Freehills is proud of its alumni.

For more than 150 years, Freehills has developed an unparalleled reputation for delivering commercial legal advice of the highest standard in the Australasian region. We are known for our depth of expertise and talent in a wide range of areas. For this and other reasons, our people are highly sought after and have ventured on to many diverse career paths, both locally and around the world.

We invite you to be part of Freehills’ Alumni Program.

The Freehills Alumni Program is open to all former Freehills professionals. The program provides members with the opportunity to stay in touch with former colleagues and connects alumni to an invaluable personal and professional network around the world. Members of the program receive regular Alumni Updates as well as invitations to a range of exclusive social and professional networking events.

Register for the Freehills Alumni Program

You can check and update your details by emailing freehills.alumni@freehills.com.

Lisa Struthers

Legal Counsel, Jamie Oliver Ltd

Lisa Struthers is one of three legal counsel at Jamie Oliver Limited. She deals with the corporate aspects of the various Jamie Oliver businesses. When Lisa landed in London she wanted to ‘try something different’. Working at Jamie Oliver Limited has given her a fresh opportunity (including workplace cooking classes). We caught up with Lisa to talk to her about her new role.
 
What did you specialise in at Freehills?

I worked with Stephen Kerr in the Corporate group in Melbourne. The practice there was a mix of corporate and commercial work. I did a lot of commercial contracts with the odd joint venture, commercial dispute and sale of business thrown in—just to keep things interesting. We were a one-stop-shop for a small number of key clients, which meant that my work was actually quite varied for a private practice role.
 
What was your most memorable lesson from Freehills?

Commerciality—getting to know your client, understanding what makes their business tick, working out what’s important to them and what’s not. We were very committed to this in our team, so much so that I even spent a day at a garbage dump in Queensland with one of our clients, Cleanaway. The guys there loved getting the fancy city lawyers into hard hats and Velcro vests.
 
Describe your new role.

My main responsibility is dealing with all the corporate aspects of the various Jamie Oliver businesses. I also share in the commercial work with my two colleagues.
 
How does working for Jamie Oliver’s organisation differ from working for a top-tier law firm?

Jamie Oliver Limited is a unique environment. We have about 130 staff at head office. People here are bright, committed and passionate about educating the public about food. There are a whole range of businesses beyond the television programs. There are also books and product endorsements. We run a television production company, a talent agency, a graphic design agency, even an artisan bakery. More recently, we launched a new homewares range called JME, a magazine, Jamie’s Italian chain of restaurants and a new retail concept called ‘Recipease’. The workplace is casual, but the business itself is very focused and fast-moving. It can be difficult to keep up with all the new ventures and projects that are going on. 
 
What are some interesting aspects of your job?

I really enjoy the diversity of work I do because it means that I am never bored. Being involved in launching new businesses is really exciting. It’s also quite fun seeing people like Jamie and Gennaro Contaldo around the office. In my first meeting with Jamie, I just couldn’t get used to the fact he was a real person sitting next to me instead of being on the television. Another great perk is that we get to try the food from the test kitchens!
 
Can you give me some insights into your industry—current knowledge or the next big thing?

Prior to the economic meltdown in the United Kingdom there was a big push towards organic food. Now with the advent of the credit crunch there is a much greater focus on eating well on a budget and supporting local industries like the British pork industry (which has much more humane farming practices than many Economic Union countries). This is being highlighted in television campaigns such as ‘Jamie Saves Our Bacon’.
 
What new skills have you developed?

My culinary skills have definitely improved thanks to workplace cooking classes. We talk incessantly about food here and it is quite shameful to bring a microwave-ready meal into the office.    
 
What are some important attitudes/insights you have developed over your career?

People skills are incredibly important. I think a flexible attitude and being friendly and approachable can get you a long way in all sorts of situations. You also need to be a good communicator. You could be the best technical lawyer in the world and still be completely useless if you can’t communicate your ideas.
 
What do you get up to when you are not at work?

I like to take advantage of the amazing galleries, plays and theatre that London has to offer.  The opportunities for travel in Europe and further afield are also fantastic. 

Justice James Allsop

President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales

Justice Allsop was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1981 after graduating from the University of Sydney and working at Freehills. In his career, Justice Allsop has been a Senior Counsel in New South Wales and a Queen's Counsel in Western Australia. Since his appointment to the Federal Court in 2001, he has presided over cases involving administrative, company, intellectual property, trade practices, tax and maritime laws. He also holds positions as adjunct professor at the University of Sydney and the Australian Maritime College in Launceston. We caught up with Justice Allsop to talk to him about his new role.

How are you finding your new role as President of the Court of Appeal?

It’s very challenging. It’s quite a different style of court in the sense that it’s a much more structured organisation. Lists have to be prepared and judges have to be allocated. The work has to be heard and the judgments written. It’s more a feeling of being in a pipeline than it was in the Federal Court. The workload in Sydney in the Federal Court was tolerably heavy. This court, likewise, is a very busy court so it’s challenging because of its organisational aspect and coming back to whole different fields of work that I haven’t done since going to the Federal Court. I have to come to grips with a lot of common law and contracts and state statutes. So it’s challenging both intellectually and organisationally.

Why did you choose to specialise in maritime law?

After I went to the Bar, there was a modest amount of maritime law for a barrister. However, there’s not a huge amount in Sydney because of our lack of an indigenous shipping industry. It has been whittled away over the years by various forces, but I was briefed. I found it interesting and coming to the Federal Court I was given the responsibility of organising it on a national basis.
It’s an Australian predilection for viewing the country as a land girt by beach rather than sea. People really have a difficulty seeing over the horizon in the metaphorical sense and maritime law is actually a huge area of practice worldwide. Maritime trade carries approximately 95 to 96 per cent of the world’s trade—an activity that Australians by and large have abdicated to foreigners. It’s an interesting social question as Australia has decided that they don’t wish to make money out of ships. It means the practice of maritime law in Australia is not as active as it once was when there were Australian shipping concerns, and in my view, not as active as it should be.

In hindsight what advice would you give a young James Allsop as he steps through the doors of Freehills for the first time?

I think to get as much experience of different facets of commercial practice as possible—that is, commercial practice both as a lawyer and the opportunity to see as wide a variety of commercial activity as possible. In other words, I wouldn’t get stuck in one area, even if it seems really exciting. The most important thing to get hold of is exposure to commercial transactions and understand the basics of commercial life. Kim Santow and David Gonski used to tell me everything can be reduced to three questions: ‘Where’s the money? Where’s the security? Where’s the tax?’

However simple it may seem, and whatever new name the merchant bankers have given some instrument, it’s actually not new and it’ll all be an incident of contract or property or trust. The quality of the teaching I had from Santow and Gonski meant that I understood commercial transactions when I practiced at the commercial Bar. It’s one thing you never learn as a barrister, or you don’t learn it as quickly,  because you’re fighting over the wreckage.

And Justice Allsop, what do you do in your spare time if you have any?

Read, relax, sleep and look after the dogs. I’ve got two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I’m re-learning my French. I’m trying to get my French back to stave off Alzheimer’s. 

Stephanie Pursley

Owner, Tiritiri Lodge

Since leaving Freehills, former partner Stephanie Pursley has embarked on an amazing venture in New Zealand. She is the owner of Tiritiri Lodge at Wanaka on the South Island. We caught up with Stephanie to talk to her about changing careers and countries.

As the owner of a beautiful six-room lodge on Lake Wanaka, what does a normal day entail?

It’s an early start particularly in winter with skiers. I’ve got the help of my partner Denis and our chef, my daughter Tiffany. For the last two weeks it has been a full house and we provide a full breakfast. We do everything from home-baked pastries to freshly squeezed juice and ricotta hotcakes. There are many other things to do in a day including managing the bookings, looking at emails and paying accounts. I don’t have someone helping me every day so there are certain amounts of washing, ironing and cleaning to be done. There are also the little things like getting fruit, flowers and chocolates throughout the lodge.

Even a busy day is a really enjoyable day. In the afternoon we prepare appetisers for the guests. When guests come in of an evening we sit down with them for drinks and appetisers, and if they are eating in, dinner. It’s quite a long day when we do breakfast then dinner. The people skills I acquired at Freehills have helped a great deal.

What’s enjoyable about your new role?

I get to meet a lot of wonderful, interesting people. I’ve had some people I’ve worked opposite in big matters come and stay as guests. I’ve also met so many fascinating people from all over the world.

How is working at Tiritiri Lodge different from working at Freehills?

It’s amazing how you develop all sorts of skills at Freehills. A lot of the skills I learnt at Freehills have transferred over to here. I now run the website myself and I publish content. You have got to have really good computer skills to do this. The Excel skills from my previous career are used for running accounts and booking-in guests. I use the business skills I learnt at Freehills all the time.

Do you have a most memorable lesson from your time at Freehills?

Honestly, it’s phenomenal when I think about my time at Freehills. I think it’s only sometimes in retrospect that you realise just how much you learn. I learnt a variety of things because of the length of my career. I had the opportunity to do all sorts of different things. That’s why it’s such a great place.

So where do you see the lodge going or the next big thing you’re going to do?

We would actually like to extend. The one thing we didn’t anticipate was the high demand for the suite. We’ve only got one suite and five guest rooms. We did that deliberately because we’ve got so many different living areas in the lodge that we didn’t want people to be stuck in their own room. We wanted them to be part of the hosted experience. We’d like to buy the block of land next door and build a couple more suites if it goes well enough. We all love running the lodge. My daughter, who is 32, has retrained as a chef and just loves living in Wanaka. All the guests love her cooking. It has been a really good transition for all of us.

What have been some new skills you have developed from running the lodge?

It’s all the skills I’ve developed over the years that are now so useful. We had one guest who had really antiquated ideas about women. When he would ask a question about New Zealand and I would start to answer, he would just look right through me and focus on Denis. The cultural difference course I did at Freehills was very helpful here. I sat myself down in a corner and gave myself that lecture again! Most of the guests are very, very nice but you just have to remember there are different mindsets. At Freehills I took a course run by McKinsey called Chrysalis which taught me to put myself in the shoes of the person you are dealing with and think from their perspective. That was a most valuable learning.

Detail is also so very important. The first 60 seconds are vital. We greet people on the driveway when they arrive. If you make people feel comfortable and welcomed, they will relax and it will be really easy to make them happy after that. If you get off to a bad start you have got to work terribly hard to pull it back.

What do you get up to when you are not at work?

I love skiing and cross-country skiing. I’m learning cross-country skiing so I try and get out there once a week and downhill once a week in winter. I’ve got a garden here and I’m really enjoying having a cold-climate garden. I’ve planted a lot of bulbs and I can’t wait for spring until they come up. In summer I love swimming in the lake and walks in the mountains because I’m crazy about mountains. They are the reason why I’m here.

Sally Capp

CEO, Committee for Melbourne

Sally started her working life as a solicitor in commercial law and practiced for 10 years, the last four of which were in Perth where she specialised in mergers and acquisitions. In 2000, Sally established and then floated an ASX listed investment bank. Sally has also acted on a number of ASX-listed and public company boards.

In January 2004, Sally returned to Melbourne and became a senior executive at ANZ Bank working directly with John McFarlane on ANZ group issues as Head of the Office of CEO and then as a corporate banker.

Also in January 2004, Sally became a director of the Collingwood Football Club, the first female board director in the 112-year history of the club. In 2006, Sally became a Trustee of the National Breast Cancer Foundation and joined the Golf Australia Foundation.

In 2002, Sally was recognised as one of the leading business people in Western Australia under 40 years of age by winning one of the inaugural ‘40 under 40 Awards’ and was the 2002 Western Australia winner of the Telstra Business Womens’ Awards for the Private and Corporate Sector. In 2003, Sally was a judge in the Western Region of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards and included in BRW’s list of 20 female rising stars in business.

Sally manages to balance the demands of her career with those of a family. Sally and her husband, Andrew Sutherland, have two sons—Nicholas (9) and William (7).

Sally Capp shares her philosophy on career paths with us:

Making a change in your career can be daunting and a difficult decision to make. Why? Because the known is more easily understood and calculated and the unknown is potentially risky and could have dramatic effects on the lifestyle you have established.

SO WHAT!

Okay, there are some fundamentals in your life that need to be protected in terms of being able to pay the rent and feed yourself, partner, kids and pets (not necessarily in that order) however other than that, you have some valuable skills and experience that can and should be leveraged to try new things…and this may even mean a change in your current role.

As you can see, I have changed the course of my career many times from law to private equity to banking to a non-profit think tank. This has involved legal skills, to analytical and negotiating skills to strategic and risk assessment skills to influencing skills and all the while doing this in medium, big, small, enormous and tiny work environments. Most of the skills I have developed on the job and all of the experience I have definitely learned on the job mostly from my mistakes!

How have I been able to divert my career path so often despite having husband, mortgage, two kids and thankfully no pets since the fish died?

There are a three important attitudes that I have developed along the way that have shaped and supported my ability to make career moves:

• I am happy to take risks: mostly because I know that if it came to it I would be happy to flip burgers at the local hamburger joint if I had to, to get by and if I was really desperate I could return to the law to earn a buck so what have I got to lose…really (returning to the law would be a fabulous option I was only joking before!).
•  Back yourself: go on, have a go and believe that you can do it. You may not fill every criteria that is advertised with your dream role but you know you’ll work hard to overcome those deficiencies, you know you have the interest and enthusiasm for the job, you know you are going to give it your best go and all of these things add up to passion which counts a lot when you are going for new roles. There is no perfect person for every role out there and if you want it back yourself and go for it…if you don’t believe you can do then no-one else will.
•  It is okay to make mistakes: really it is; what is the worst that can happen? Humiliation, shame, embarrassment, mortification, having to admit that you were wrong? These things are not so bad, trust me, my experience has shown that these outcomes are not fatal! I have found that there is more respect for those who have tried and failed miserably than those who did not try at all. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I have learned far more from my mistakes and believe that while at times mistakes can be painful they have been a good 'investment'. Okay, none of us want financial ruin but with a threshold in place that you know you cannot cross for fear of financial ruin, I am sure you will find there is still plenty of room to 'play' with your career.

Melbourne   Thursday 18 June
Sydney         Tuesday 25 June
New York     September (date tba)
London         October (date tba)

We will keep you updated on these and other Alumni events. Contact freehillsalumni@freehills.com to update your details or find out more about Alumni events in your area.

Fancy seeing you here! – London

October 2008

Alumni in the UK converged at The Light Bar & Restaurant for the annual Freehills London Alumni cocktail party.

Proving that the Freehills network is alive and strong, over 90 alumni enjoyed catching -up with former colleagues and friends and hearing about what’s been happening at the firm from visiting partners Jason Ricketts, Martin Shakinovsky, Chris Robertson and Mark Rigotti.

The London cocktail party is held every October and is a great opportunity for UK-based alumni to reconnect with Freehills. Make sure your details are up-to-date so you don’t miss out on an invitation. Email freehills.alumni@freehills.com

The Freehills Alumni Program is open to all former Freehills professionals. If you have suggestions, comments or questions about the Program, contact: 
 

Sue Ashe Communications Manager Direct +61 2 9225 5314 sue.ashe@freehills.com