Protégé: Emerging lawyers must understand the criminal justice system

Tom Penglis understands firsthand what issues exist in Western Australia’s criminal justice system. Now the co-founder of the WA Justice Association, he — together with colleagues like advocacy director Steven Thiele — is on a mission to ensure that emerging and existing legal professionals better appreciate the shortcomings of Australia’s justice system and what they can do to improve it. On this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with WA Justice Association co-founder and non-executive director Tom Penglis and advocacy director Steven Thiele about Mr Penglis’ experience of incarceration, what he learned from his term of imprisonment and how it offered him perspective on the criminal justice system, what WAJA does and why, and how it involves law students in its important work. Mr Penglis and Mr Thiele also discuss the flow-on benefits for emerging lawyers who broaden their understanding of the criminal justice system, why even senior practitioners need to be more familiar with such issues, how to triage multiple urgent advocacy priorities and what WAJA hopes to achieve in years to come. 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 editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!