When did you start?
Nov 2021
Position?
Legal Practitioner Director
What attracted you to Ai Group Workplace Lawyers?
The diversity of the work and the great team of people.
Ai Group Workplace Lawyers has more of a collaborative environment, which helps with work outcomes. Often in a big firm, you are working in a bit of a silo, but here, we seem to communicate so much more and work together more, which results in clients getting better advice because they’re getting a bigger picture.
How do you hope to develop professionally at Ai Group Workplace Lawyers?
I’ve taken on a more senior role than I have in the past, so I want to develop as a lawyer and a leader.
I hope to continue to be involved in helping to develop and shape the law in some of our bigger cases, which will be great.
I’m looking forward to helping members get through whatever they need to get through, which may be complicated or uncomplicated, but still needs to be sorted out for them. I look forward to empowering clients by helping them to try to prevent their problems as much as we help them to resolve them when they happen.
How is it going so far?
Everyone’s been great. We have a lovely team with people from diverse backgrounds which is terrific because everyone has a different perspective.
We are involved at the forefront of some significant cases. It is fascinating to be involved in that.
And when you’re not working?
I keep ponies. I have five ponies and a 20-acre property, which I run as a hobby farm. Occasionally, I show and breed. I have a fairly rare breed called the Norwegian Fjord horse. I am quite involved in promoting the Fjord horse, as well.
The work flexibility at Ai Group makes it much easier to balance the amount of work that goes into managing the farm and horses.
I also write quite a lot. I’ve published a lot of articles and a book on the General Protections under the Fair Work Act. I’m currently working on another book. Somehow, I can fit it all in!
What would you say to a fellow lawyer considering working at Ai Group Workplace Lawyers?
Go for it! People are often attracted to big law firms. However, Ai Group Workplace Lawyers is a good place to get more hands-on experience and client contact, while also undertaking interesting, challenging and often high-profile work.
In a larger firm, particularly if you are a junior, it can be difficult to get opportunities to work autonomously and develop client relationships. Working here would help you develop those skills earlier.
Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at the Australian Industry Group. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a reporter, features writer, contributor and sub-editor for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK.
