sort of thing you have to make work.
You know you get up earlier, you sacrifice some other things.
While people might be at Friday night drinks, I’m at the gym.
(Laughs) For better or worse.
But I wouldn’t give up either.
ROB: And being a woman at the bar…
SIMONE: (nods) ROB: …I guess times have changed over the
last number of years, when we used to have I suppose, years ago, a male dominated, white
Anglo Saxon male dominated legal profession.
You’re a woman at the bar, have you seen those changes in the time you’ve been at
the bar?
Is it easy to be a woman at the bar these days?
SIMONE: I think it really, I’ve honestly had no difficulty whatsoever with gender inequality
at the bar, I’m really happy to say that.
In fact I would almost say that from the time I’ve come, I’ve been encouraged more so
from some of the older gentlemen who have long been at the bar, there’s certainly
a lot of more…
older man at the bar.
But I think the phase of the bar is certainly changing, there’s a lot more women, but
I’ve found nothing but encouragement and mentorship from those at the bar, they seem
to really want us to do really well.
ROB: And when you first studied law, what opportunities were available to you?
What sort of things did you think were crucial to you to put on your CV to make your way
in the law?
SIMONE: The funniest thing about this, I was always told going through uni that you had
to find something to separate you from the 5000 other applicants to all the law firms.
Especially when you were applying at first instance for article clerkships as it then
was.
Or your first few jobs when you come out of law school.
And of course a lot of people really focused on their academic results.
I certainly did to some extent, but I found that despite hard work, I was still probably,
quite average or you know, a little bit above average.
But I worked hard and I wasn’t anything overly different to the other students.
So I suppose the thing I would say to students is, don’t necessarily think that that has
to be limited to an academic success, for me the thing that probably now stands out
is my boxing, which is not the sort of thing that I probably would have expected back then.
So what I would say to students is, find your passion, follow that passion and make that
be the thing that sets you apart from other people.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be something that’s strictly legal.
ROB: Sounds like pretty good advice, and as a result of your boxing and I guess being
a lawyer and a barrister, the combination of the two, you’ve been appointed to the
professional boxing and combat sports board.
Do you find that your experience in the boxing field and the law help you in that area?
SIMONE: Oh absolutely.
Absolutely.
I think again the sort of qualities you want to bring to all of those things have assisted
in I mean… obviously learning to be amazingly prepared for things for instance, to really
fight for things you believe in, all those sorts of qualities have already helped me
in the board and again, doing something that you’re interested in, I feel like I can
give back.
It’s another way that I can actually contribute to something by being involved in it.
ROB: That’s great.
That’s great.
And I guess the final question, because students are always struggling with this.
Time management.
When they’re studying, a lot of our students are of course post grad students or all our
JD students are and time management is a very difficult issue for them.
They’re working during the day, they’re going to lectures at night and on weekends.
How do you manage your time particularly between the boxing and the law?
SIMONE: Yeah, good question, look, for me at the moment, I’m training twice a day,
before work and after work and I find that even when I come home after work, I’m back
into my office at home for another few hours before grabbing a couple of hours of sleep
and doing it all again but I think really the thing is, if you’re passionate about
something you’ll find the time to make it happen.
There’s certainly a lot of organisation that you need and prioritising, you really
work out what you can do and when you can do it and I think a lot of people will be
flexible, if they’re aware of all these things that you’re juggling.
So probably the biggest advice is to keep people updated about where things are at,
that might be if it’s your employer say, look I think I can get that to you sure but
it make take me two weeks because I’ve got these other things.
So, really just keeping people in the know about when you’re going to be able to do
things and not being afraid to ask for a bit of extra time to get things done if it is
the case that you’re trying to juggle so many things, you’re better off trying to
get it done really, really well, than to try and do a really quick job when you’re really,
really tired or something like that.
ROB: Well students, that’s great advice.
Have passion.
Manage your time.
Allow enough time to get the work done properly.
Thanks for joining us Simone and thanks very much students.
SIMONE: Thanks for having me.