Protégé: Making real, diverse change in the profession (while still a law student)

One young student has challenged the lack of diversity by creating a new organisation that connects African-Australian students from all over Australia. 

The legal profession has a big problem with diversity: there’s next to none to speak of. Although the onus for changing it should never be on the shoulders of our young lawyers, one student has addressed it with a new organisation that has already made huge strides in the few short months it has been active. 

In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Naomi Neilson is joined by fifth year law student and founder of African Legal Connect Australia Nonye Duru to talk about the lack of diversity and why her organisation is critical to the future of the profession. Without organisations like this, that future is looking grim. 

We also chat about what it was like to create an organisation like this while still at law school, the opportunities to be found in these experiences and how the whole of law can improve with a little more support from our major legal bodies.

This is the second episode in The Protégé Podcast series and comes after our chat with Australian Law Student Association (ALSA) president Nicholas Tsekouras and immediate past president Margaret Cai on the changes they have made in 2020 and what 2021 will bring them. You can listen to the inaugural episode here.

If you have any questions about either episode or if there are any topics that you want us to look into, please reach out—we would love to hear from you!

We’re also always open to new guests so if you have an exciting story to tell, if you you’re standing out as a student or graduate, or if you can offer some tips for our young lawyers, get in touch!  

You can reach us here: 

Emails: editor@lawyersweekly.com.au or naomi.neilson@momentummedia.com.au

Socials: Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter or reach out to me directly here.