Alumna appointed to significant leadership role at global law firm
Georgia was recently named Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s new Regional Managing Partner (Asia). She will split her time between Hong Kong and Singapore, enabling her to focus on growing the firm’s business across Asia.
For Georgia Dawson BA (1998), LLB (2000), the international, cross border nature of her work is something that she loves.
“Many of my matters are affected by inter-governmental relations and/or involve interactions with foreign governments,” she said.
“My time at the University of Sydney has had, and continues to have, a profound influence on my career, including my studies in History and Government as part of my Arts degree.”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer recently named Georgia as their new Regional Managing Partner (Asia), where she will split her time between Hong Kong and Singapore, enabling her to focus on growing the firm’s business across Asia.
A member of the firm for 13 years, Georgia said that at its core, the legal profession has not changed significantly in that time.
“The values, responsibilities and role in the community remain the same,” she said.
“Where things have changed dramatically is in the area of service delivery. The turn-around times on work have shortened, technology tends to mean 24/7 availability and lawyers are seen as integrated business advisers.”
Georgia said that when looking back on her time at the University, she realised that many of her colleagues are involved in an extraordinary array of jobs.
“Some are in-house lawyers, some work in government, some are in business, some teach at the Law School, and others are barristers or private practice lawyers,” she said.
“A law degree provides a great stepping stone to a wide variety of careers and so a place with a leading law firm is not the be all and end all - there are numerous other great career choices.”
She added that while prospects for law graduates in Australia remain extremely competitive, today’s future practitioners need to remain positive and resilient.
“There is also increased mobility in the legal sector with people moving from one kind of legal role to another,” she said.
“So if at first you don’t find the perfect role, focus on learning the most you can from it until you can move in the direction you ultimately wish to go.”
