Climbing the Legal Ladder
Jessica Dorman (20) and Vashti Fauser (19) are law clerks at Maloney Anderson Legal in Mildura.
Jessica was successful in applying for the trainee office junior position when she finished school in 2007. One year later Vashti applied for an identical traineeship position and was also successful.
As trainee office juniors, they began by learning reception and account skills and mail duties, all of which is important in a firm with seven solicitors and over 20 support staff.
Once they had found their feet in the company, and a year apart, Jess and Vashti started a Certificate III in Business Administration (Legal).
“Having done some business studies at school, it was a fairly easy transition to the work required for Certificate III and it was even more of a follow-on situation when I did Certificate IV in Business,” Vashti says.
Certificates III and IV were self-managed courses, whereby Jessica and Vashti completed course-work booklets, then meeting with a supervisor for clarification and assessment. Vashti and Jessica agree that this training system wasn’t too difficult to manage as well as their work.
After undertaking a Certificate III in Business (Legal Administration) Jess studied Certificate IV in Business (Legal Administration).
Vashti stepped into Jess’s role for a little over a year.
Both are now trainee conveyancing clerks but with their training, they could also work in other areas including the municipal and commercial sectors.
Story and photograph courtesy of the Sunraysia Daily