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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Young legal eagle with a keen eye to helping others

LAWYERS should be using their “privileged” position to give back to the community, says ACT Young Lawyer of the Year Nithya Sambasivam.

The 28-year-old is certainly paving the way so far, juggling her job as a solicitor for boutique firm Goodman Law with several roles on local committees and boards, including the YWCA and the Women Lawyers Association of the ACT.

She was named ACT Young Lawyer of the Year by the ACT Law Society for her dedication to the legal profession and her “tireless” support of community work, particularly with women’s issues.

“I feel it’s important to pursue things outside of being a solicitor,” says Nithya.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that we enjoy a very privileged position in society, so I’m a proponent of paying that forward.”

Born in Sri Lanka in 1985, Nithya and her family moved to Canberra when she was five years old. As a teenager, she became an active member of the Sri Lankan Tamil Association.

“It was a very community-minded group to grow up in,” she says.

“My family were always big proponents of giving back to the community and the value of being involved in community work.”

Through the association, Nithya began speaking at annual Deepavali celebrations and sponsored a young family in the post-2009 Sri Lankan conflict environment.

Her first taste of “representing” others came when she was elected general secretary of the ANU Students Association.

“We were sort of providing a voice for our fellow students and that spurred on an interest in helping others,” says Nithya.

After graduating from a Bachelor of Commerce and Laws degree in 2007, Nithya became a member of the ACT Law Society Dispute Resolution Committee, and later the YWCA.

A highlight of the latter, she says, was marshalling last year’s “Reclaim the Night” march.

In the same year she was elected president of the Women Lawyers Association of the ACT.

“It is important for me to be a feminist, in all aspects of my life,” she says.

“The legal profession is very much dominated by men, so I think from that perspective, it’s important to have something like the Women Lawyers Association so we can meet other women who are accomplished, who have faced various issues, and who have succeeded through those issues.”

Nithya says gender inequality in the legal profession “is changing a bit” but there is still a way to go.

“There are things that law firms have traditionally not been good with, like maternity leave and flexible working arrangements, but certainly it’s changing, people are realising it’s a benefit to both firms and clients in getting a diversity of backgrounds and interests,” she says.

“I’ve certainly benefited as a junior solicitor having access to other strong female practitioners. All of them have, in their own way, achieved a fair bit, and it’s probably been a harder road for them than it is for me, but it remains challenging.”

Nithya, who specialises in corporate and commercial law, says her demanding workload won’t affect her community work.

“I’m committed to everything I do, and I love being surrounded by people who also have that drive,” she says.

 

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