Tilé and Olly Meets

In this episode, we meet with Fiona Yeang, a lawyer specialising in construction, engineering and infrastructure projects, and an advocate for disability access and inclusion. Fiona shares with us her experience and journey of overcoming a significant loss in her life, so we provide a gentle content note and trigger warning for our listeners who may wish to take care when tuning in. While the subject matter is a sad one, Fiona brings sincerity, gentleness and pragmatism to the conversation—qualities shaped by her life being English, living with a disability, being a mother, and a lawyer with over 40 years of practice experience.

She started her career at the Bar in London in 1984, then moved in-house to a construction industry trade association, subsequently joining a major UK law firm and becoming a solicitor. She worked in London, on construction and infrastructure projects, until 2000, when she relocated to Queensland to join a major Australian law firm. In 2006 she set up her own practice, Yeang Lawyers. She is a legal consultant for Peerpoint by A&O Shearman, through which she periodically takes on secondments to in-house legal teams. For the last 10 years she has also been a sessional academic at QUT, teaching a construction law unit for undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students. She has been disabled since birth, and is an ambulatory wheelchair user (she either uses a wheelchair or walks with a mobility aid). Fiona is a founding member of the Queensland Law Society’s Disability and Accessibility Network.

If you are looking for some support as a result of some of the topics covered this season, please see a few options listed below:

Lifeline: 13 11 14 (phone) or text 0477 13 11 14. 24/7 phone and text support for anyone in Australia.

1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. 24/7 support for sexual assault, domestic and family violence.

13YARN: 13 92 76. 24/7 crisis support service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

SURPRISE! Our first official guest episode for Season 3 and our first guest is Vai Leavaiseeta. Vai shares with us her story of overcoming socio-cultural and mental challenges that came with unexpectedly having children at a young age. What will feel familiar about her story is the sliding doors moments, and the limitless way persistence, gratitude and self-reflection can shape us.

Vai is a dedicated advocate for justice and empowerment, currently working as the Family and Domestic Violence Lawyer at the Youth Advocacy Centre, where she also handles Youth Justice matters. With more than a decade of experience in the community legal sector, she began her career in New Zealand in 2012 before moving to Queensland in 2018. Holding an LLB and BA from Victoria University of Wellington, she is admitted to practice in both New Zealand and Queensland. Vai is deeply committed to ensuring vulnerable individuals, particularly young people, can access justice and be empowered within an equitable, evolving society.

If you are looking for some support as a result of some of the topics covered this season, please see a few options listed below:

Lifeline: 13 11 14 (phone) or text 0477 13 11 14. 24/7 phone and text support for anyone in Australia.

1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. 24/7 support for sexual assault, domestic and family violence.

13YARN: 13 92 76. 24/7 crisis support service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

GUESS WHO’S BACK!? This September is a big one! It is International Update Your Resume month (yay!) and can you believe it, this year marks 25 years since Cathy Freeman won Gold at the Sydney Olympics in September 2000. Unrelated, we also have the blood moon coming up, and it is Virgo season (early shout out to Beyonce and Keanu Reeve’s for their upcoming birthdays!) and the Brisbane Festival for us living here in Magandjin. So of course, we are joining the September fun with a new season about “Overcoming”. ‘Overcoming, what?’ you ask? Well, we guess you will have to tune into each episode to find out. NEW EPISODE OUT NOW and dropping sporadically from today. Our first episode is a re-introduction, it’s just us reflecting on the first eight months of the year, and what we hope to get out of this new season! Tune in via Spotify, Apple Podcasts and most places you get podcasts!

SEASON FINALE | It is our season 2 finale of our podcast where the theme has been 'traversing inclusion and belonging in the law'. So we thought, what better way to round out our second season than by taking it right back to the beginning and re-meeting with our first two ever guests on our podcast, Linda Cho and the Honourable Judge Dzenita Balic (whom kindly let us dispense with formalities in addressing her Honour in this episode).

Linda Cho is a criminal lawyer, and at the time we record this episode, she elucidates to us about an internship she did in the United States, and also on her (at that time, future plans) plans to relocate. Linda, we miss you already! Judge Dzenita Balic, whom was a Magistrate when we met her on our first podcast with her, shared with us about her continued journey in actively promoting diversity within legal and justice spaces. It's always a pleasure to learn from and share with these two wonderful humans. Digressions include the exploring of adoption of English names to maybe create a sense of belonging/inclusion, the importance of pro bono work in our profession, and the need for diversity strategies to include everyone.

As this conversation has been published two months late, it's interesting to reflect on what's transpired since our conversation back in late November. One big topic of conversation is the reflection on the Culture and Law Moot, which is now back for its second year coming up on 20 March 2025. We would love to see you there! To join us or find out more, please visit: https://www.trybooking.com/CZBQE.

This is a beautifully reflective episode and a reminder that there is always work to be done and we each can contribute to that work. We are so pleased to be able to share this final episode despite our unplanned hiatus. We will return in the second half of 2025 with more episodes for you.

We are beyond excited to bring you this episode recorded back in October 2024 with Debbie Kilroy OAM. Debbie is one of Australia’s leading advocates for protecting the human rights of women and children through decarceration – the process of moving away from using prisons and other systems of social control in response to crime and social issues.

Debbie's story may be familiar to some, and we cannot do justice covering off everything in the short time we had the privilege of sharing with her. Debbie was in prison during a brief period of reform, allowing her to access opportunities for education, employment and day release, sharpening her special skill to ‘think around corners’. During her time in prison, Debbie worked hard for a degree in Social Work and took on the huge task of turning her life around. Since then, she has qualified as a Gestalt Therapist and Legal Practitioner, and has completed a Graduate Diploma of Forensic Mental Health.

Debbie established Sisters Inside in 1992, which advocates for the human rights of women in the criminal justice system and responds to gaps in the services available to them. We encourage our listeners to visit the Sisters Inside website if they wish to volunteer or donate. Debbie was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the community for working with women in prison in 2003, and then awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal in 2004. She was also grantedthe Churchill Fellowship to explore decarceration strategies and programs internationally in 2014.

We really enjoyed this conversation, and so glad to finally publish it!

Roman’s main areas of practice are Criminal Law, Regulatory Law, Administrative Law, and Disciplinary Law.

Roman was born in Davao City, Philippines, but migrated with his family at six years of age to Palmerston, a satellite town of Darwin. Roman achieved a Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) and Bachelor of Arts (Maj. Psych) from the Charles Darwin University and was awarded prizes in Human Rights Law; Criminal Law; and Corporations Law for achieving the highest marks.

In this episode, Roman shares with us his varied journey through law, commencing as a judge’s associate in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, and his subsequent journey through private practice, to non-government organisations in South America, and then eventually as a Crown Prosecutor at the Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions.

Since moving to Queensland, he has worked for the Crime and Corruption Commission, Brisbane City Council, and then the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. He was called to the Queensland Bar in 2022 and joined the Queensland Private Bar in 2023. Roman is a current committee member of the Queensland Branch for the Asian Australian Lawyer’s Association.

Digressions include his parents’ promise to him when he left for South America, his former life as a dancer, and his impression of Raygun.

We were thrilled to have the chance to meet with Matt Dunn, the Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Law Society.

He was appointed as CEO in March 2024 but he was previously the General Manager – Advocacy, Guidance and Governance for the QLS. Originally joining the QLS in 2005, he departed to take up a national policy leadership role with the Law Council of Australia in 2014, before returning to raise his family in Brisbane. Matt’s extensive industry experience places him in the unique position of having a strong understanding and insight into the issues affecting the modern profession. An advocate for ensuring practitioners have affordable and accessible resources to build and maintain their practice, Matt is proud to be in such a position of trust to guide and enable the profession.

If you have not met Matt before and curious about how the QLS integrates diversity, equity and inclusion into its work, then this is an episode you don’t want to miss. Matt shared some stats, he shared his own experiences and particularly in policy, and importantly, he brought a good sense of humour to this conversation. Digressions include the real devil’s devilling in Scotland, the special person who moved his admission, whether he bleeds Maroon and his fashion recommendation.

We meet with the Director-General of the Queensland’s Department and Attorney-General, Jasmina Joldić PSM. Jasmina is an accomplished senior executive and policy expert who has advocated for equity throughout her career. Her expertise in guiding high-performing teams and driving outcomes on critical initiatives has been built from over 18 years of experience across the State and Commonwealth governments, as well as the higher education sector.

Jasmina has been the Director-General of Queensland’ s Department of Justice and Attorney-General since May 2023. This role follows her experience as Associate Director-General, Strategy, Policy and Reform in Queensland Health, in which she led the development of visionary system-wide policy, including HealthQ32, and prior leadership of critical functions contributing to Queensland’ s successful COVID-19 response, for which she was awarded a Public Service Medal in 2022.

Jasmina received the Griffith University and Griffith Business School Alumnus of the Year awards in 2023.

She is a current member of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government Board, the Queensland Government’ s Public Sector Governance Council, the Institute of Public Administration Australia Queensland Division Council, and the Children’ s Hospital Foundation Legacy Advisory Committee.

She holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Queensland and Graduate Certificate in Policy Analysis and Master of Public Administration (Public Policy) from Griffith University.

This is a goosebump inducing episode with a wholehearted and surprisingly down to earth human being. Her feature in QWeekend is a beautiful and sobering read. However, it is her humour and vision that captured our attention in this episode.

We have been referring to this episode as “our meeting with da boyz” where we meet two wise and hilarious friends, lawyers and business partners of Solomons Legal, Roy Kim and Victor Asoyo.

Roy is a graduate of the University of Queensland and partner of Solomons Legal. In this role, he is responsible for leading the strategic direction of Solomons Legal and has an extensive transaction experience across a wide range of assets, projects and client groups, both local and overseas.

Victor is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and is also a partner of Solomons Legal. Victor brings almost two decades of experience to his practice that extends to commercial banking transactions, property development, construction, renewable energy assets and pharmaceuticals.

They share some of their early life experiences, reflect on important male role models in their lives, and what their shared values are that brought them together to start a business together. This is a firecracker of an episode if we can say so ourselves, and we just did.

In our first ever panel episode, we sit down with four law students from the University of Queensland. We meet Evelina Limboro, Annabelle Khoo, Samuel Mashman and Patrick Nix.

Eve (she/her) is in her fourth year of a Science and Laws (Hons) dual degree, majoring in Biomedical Sciences. She is the 2024 University of Queensland Law Society President and she always makes time for painting and playing music. She spent her childhood in various countries around Asia and identifies as a Third Culture Kid.

Patrick (he/his) is a first year student at UQ studying Arts/Laws, majoring in Political Science and International Relations. He has autism, which he says can make social experiences challenging, but he hopes his experiences make him an empathetic and caring person. His main goal in life is to make the world a better place, especially for those who suffer from inequalities and injustice. His interests are in politics, music, chess, and he follows the Brisbane Lions in the AFL.

Annie (she/her) is a fourth year Bachelor of Laws (Honours) student at the University of Queensland. She has participated in multiple extra-curricular activities at UQ. Annie works in the Youth Crime Team at Legal Aid Queensland. She hopes to use her privilege and law degree to assist – and amplify the needs of criminalised people in Queensland. Annie has Malaysian-Chinese heritage from her dad’s side.

Sam (he/his) is a proud Wiradjuri man with connections through his father and has lived across Australia in his formative years in places like Broome and Cairns. He attended Gosford High, is studying law at the University of Queensland, and has also contributed to pro bono work through UQ’s Youth Justice Team. In 2023, he participated in the Queensland Indigenous Youth Leadership Program, and was voted in as the Youth Premier by his 2023 cohort.

We left this conversation feeling admiration and inspired by each person as we know our listeners will too.