Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Law Graduation Ceremony - 5 February 2008
INTRODUCTION
Acting Chancellor Stephen Keim, Acting Vice Chancellor, members of the official party, graduates, ladies and gentlemen.
A graduation ceremony is a major milestone in any student’s life.
It officially marks the end of a long period of concentrated study. It is an event so long in coming I imagine there were occasions when you thought it would never arrive.
So this is a time to stop for a moment, to pat yourselves on the back and to celebrate your significant academic achievement.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
But we can’t spend too long on self-congratulation because, even more importantly, this ceremony also marks the beginning of your professional career.
And, if the experience of my fellow graduates from the University of Melbourne Law School class of 1967 is any guide, you have the promise of brilliant opportunities in front of you.
That 1967 group of Melbourne law students now comprises a justice of the High Court of Australia; judges of other federal and state courts; a former Victorian Attorney-General; leading silks; senior partners in major law firms; the chairman of one of Australia’s largest petrol companies; owners or managers of big and small businesses; administrators of all sorts of organisations; and highly placed academics, company executives and public servants.
Some of them have made a lot of money. Some of them are in positions of authority. Some of them have preferred to work for the public good in community agencies. Some of them have remained in professional practice since they left university and some have had diverse and varied careers.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
One thing that stands out for me, looking back to the day when I was seated where you are now, is that none of us had any idea of what was to come.
You may think that is unsettling but not being sure about what the future holds stimulates us to attempt and in some cases reach unexpected goals.
Irrespective of which professional paths you may individually choose, I am sure you will all face some particularly interesting challenges.
I want to make four points in this regard.
CHANGE
The first of these is the constant need to adapt to change which is pressed on us in particular by the ever increasing sophistication of technology.
I gave some thought to how I could illustrate this point from my own experience. You might anticipate I am going to mention computers and the internet as examples, but they are just recent developments.
The computers which have transformed the way we practice law only came into general use in the 1980s. Email and the internet only took hold 10 to 15 years ago.
The example that came to mind was when my mid-sized, city law firm bought its first, very basic electronic calculator in about 1970.
The calculator was the size of a house brick and operated on mains supply electricity, not battery or solar power. It cost $279. That’s a great deal more than you would pay today in 2007 dollars but, nearly forty years ago, it was the equivalent of the weekly salary for five legal secretaries.
When any of us needed to do some detailed arithmetic for, say, the completion of a real estate transaction, the first thing we had to do was go and find the firm’s calculator.
That may seem unbelievable to you.
But, if we accept Moore’s law that the power of a basic computer doubles every two years, it won’t be long before the cutting edge technology you are using today is just as out of date.
A related but even more basic problem is to work out how are we going to keep up with the explosion in knowledge that is happening all around us?
I don’t know if it’s true, but it has been said that the world’s body of knowledge doubled between 1800 and 1900. In 1940, the doubling rate was every 20 years and by 1970 it was every seven.
Now it is estimated that knowledge doubles every two years.
And it is predicted that, by 2015, our collective body of knowledge will double every 35 days.
A little while ago, I asked the Chief Executive of CSIRO – the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – how he saw the challenges confronting science professionals over the next few years.
Dr Garrett’s assessment was that the 20 th century was notable for its clearly defined scientific disciplines involving, for example, the atom, the gene and the chip.
However, in the 21 st century, he expects those separate disciplines to converge and scientists will be required to work across previously strict disciplinary boundaries.
I think the same issue applies to the law.
So this message is simple.
Those of you who see constant change as an opportunity – and can continue to adapt – will give yourselves the best chance to succeed and make the most productive contribution to society.
DON’T OVER PLAN YOUR CAREER
The second point I want to make is that you should not think you can carefully plan your career. In my case, it certainly hasn’t worked like that.
In November 1999, I was the Managing Director of Victoria Legal Aid, a position I had held for just on four years.
I didn’t have the slightest idea that, five weeks later, the Prime Minister would appoint me to be the Secretary of the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.
But when the retiring Secretary rang me out of the blue and asked if I was interested in the job, I didn’t hesitate to say Yes.
All I can say about career planning is that you should have some general idea where you want to go and what you want to do.
But don’t be too impatient and always remain alert to whatever unexpected opportunities might come your way.
A good example is a young lawyer who works with me as my Executive Adviser.
When she finished her law degree, she undertook two year articles of clerkship with a general law firm in Brisbane.
Shortly after, she came to work for the Attorney-General’s Department.
Since then she has briefed Ministers and Shadow Ministers; assisted in the passage of national legislation; negotiated agreements with the States and Territories and international treaties in overseas countries; worked for the Attorney-General in Parliament House; spent 12 months working in Japan and studying Japanese; and now, in her spare time, she is studying for her Master of Laws at the University of Sydney.
None of this was part of a plan and none of this was what she expected when she graduated nine years ago.
INFORMAL AMBASSADORS
My third observation is that as, graduates in law, you have the opportunity to become members of a noble profession.
That membership carries with it the responsibility to uphold the profession’s high standards of ethical and impartial service to the community.
But graduation provides another opportunity for our overseas graduates, who I understand comprise about 16% of the total QUT student population.
The Government is very pleased that tens of thousands of students from other countries undertake their education in Australia.
Having lived and studied with us for several years, you have a very good understanding of Australia and its people.
When you go back home, you will be able to give your family, friends and colleagues an honest but, I hope, positive appraisal of this country.
As you progress in your career and achieve positions of seniority and influence, I hope the ties you have made with Australia and Australians as a student will enable you to contribute to stronger relationships between our two countries for our mutual benefit.
To this extent, I would like you to think of yourselves as informal ambassadors for Australia in whatever you do in future.
AUSTRALIA IS A GREAT COUNTRY
My final comments are directed to those of you who are going to pursue your careers here.
Over the last few years, I have travelled extensively with the Attorney-General to discuss legal and national security issues with our counterparts in more than 20 countries.
No matter where we have been, the first thought that strikes me when I get home is what a great country Australia is.
This really is a land of opportunity and a fair go for everyone.
But that isn’t just due to good luck and it can’t be taken for granted.
A lot of people have worked very hard over a long time to achieve that result by supporting our democratic freedoms and preserving respect for our institutions and for each other.
I know it won’t stay that way without continuing hard work and dedication from your generation.
That’s why the task ahead of you is more than just pursuing an individual career or meeting an immediate need in the community.
It is also to accept the responsibility to make this great country even greater.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I congratulate you on your academic success.
I wish you well in meeting all of the challenges that lie ahead of you in your careers over the next 10, 20 and 30 years.
ROBERT CORNALL AO
5 February 2008