Like many professions, law can sometimes be about who and what you know. As this award-winning practitioner discovered, if one is the first in their family to become a lawyer, throwing one’s self into vocational opportunities not only helps one better understand the profession but puts one in better stead with prospective employers. In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Acorn Lawyers associate Samantha Moon – who recently won the Rising Star (Private Practice) category at the 2023 Australian Law Awards – to discuss her reflections on being the first in her family to study and practise law, realising that she didn’t have a network as some of her classmates did, and how she moved to address this disconnect and work her way through as an emerging lawyer.

Ms Moon outlines what she did to build her network and glean professional skills, how such professional development can be undertaken in a post-pandemic world, how such efforts bolstered her resilience, why all emerging lawyers need to immerse themselves in opportunities, and her advice on how to navigate the current climate and put one’s self in the best possible position to succeed. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!