Kane Kersaitis

What led you to choose UTS:Law for your studies? I have always known that I wanted to study Law at university, so when I was reaching the end of high school and looking at options, it was not so much a case of comparing universities as a case of comparing Law faculties. Everything that I read and everybody I spoke with indicated that UTS:Law was emerging as one of the leading law schools in NSW. It might not have the history or prestige of other universities, but all of the legal professionals with whom I spoke agreed that UTS:Law graduates had better hands-on legal skills than graduates from any other university. UTS also seems to offer a wider range of combined Law degrees than other universities in Sydney; when I started my degree in 2010, there was only one other university in the area which offered a Bachelor of Laws combined with a Bachelor of Science in IT.

If you are working while you are studying, what does your job involve?  I am currently employed as a paralegal in a firm specialising in corporate insolvency. Before that, I was a law clerk in the debt recovery practice of a strata law firm. I have been pretty lucky with both of those jobs; they have given me the opportunity to apply what I have been learning at uni by going to court, drafting court documents, doing research or writing letters of advice. It really helps to bring the Law ‘alive’! In neither job have I just been stuck behind a photocopier and asked to copy and paginate somebody else’s work.

How do you balance study and work commitments? It’s not easy – it took me a long time to get the two properly balanced. It might not be fun to admit, but ultimately you will have to sacrifice a lot of your personal time if you really want to excel in either. I think the biggest difficulty is in having the discipline to sit down after a day at work and say to yourself ‘I am going to do two hours of study’ and actually stick to that. If you can do that, then you’re already three-quarters of the way there. Increasingly so, it seems that employers are expecting graduates to have had some sort of part-time work experience during their university years. My advice would therefore be to throw yourself in the deep end; try doing both, and use that experience to find your own way of balancing priorities, because then you will find what actually works best for you.

How have/will your studies at UTS contributed to your career? How have they informed the way you work? My studies at UTS have undoubtedly contributed to my career, not least of all because lawyers need a Law degree before they can practice! More than that, however, they have given me a real idea of where I would like to go within the Law. UTS goes out of its way to try and show students how the Law operates in the real world, rather than teaching the black-letter law in a vacuum. The best example is the number of highly-esteemed guest lecturers which I have had the pleasure of listening to throughout my time at UTS, ranging from high-ranking senior counsel to the head of the enforcement team at ASIC. On a slightly more practical level, I think that this real-world perspective also helps you to understand how to apply the Law.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your degree? Why? The most rewarding aspect of my degree was when I was invited to participate in the UTS:Law High Achiever’s Mentoring Programme. As part of that programme, I was assigned a mentor, who is currently a Partner at a leading firm in Sydney. The insight which he provided me throughout the programme was truly invaluable, and my understanding of the industry and how it operates increased tenfold. It was particularly good to be able to sit down and talk with a professional, whose career you wish to emulate, and hear him speak frankly about a whole range of topics, including your own budding career.

What would your advice be for someone who is looking at studying Law at UTS? Think very carefully about whether you are genuinely interested in Law, or whether you are just choosing it because it will lead to a ‘good’ career or ‘good’ money. If you are motivated by the latter two things, then rest assured that neither will come to fruition – your lack of interest will make sure of that. If Law is for you, however, then don’t look past studying at UTS.