Government Law

“If you really want to, you can actually practice law. You don't need to assume that since there's so many excellent people around you it will be hard to get there”

Elliot Freadman is currently an executive advisor to the head of international law and human rights division at the Attorney General’s department. He graduated from Monash University in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in Laws/Arts. A year later he started his career in public service. 

Can you explain the area of law you work in? 

Currently I work at the Attorney General’s Department as an executive advisor to the head of international law and human rights division. The area of law I mostly work in at the moment is international law. Before that I did a secondment at the AGS (Australian Government Solicitor) where I worked mostly in constitutional law and admin law. I have also done a bit of work in extradition and legal policy. 

What do you like about the area of law you work in?

I find international law super interesting because it is a bit more flexible than domestic law. It has intersections with international relations and strategic considerations for national priorities that I find really interesting. When I was doing my undergraduate degree, (Bachelor of Laws/Arts) my arts major was human rights so before I started this role as an advisor I was working in the human rights team which was interesting and aligned with my interests. I also enjoy the chaos that public law gives in terms of the kinds of stakeholders you’re helping and the kinds of equities you have. 

What's the journey from graduation to where you are now? 

I graduated mid year but in my final semester I was doing graduate applications and the main one I did was for the AG Department. They changed that process now so if you’re applying you just apply to the APS legal stream and once you get merit listed, different agencies can pick you up off that merit list. In February after I graduated I started the ADD graduate program. I did three rotations. First one in extradition which was super interesting. Then my second rotation was in the criminal justice reform task force (as it was called then) its main focus was on a government program called Justice Reinvestment which is about redirecting money that goes into the criminal justice system into pathways for non offending first nations people. I was there for the start of that so it was about helping drafting policy proposals and working through some of the research, that was super interesting as well. Then my final rotation which is where I stayed is the office of international law. It is the main law firm that provides international legal advice for the Commonwealth government. I started it around the time of Australia’s intervention into the Russia - Ukraine case in the international court of justice. There was quite a bit of work reading statements and reviewing bills before they went to Parliament.  After that I referenced the office of international law and got to stay here. That was great and moved into the international cyber team and human rights team. Then moved into my next team which was human rights: regulatory air and space law. (Yes - space law is about outer space!). Then a month ago, the position I'm in now is a position that people fill in for a year at a time. I put an expression of interest for that because I thought it would be a really good opportunity to build out some of my other less hard legal advice skills. I was successful and started in this position 2 weeks ago. Instead of doing firm legal advice it's about coordinating all of the work that comes to the office of international law and the human rights branch and being a bridge between division head and the rest of my bosses. 

Did you always want to work in government? Was it something you were already interested in throughout your law school journey? 

I always preferred public law in law school. Anything in private law I was not particularly good at, so I always had a preference for public law. In terms of when I seriously considered working in government, I did the Jessup Moot in 2020. That's a moot focused on international law that you come to Canberra to compete. Most of the judges there worked in the area that I currently work in (office of international law). When they (the mooting judges) were explaining a bit about themselves and the areas of law they worked in I thought it was really interesting. That was when I started looking into graduate programs and I applied the following year. 

Did you enjoy mooting?

Yes. I didn't start mooting until quite late into my degree but I think it was a really helpful skill. It was scary at first. I did the LAW4805 unit where you show up for 2 hours in a day and moot and then you get put into a mooting competition. That was a great way to improve your confidence, public speaking, legal research and practice drafting submissions and it got me much involved in the legal community outside of law school. 

 Do you feel like it helped you gain skills that you use in your current role? 

Definitely. Oral briefing/presentations are really important in the job , especially in the advisory position I am in now. Before I was doing legal advice work in the human rights practice group, the research skills I developed (through mooting) were really helpful. Specifically Jessup Moot, half of the people in my office have done it at one point in their university careers. Even the people who interviewed me had done the Jessup Moot, so when I was giving an example of a difficult experience, I was describing the Jessup Moot and they said “we did that as well”, there was a sort of shared trauma. 

What skills are important in your area of work?

Legal research is really important and the ability to develop subject matter expertise. A lot of what we do, especially when I was in the human rights area, is reviewing government policies and proposals and making sure they are consistent with international human rights obligations. Being able to get across a pretty large body of work and getting really good at issue spotting is super important. I think it's important to be flexible in the way you approach law because, really you’re advising on behalf of the government so you need to keep in mind the government’s strategic priorities, how to develop something that's fit for purpose for your client because often your clients won't be lawyers and how to communicate what is a pretty ____ area of law; being international law to people who don't have legal backgrounds. Plain English communication is really important. Stakeholder management comes up alot, especially in my current role as an advisor, it is a lot of talking to different areas of government and figuring out what they need from us and what we can get what we need from them. I think that the ability to have an overall view of where your work fits into a big piece of machinery is important. 

How did your double degree (additional degree of arts) help you?

I don't think I would say that I wouldn't be in this position with a single degree but I do think it helped. I’ve done work in legal policy and my advising position now - it's not just law so having done an Arts/law degree has been helpful in terms of understanding the less legal issues and having a border/flexible view of the priorities of government. I think an Arts degree also helps writing as legal writing can be quite robotic but it helps if you’re trying to break out of that. Generally speaking the Australian public service tends to hire for people who have well rounded skills, whether that be law/science or law/commerce. It’s not necessary that they’re looking for people who have 90 WAM just in law, they’re looking for people that have a good WAM with broad skill sets. 

Did you ever try for a clerkship?

I didn't do any clerkships or internships. I put one application in. It’s pretty easy to get anxious about getting a law job, I think a clerkship is great especially if you're looking at the top tier firms but for someone like me who was not interested in private law, it didn’t align much with what I wanted to do anyways. Personally, I wouldn’t stress too much about it (clerkships) there are alot of other things to strengthen your value. 

A lot of people here have done clerkships and associate ships. The biggest advantage I saw from the people/friends who did them is that they got offered graduate roles at the end - that is not something that won't happen for the public service anyways. You can be a clerk or paralegal in the public service but they can't just offer you a graduate program after that because of various rules and regulations. It doesn't make a difference from that perspective. It is just one other area you get helpful experience and you improve your writing and get examples of how you got relevant legal work and challenges but there are a lot of ways to develop similar skills of different but equally valuable skill sets. 

What's something you regret not doing in law school? 

I don't necessarily regret doing a clerkship but I think it would have been a more pleasant experience if I had been more engaged earlier like joining law society. But between work and study and not living on campus I was not around all the time. 

Finally, reflecting on your journey so far, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self when you were in law school or any student. 

Honestly, something I would have liked to hear earlier on in my degree is you will actually finish. It didn't ever feel real to me that I would finish my law degree and get admitted and practice law until those things actually happen. I think that would have made me more invested - like I will actually finish and there are actually a lot of law jobs out there. I feel like a lot of the time I hear it's a difficult market to get into but it's not just pure law jobs out there. Public service hires tens of thousands of people and there are people who purely practice law but there is so much legal policy work as well that requires lawyers to understand the statute and to interpret it. It's a really valuable degree to have no matter what you do. If you really want to, you can actually practice law. You don't need to assume that since there's so many excellent people around you it will be hard to get there. 

A final reflection is that: 

If public service is something that students at Monash haven't considered it may be something worth having a think about because it is such an interesting opportunity. I’m just really happy that this is where I landed.