A day in the life of a Lawyer … it’s often about regulation and mitigation

Brenda Milo

Principal Lawyer, NSW Environment Regulator

Where are you from and what does being a Pacific Islander mean to you?

I am a Samoan, residing in Australia, holding both NZ and Samoan citizenship. My parents hail from the villages of Nofoalii and Leulumoega on Samoa’s main island of Upolu. I was born in Samoa but raised primarily in NZ, living both in small towns (what NZers call ‘the provinces’) and Auckland (the biggest Polynesian city in the world).

I am married to a steadfast and resilient Samoan Australian man that has been by my side for some 21 years, Talamau John, and we have two children and care for both sets of parents. For me, Pacific Island culture (and indeed Samoan culture) centres on family – the actual people in my immediate and extended family, the values held by my family, the time spent with my family (especially more recently as we’ve all navigated through a pandemic), culture/protocols and mores practised and observed by my family, and the island food my family enjoys. 

What does a typical day look like for you?

Officially I provide pragmatic, practical and accurate legal advice, in an efficient manner, to the NSW Government’s primary environment regulator as part of its Legal Branch, for the more than 400 people across the State that work there. As a government and inhouse lawyer, these are the clients.

Unofficially I help clean up (figurative and sometimes political) ‘messes’ and generally work to mitigate, reduce and manage legal risks.

Content wise I help advise our government minister, and manage and supervise work in multiple subject matter areas ranging from drafting new environment protection legislation and regulations, to reviewing policy and agreements concerning everything from koalas and forestry, climate change, natural gas (for electricity), contaminated land, waste and pollution, through to procuring sensitive and high value ICT and commercial contracts including completing the negotiations, as well as overseeing (on a state-wide project-basis) the phase out of single use plastics and the promotion of recycling and sustainability initiatives.

A typical week for me includes:

·       Managing up to seven direct reports and reviewing/signing off on the advice work of a 21-person team addressing myriad subject areas.

·       Negotiating contracts and overseeing procurement matters worth millions of dollars.

·       Reviewing hundreds of contracts and commercial arrangements.

·       Attending sometimes 8 meetings a day (virtually and in person).

·       Inputting into team or organisation recruitment decisions.

·       Travelling across NSW to our other offices (pre-Covid 19) to upskill staff on compliance and regulatory enforcement matters. This occurs virtually now.

·       Overseeing the training and development of Legal branch and teams across the organisation on subject matter capability areas such as deeds and contracts.

What excites you most about your work?

While I wouldn’t normally use “work” and “excites” in the same sentence, I find the variety and diverse nature of my day job as a government environmental lawyer interesting. It is also inherently meaningful. No two days are the same, and it is all very important work for the environment we live, work and play in, and the people of NSW. I lead the Legal input into the State’s bottle recycling scheme, and often have carriage of the State’s work to phase out Single Use Plastics. Both are very important (and high value) pieces of work that the average person in NSW interacts with daily.

What qualifications are required to get into your line of work?

A law degree, and time in the subject matter area of environmental law (or a complementary area such as public/government/administrative law or planning law). The more senior roles in government inhouse legal teams and private practice law firms come with attaining experience in addition to the law degree.

What Pacific Island values and traits help most in your line of work?

Family values, respect for elders and the trait of being personable and likeable. I’m known for my inclusive and collaborative way of working with clients and the practical and pragmatic legal advice I provide. My team would also say I am a kind supervisor and manager, and a collegial team person.

While private practice law firms certainly have their sharks (programs like Suits carry way more than a grain of truth), the values above helped me navigate my own path and become known and appreciated for having a kind and warm character while achieving my billables, networking new clients over and smashing my budgets and business development targets.

I’m now comfortable lawyering in top tier law firms, niche/boutique firms and government agencies but that has come with time. I have grown to consider that my ‘difference’ as a pacific islander and brown face (in a predominantly ‘white space’) is an advantage i.e. the something I bring to the decision-making table.

What would you like someone who’s interested in your line of work to know?

1.     That it is who you know moreso than what you know, that can often get your colleagues ahead. However great grades at university, which you can control, will always get you a foot in the door, if that is what you want.

2.     That progression is often about your likeability as a person, and whether you develop effective working relationships with those that make the decisions. These can be largely outside your control.

3.     Private practice law, particularly in the big firms, is *much like* how you’ve seen on TV or in the movies. For example, what I’ve seen and experienced include:

·       extremely late nights working through to the morning on big cases, including working throughout the weekends (even with young children at home) and still being expected to arrive early the next day.

·       presenteeism - expectations that you are present in the office/at your desk often, that it’s career-limiting to be seen leaving the office at 5pm or earlier, and that you are accessible and able to be reached by phone and email all.the.time. However Covid-19 has helped make law firms a more flexible workplace than in the past.

4.     If you like to help people solve problems AND you like to be accurate, then this may be a good career path for you. It is certainly a profession that all pacific island parents and the older generation in one’s family will have heard of and declare how proud of you they are.

How did you find your path? What advice would you give to a young person exploring career options?

Finding my path was easy in a way because I always said that I wanted to be a lawyer and study law and so I did, but in conjunction with history, politics and some commerce/accounting papers to give myself complementary options.

Also I used to watch Perry Mason reruns, Matlock and LA Law as a child and I associated the lawyers on TV with making lots of money (I focused on the lawyers acting for the richer folk rather than the “DA” or defender’s office attorneys lol). I grew up working class in state housing in small town/provincial NZ and I saw being a lawyer as affording a better lifestyle for my family (including my parents). This has come true.

To a young person exploring options, I’d suggest the following as starting points:

·       think about your purpose or reason for wanting to work in law. While it’s nice to want to make your family proud, it’s better and sustainable in the long run to make yourself proud as you are the one that has to wake up in the morning and do that job – and oftentimes you will need something purposeful to compel and drive you. A law degree is useful for many jobs.

·       look at what your talents and interests are (and maybe what you hear others say that those are) alongside what you want your future life to look like in 5 or 10 years. I suggest also factoring in or recognising the role(s) that culture and your wider family (or any family you plan to have) would play in that. If for example, others might describe you as more of a wider family, community, ‘for the people’ or extracurricular activities’ minded person, then legal work in the traditional sense because it is individualistic and capital-based, might not be for you long-term.

·       consider that work is something many of us do for a big proportion of our adult lives so ideally, look to work in an area that interests you. If that means you’re open to the long days, hours and multiple personalities of Partners and senior personnel in a law firm for a time, then go for it but it can help to keep your own interests and purpose at the forefront of your mind.

·       note that lawyer jobs are largely pandemic proof and cannot be automated in a substantive way. Legal advice and litigation have always been, and will foreseeably be, fact and context specific. Moreover, it’s a career that can be effectively practised world over for many subject areas. 

Fun Fact

Before marrying my university boyfriend, John (who is also a qualified lawyer) and birthing his two exuberant and boisterous children, one of my four concurrent part time jobs (while studying for a conjoint degree in Law and Arts) was as a Liquor Consultant and Whisky Trainer for Diageo, the biggest liquor company in the world. I trained duty free staff on (and consumed almost daily as part of that training) all the classic single malts, Johnnie Walker (Blue, Gold, Green and Black), Baileys, Smirnoff, Bundaberg, Ciroc and Tanqueray 10 to name a few. Therefore in keeping with such a role, I am industry-trained and versed in both the whisky-making process and how to enjoy my favourite single malts.