Daniel — Monash Law Alumni

I'm Daniel, I'm currently a lawyer at Russell Kennedy, a commercial law firm in the Melbourne CBD. It's a national firm that has offices in both Melbourne and Sydney. I started here as a graduate in March 2024, completed my graduate year as part of the graduate program and have now settled into the corporate and commercial team. I first studied law at Monash University doing a double degree in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.

Q: What first sparked your interest in law? Was it something that you always had considered since high school?

It first started in year 11, I think it was, when I started studying the legal studies elective in VCE. It was a subject that was very new to me, but I found all the topics that were discussed and taught by my teacher to be really interesting and super engaging. It was probably at that point where I thought it would be a possibility of something to pursue as a career in the future.

I definitely wasn't settled on becoming a lawyer at that point during school, but it was a subject that I did really enjoy and it sparked my interest in the area.

Q: Turning more now to your pathway from graduating high school to getting to law at Monash, did you take the conventional high school to university route, or did you take another path?

Well, my path conventional in the fact that I started university straight after finishing school, however it was not conventional in the way that I actually decided to start with just the Bachelor of Arts by itself. Throughout my first year, I managed to maintain a distinction average (70% or higher) in my grades, which then allowed me to enrol into the Bachelor of Law for my second year. This meant that I ended up doing a double degree, and I suppose that my route was quite different to the norm, where I started with the Bachelor of Arts first, and then transferred into Bachelor of Law.

Q: Was there ever a point where you felt as though the goal of becoming a law student was unattainable, or out of reach?

Um, that's a good question actually. I think throughout my time in first year I was motivated to get the grades required to actually transfer into a double degree of Bachelor of Laws and Arts.

I think it wasn't until halfway through my degree, where I was around three years in, and I thought there were maybe one or two quite challenging units, which challenged my persistence and resilience in really pursuing and finishing the degree. In retrospect, I was at Monash University for six years, and as a result I think it's inevitable that law students are going to go through certain phases of their degree where it could be quite difficult. You're still having to face the difficulties of studying when your friendship group potentially have already finished that degree, or maybe they started working straight out of school. So, there are not only challenges by studying, but then also there's the social challenges as well.

Being a law student, I think it is required as part of your character to be resilient, persistent, and there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.

Q: Okay, I guess speaking more broadly to your first year at university out of high school, did you struggle to adapt to the university workload and that work-life balance comparing it to your experiences in year 11 and 12?

Well, my personal recollection of Year 11, Year 12 is that I thought I was quite studious, studied quite hard. I found that at university I, in a way, took a load off as to how hard I was working, compared to those last years at school.

But at the same time, I still needed to get the required grades to actually be accepted and enrolled to the Monash law degree, so there was always that. It's quite a difficult one. I don't think I struggled with the workload, but I think I also was only working one or two days a week.

I think it's wise when first starting university just to really try to strike the right balance between work, study, and then also maintaining those friendships and social groups with other people from school, people from university, and also spending time with your family. I think striking the right balance is very important.

Q: Beautiful. Okay, final question. Seeing that you have now graduated as a Monash Law student, is there anything you would have done differently or anything you wish you had known going back to your first year as a law student specifically?

As a law student...

Perhaps it would be having a greater knowledge of all of the different clubs and societies that the university offers. I think moving from school to university, it's quite new, it's quite fresh. And I think it does take a while to really understand what resources and programs are available to law students.

Whereas, I think during school it's quite drilled into you as to what resources you have. And there's obviously teachers at the school who are constantly monitoring you, guiding you. Compared to once you make that transition to university, you are very much, in a way, kind of by yourself and that's especially if you're studying a course where not many of your friends or peers from your high school are studying the same course as you. I think it's really a matter of going outside your comfort zone, trying to make some new friends, build some new relationships at university, and then also just doing a bit of research into what resources and programs the university offers.

I think a good place to start, especially as a law student at Monash University, would be the Law Student Society. I think that's quite a strong and popular committee that a lot of law students tend to lean on and praise highly.