Associate, Jones Day
Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies - 2017
During my exchange, I lived in a city called Rennes. It’s in northwest France and is the capital of Brittany. When I was there I lived in a rickety old three-story mansion with six other French roommates next to the canal.
There are currently 30,000 law students in Australia according to the Australian Law Students Association and competition for graduate roles has never been so intense.
Sarah was able to draw on the skills gained through her International Studies degree to give her the edge over the competition and secure a graduate position at international law firm Jones Day.
Why UTS?
Sarah has aspirations to work for a large international organisation like the United Nations or the International Court of Justice in the future and knows having international experience and a second language will be a valuable asset. Living in a globalised world and economy there's a real need to understand how different people and cultures work together.
One of the reasons she chose UTS was that the year spent abroad as part of your International Studies degree is already built into your study plan so there wasn’t the need for her to fit it in around her other studies. Another positive she found is that at her international institution she had the flexibility of either studying modules that were relevant to her degree or she could branch out and study subjects within her faculty that would give her a greater understanding of the country she's studying in.
I had the opportunity to study subjects such as French cinema, art history and Renaissance architecture which I'd never have been able to do if I had only studied law. I was constantly being challenged intellectually and introduced to new ideas and perspectives
Sarah talks about her experience studying at UTS
Transcript to come
Post University
Whilst studying she completed a number of internships. One was at a not-for-profit based at the Federal court of Australia, funded by DFAT and being able to talk about the cross-cultural challenges she experienced in her year abroad helped her to secure it.
She also believes having an international outlook helped her secure a place in the fiercely competitive graduate scheme at Jones Day. Now she’s navigating the world of a young lawyer she finds herself working on litigation matters, conducting discovery, preparing witness interviews and affidavits and preparing materials for Court hearings.
In-Country Study provides an amazing opportunity to open up your eyes to other cultures you weren’t expecting. You also learn a lot about yourself: it might sound clichéd, but without your home, your friends, your family and your country, you really have to think about how you define yourself.
