Providing a personalised insight into the legal profession, our Alumni Chronicles series bridges the gap between Deakin Law Students and their graduate counterparts, illustrating how our alumni have chosen to navigate their legal careers after graduation.
In this edition, Jordan Cook is in conversation with Deakin Alumni Chris Primmer, a senior associate working in the Planning, Access and Environment team at Ashurst.
Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Primmer, a Senior Associate at Ashurst. Chris is a proud Deakin alumni who strongly resonates with the purpose of this publication and aims to encourage further representation of Deakin alumni now working in the legal field. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Chris about his time at university and his path post-graduation, and I hope that readers are able to gain some valuable insight in our latest edition of Alumni Chronicles.
Growing up near Deakin’s Geelong campus, it was a natural choice for Chris to attend Deakin, and he didn’t ‘even [think] about going to another uni’. Commencing his studies with a double degree of law and arts, majoring in anthropology and then later changing to Australian History, Chris spent the first half of time at Deakin enjoying the campus and the Geelong community. However, like many of us, Chris found the transition from high school to university ‘eye-opening’ and the change in support to be challenging when trying to balance both studies and other commitments.
Choosing to take a gap-year when he was 21, Chris was thankful for this decision, as it allowed him to take a step back and learn how to manage his time more effectively. ‘I think I started to get a little bit lost in terms of the struggle of keeping up and managing my time and keeping my grades respectable ... so I took a year off when I was about 21 and had my gap year then ... I think that was a really great decision for me, because I came back a lot more mature.'
For the latter part of his degree, Chris made sure to partake in all the opportunities available to him as a student - going on an exchange to Denmark and study tour to America, working at the Deakin Law Clinic and completing internships at Native Title Services Victoria and Barwon Community Legal Service, which contributed to his Degree. Labelling these experiences as his highlights of his time at Deakin, Chris thoroughly enjoyed participating in student life and networking with his peers.
During his time at Deakin, Chris chose to focus on the opportunities available to him at present, leaving post-graduate employment as something he would consider later. However, when approaching his final year, Chris met a few other Deakin students who suggested he should attend a careers night in the city - this night was the first time that Chris learned about clerkships and graduate employment. As a result, our conversation turned to the fact that this is not an uncommon experience for law students, and we should look to cultivating a more open and collaborative culture concerning post-graduate employment whilst at university.
‘I think you can actually have a healthy competitiveness and do [clerkships] together ... When I went on a summer exchange, I met some students from different universities, and we all worked on clerkships together. I think it should be something that is discussed openly at university.’
Not feeling ready to finish his degree just yet, Chris chose to push back a few subjects so he would instead be in his penultimate year, allowing him to apply for clerkships. After receiving four offers and completing clerkships, Chris chose Ashurst for a graduate role.
When choosing the firm, Chris appreciated Ashurst’s global reach, noting that the firm ‘work[s] on some of the biggest projects in the Australian and Asia Pacific region’ and therefore boasts a great deal of opportunity. Further, Chris found the people and ambition of the firm to be incredibly exciting, embodying the ideal workplace.
‘[There is] incredibly strong training and all the best resources available to you and these types of opportunities have appealed to me since I was a clerk ... It's the opportunity to work on the best matters, whether it's corporate, disputes or project approvals, and it really drew me in ... Our leader is very ambitious, and our direction over the next five years is very ambitious. We are wanting to grow, and it's genuine.’
Working as a lawyer in the Planning, Access and Environment team, it was a subject that Chris took whilst on exchange in Denmark that founded his interest in this area.
'The time [of the exchange] was shortly after the Paris Agreement was reached, and that really piqued my interest. I still remember thinking that this is going to be a pretty big issue for my career ... The work we did [at the university] was around the Paris Agreement and other international conventions and how the world was tackling climate change litigation ... I spoke about this in interviews for clerkships [and] it laid a foundation for me at Ashurst.’
Since then, Chris has been provided the opportunity to undertake secondments to further inform his work within his team. First completing a secondment at a waste management company in NSW, the experience provided Chris with the opportunity to work closer with the client, and allowed him to gain a further understanding of the environmental sphere. Currently, Chris is completing his second secondment with one of Australia’s largest energy companies, advising the company on an energy development project and helping them with the relevant government approvals. The Planning, Access and Environment team at Ashurst is at the forefront of the energy transition which Chris describes as an exciting time for the industry.
‘From a project perspective, there's a huge energy transition which we're going through.Our clients are coming to us with new environmental obligations and challenges, and a rang e of new projects. ... [For example], we have offshore wind coming into Victoria now, which i s going to completely change the game for energy ... I'm fortunate [in this sense] that our tea m works on a range of different projects, a range of litigation, administrative review and complex project approvals.’
Finally, as always, I asked Chris about what advice he has for Deakin Law students. His main piece is to ‘get busy - hustle for the job you want and keep your grades up.’
‘When you're at uni, you should be taking up every opportunity because this is the time where you are developing professional and social skills. With everything you are doing, you should be thinking about how this is developing you. Even working in retail or hospitality. I worked in a factory for a bit, travelled a lot, and volunteered in Geelong ... [University] is such a great opportunity in your life to gain experiences, and to meet different people.’
Chris found that even though he wasn’t aware of clerkships until later into his degree, he was still using his experiences to build his resume throughout university. He also highly valued the power of networking and reaching out to Deakin alumni at certain firms. ‘I still am always a little nervous with networking, but if you want the job, you need to find someone who has that job or try and understand how best to get it. The best way you can do this is to meet people.’
Lastly, being a Geelong alumni himself, Chris wants to encourage Geelong students to involve themselves in Melbourne based experiences and firms as much as possible. Chris is a big advocate for Deakin and his career path has proved to be an excellent example of the many opportunities available to students from all campuses, highlighting that it is important to be involved in university life for future success.
