Vegas trips, five times the salary: Life as an NYC lawyer to the stars

In the cut-throat world of New York City commercial law, Sydneysider Nick Saady finds himself acting as a “shoulder to lean on” for clients one minute, and alongside them in Vegas the next.

Saady is an associate at Pryor Cashman, a mid-sized media and entertainment law firm. He advises an eclectic group of clients, who include Hollywood stars, DJs, record-label bigwigs and sports leagues. In his spare time, he plays for the New York Kookaburras Cricket Club.

All of that leaves him with an average of three to four hours’ sleep, and an office he describes as his sometime living quarters.

Hustling to get in the door

Saady moved to New York five years ago, after two years at Freehills, to study a Master of Laws at New York University. “I was like, this is amazing … I need to try and get a job here so I can stay and build a career here,” he says.

He focused on building a network while studying, describing it as “almost impossible” to get a litigation job in New York without local qualifications or experience – “unless you’re doing something where they just need warm bodies”.

“I had to hustle pretty hard just to get in the interview room,” Saady says, recalling how he sent more than 50 emails to make connections in the city.

He eventually secured an interview with leading white-shoe firm Davis Polk, and was promptly put through the wringer. The process consisted of six interviews with partners and associates on the same day. “It was intense,” he says. But with a job offer within the day, and the Bar exam passed courtesy of a 27-day lock-in, Saady was off.

A cut-throat legal culture

Saady says working in New York is “incredibly different” to Australia. “It’s incredibly highly charged, and everyone is ridiculously aggressive … Everything is high stakes, and there’s constant pressure.”

He moved from Davis Polk to Pryor Cashman to work in the entertainment industry, and says the nature of his client base raises the stakes of his work.

“Because you’re representing celebs, artists and record labels, everything is public. So if there’s an issue or a misstep, you have a big problem.”

Clients also expect more of their lawyers in the United States, says Saady. Whereas engaging a lawyer is seen as a last port of call in Australian business, American clients expect round-the-clock availability.

“I’ll have clients ring me up just to talk about commercial matters,” he says. “There’s that closeness because you are like a sounding board for them. A guide.”

Saady found himself taking on a more business-focused role, acting as a “shoulder to lean on”, and he has learnt to move beyond plain legal advice and approach client matters from a commercial and reputational standpoint.

Partner pay and Vegas trips

With great client expectations comes great pay. Saady says his salary increased five-fold when he landed the job at Davis Polk, and was earning as much as many junior partners in top-tier Australian firms as a third-year associate in New York.

That’s reflected in the hours put in, with all-nighters far from rare. The omnipresence of the client has crept into his social life – he has an “eclectic social circle” with various music, hospitality and Hollywood connections.

“There’s an immersion of social life with work, especially when you’re in the entertainment industry. Everyone’s having a good time – most of the time.”

While time off work is hard to come by – “when you have clients, you can’t just leave” – Saady plans to travel to Ibiza and Mykonos with clients next year, and his work regularly takes him to Las Vegas.

As for what happens in Vegas? That’s client-lawyer privilege.

It was a plan to “spend a year learning Italian, eating food and living by the sea” that led Maggie Abou-Rizk from a career in competition law to criss-crossing the globe leading investigations for UNICEF from Budapest.

Having caught the travel bug when working in London for a year during the GFC – “the most horrible time to be trying to find a job” – Abou-Rizk found herself back in Australia working on telecommunications regulation.

“At the back of my mind, I really wanted to be overseas,” she tells The Australian Financial Review. Aged 30, and with many countries having a cut-off of 31 for working holiday visas, Abou-Rizk decided to move to Italy on little more than a whim.

“Italy’s kind of cool, I’m going to move there,” she decided, with little knowledge of the language and no job lined up. “Everyone told me that was a horrible idea.”

With three UN agencies headquartered in Rome, and a childhood interest in the organisation, Abou-Rizk sent out applications for a year while “teaching English and eating pasta”.

With less than a month before her visa ran out, a job offer finally materialised.

Thrown in the deep end

Despite being thrown into a “totally different” area of law and panicking about whether she could do the job, Abou-Rizk says the skills she learnt in corporate roles in Australia were transferable to United Nations work.

Legislation, procedures and jurisprudence are different, but the basic process of gathering evidence, looking at jurisprudence and preparing arguments that support the client’s position remain the same, she says.

Abou-Rizk began in administrative international law, but soon moved into investigations, inquiring into alleged misconduct and fraud by UNICEF employees and partners.

Most lawyers who have moved into the UN come from prosecution backgrounds, and corporate experience is “not common”, she says. Her experience in an investigative role at the ACCC and an understanding of contract principles gave “a level of insight that you might not have if you come from a prosecution background”.

‘Places you wouldn’t go for a holiday’

Working for the UN necessarily requires a lot of travel, and it remains “one of the things I find most enjoyable”, Abou-Rizk says.

Investigations have taken her to places including Syria, Sudan, Chad, Ghana and Lebanon. “Basically, places you wouldn’t normally be going for a holiday, which presents its own challenges. But you really do get to see a different side of the world.”

Working in difficult environments on often sensitive matters requires an appreciation of local norms, and a sensitivity to risk, “to ensure that you’re not putting anyone in harm’s way while you’re conducting an investigation”. That can be one of the most challenging aspects of the job, Abou-Rizk says.

“When I was doing investigations at the ACCC … those weren’t factors you had to take into account.”

Despite the challenges, there are rewards: “Going out into the field and seeing the impact of the work [UNICEF does] is the sort of thing that keeps me motivated.

“Probably the most impactful time was going to Syria during the war. It puts things into perspective when you see the resilience of people and their determination to keep working and keep working for the UN with everything that is going on around them.”

Travel for fun

While work travel can be intense, working as a lawyer at the UN has its own advantages: normal working hours (most of the time), colleagues from all parts of the globe, and – being based in Europe – the ability to “jump on a plane on the weekend and have a great time somewhere else for not a lot of money”.

Indeed, the size of the organisation lends itself to mobility: in a 10-year career, Abou-Rizk has worked out of Rome, Geneva, Vienna and Budapest across various agencies.

As for pay, “it’s not a job that I do for the cash”.

“But there are many benefits to the work that [UNICEF] does that I find extremely rewarding. I don’t think there could be a stronger mandate than helping kids in need. That’s why I’m doing this job.”

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an Aussie expat lawyer in search of a good fortune will consider a job in New York.

Thanks to the enormous salaries, high prestige and cultural allure of the city, New York has become one of the most popular destinations for Australian legal professionals seeking work abroad.

Duncan McKay, a Sydney native, has spent the past eight years working in New York. He started his career at King & Wood Mallesons, moving between Sydney and Hong Kong. When an opportunity came up to join US firm Kirkland off the back of a transaction he had worked on, he took the leap. He now works as a partner for international law firm Fried Frank, which has its headquarters in New York.

The US is less strict about who can practise its domestic law than many other countries, provided foreign lawyers pass the bar exam (which varies by state).

McKay says lawyers tend to spend four to six weeks preparing for the New York bar exam, and costs are subsidised by their firm. It is a minor hurdle that, combined with the relative similarity between the two legal systems, makes it an appealing prospect for Australian lawyers.

There is another reason the US is such a popular choice.

In 2021, first-year lawyers at top-ranking US firms were estimated to be earning double what they would in Australia. By their fifth year in the US, that could reach about $US345,000 ($545,540) plus bonuses.

Jonathan Walmsley, of Marsden group, says a first-year lawyer at a top-tier firm in the US (typically Australian lawyers with two years of experience would be viewed at this level) would be paid $US215,000 a year, and a typical bonus of $US20,000 in line with the Cravath Scale.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that working in big law can be lucrative, very lucrative,” says McKay. “But understand the demands and the pressures that are placed on lawyers working at this level and in this environment are enormous.”

Opera and sailing

Young professionals often spend what leisure time they have in New York City’s social clubs. McKay is now a board member in the Metropolitan Opera Club, which was founded in 1893, after getting his start in the University Club.

“I think New York City is a wonderful, dynamic place to live. There is always something new to do,” he says. “It’s a melting pot for young professionals, and the social opportunities here are amazing.

“It’s like you have the best of everything at your fingertips. Maybe not the beautiful Sydney beaches, but, you know, certainly in terms of art, culture, music, restaurants, and just outside of the city, the beautiful park lands and waterways.”

When he’s not attending operas, he spends his spare time sailing his boat between Newport and New York.

But, McKay warns that working as a lawyer in New York City is “certainly not for the faint of heart”.

“People are playing for keeps in New York. You have to want to be here, to work hard ... But certainly, if you’re here with purpose, then there’s no limit.”

Land of Opportunity

McKay says the entrepreneurial culture fostered by NYC’s law firms is one of the biggest appeals of living and working in the city. Since moving there, he has developed a niche in fund financing for private equity clients, where he advises on fund structures across different asset classes including infrastructure and real estate.

“If you have a practice area, or an area of the law that you’re interested in, and you think there’s a business case for it, these firms allow you an opportunity to really dive headfirst into that, in a way that might be more challenging in the Australian market,” he says.

“[American] firms are much more agile in the way that they deploy resources to new opportunities.”

But McKay hints that the hours are long if you aim for the top in New York.

“There’s really no limit to what you can achieve here in the law, and your trajectory is pretty much in your own hands. It’s about repetition, it’s about the volume. It’s about how hard you’re prepared to work. And so really, you are the master of your own destiny.”

Are you an Australian lawyer overseas? If you’d like to share your story, email explainers@afr.com

Mubeen Khadir first moved to Bahrain from Melbourne at age 34 to establish and lead EY’s international and transaction tax practice.

In 2011, after three years, he moved back to Australia, but a few years later returned to the Middle East – this time to Saudi Arabia – to work for KPMG.

After several other stints, including with Deloitte, Khadir is now a partner and head of tax and corporate services at KPMG Bahrain.

Khadir helps clients with corporate, international and M&A tax issues as well as advising on insolvency and liquidation and setting up companies. These clients have his mobile number, and can call at any hour.

Although Khadir himself practises in English, the office has about 20 people with different nationalities, which allows them to present reports in other languages such as Arabic if clients request it.

Salary perks

One of the reasons Khadir moved back to the Middle East was because he couldn’t make as much money if he stayed in Australia.

Khadir says junior lawyers in Bahrain earn more than they would in Australia, but the gap widens even more as lawyers advance in their careers.

“It would be almost impossible to even come close to finding a job that would pay me [this well], even if I was a partner in Australia.” he tells The Australian Financial Review.

“[Salaries] the lower levels (say three to four years of post-qualification experience) up to senior associate (six to 10 years of experience) would be between 25 per cent to 40 per cent higher than in Australia. At the partner level they would be anywhere from 50 per cent higher to double what you may make in Australia,” he says.

The deal is further sweetened by the lack of personal income tax.

Workplace culture

Khadir says one of the most noticeable differences about working in Bahrain is the emphasis on personal, friendly relations with colleagues.

“In Bahrain, generally you go to a meeting, and you may spend the first sort of 45 minutes, just talking about life, family, what they’ve been up to, geopolitics and various other things,” he says. “And then the last 15 or 20 minutes actually talking about the work.”

Another key difference is the integration of Bahraini culture in the workplace. During Ramadan, office hours are reduced to six hours a day. People use the extra time to socialise.

“You’ll find a lot of cafes where people are watching football [soccer] and smoking shisha, socialising, and a lot of charitable activities go on during that month.”

Lifestyle factors

Another major appeal of living in Bahrain is the reduced commute time. Despite a lack of public transport, peak hour only lasts about an hour in the small nation, and many people actually go home for lunch.

“If my kids have got a school production or a recital, you could literally duck back to school at three o’clock, listen, and then come back to the office,” Khadir says.

Family and leisure time are easier to come by as well due to the widespread employment of domestic helpers, a practice that Khadir says has allowed him to pick up squash and go out more during the week.

Bahrain’s position in the Gulf also makes travel to various places around the world more convenient than Australia.

“[It’s] six hours to London or Paris, so we do a lot of holidays in Europe. And the region, sort of being Turkey or Jordan, there’s a lot of a lot of travelling to do. And we get five weeks of annual leave a year, plus a lot of public holidays as well.”

The expat bubble

Unlike almost anywhere in the world, Bahrain is home to more expats than nationals. In fact, it can be hard to meet locals in everyday life.

Khadir says that most Bahrainis work in the private sector, although about 60 per cent of his KMPG branch are local employees.

Most of Khadir’s friends are expats – mostly from the UK, US, India, Pakistan and Australia.

“Schools are the easiest place to make friends,” says Khadir, who has two school-aged children.

His advice for professionals with families looking to work internationally?

“It’s very important that your spouse is happy, or your partner’s happy. I think that can make or break the move.”

Are you an Australian lawyer overseas? If you’d like to share your story, email explainers@afr.com

At age 27, Ashurst competition lawyer Adelle Elhosni headed off to Abu Dhabi for a secondment to an Emirati client as their in-house counsel. It was meant to be a short stay, and then COVID-19 struck.

Elhosni decided to stay on, and she has not looked back. In her role she monitors the activities of competition regulators in the region.

Elhosni did not have to retrain in local law, but she is required to attend regular learning and professional development sessions hosted by Ashurst to work in Abu Dhabi. One limitation is that foreign lawyers cannot appear before Emirati courts.

Salaries ‘higher than Australia’

The UAE also requires lawyers to obtain a valid work visa. Lawyers with a valid employment contract can apply for a skilled “green” visa, which has a 2280 dirham ($969.45) application fee, and is valid for five years. Ashurst took care of this for Elhosni.

Elhosni says certain minimum visa requirements such as comprehensive health insurance cover by your employer come as an “added benefit” of working in the UAE.

Working in the UAE is lucrative for Australian lawyers as well. Elhosni says “salaries are typically higher than those paid to Australian lawyers and are more aligned with London scales”.

Sonia Patel of legal recruitment firm Marsden agrees. Patel sees lawyers with two years post-qualification experience moving to the UAE and earning $170,000 to $187,000, which rises to $195,000 to $280,000 at five years. These salaries are even higher for lawyers working at the office of a major US or “magic circle” firm. The lack of income tax is a bonus.

Abu Dhabi has a high cost of living, even higher than Elhosni’s hometown of Sydney. Accommodation in particular can be very expensive. A one-bedroom apartment in the city centre costs an average of 5800 dirham a month ($2365). However, the higher salaries make the difference manageable, she says.

Lifestyle allure

Elhosni describes the industry culture as “not too dissimilar to Australia,” although finds the local culture also embedded into her workplace.

“While I predominantly practise in English, the Emirati culture including the Arabic language, local customs and holidays are well respected and observed across all aspects of life, including in our work” she says. “For example, over the Ramadan period the UAE offices organise an office dinner where families and friends gather to break the fast together.”

The weather also plays a bigger role in the workplace. Elhosni sees a noticeable difference during summer, where most employees take advantage of the firm’s flexible work arrangements to escape the heat at home.

“While I often do find myself in the office most days (as we have a particularly tight-knit group and a great culture overall), during the summer I do tend to escape for a few weeks, including some time working remotely.” she says.

Elhosni also found that the UAE “by far exceeded” her expectations as a woman in the workplace, with many women in positions of power and special events dedicated to helping women build their careers and find support at work.

She also appreciates the travel opportunities in the region, and often takes the chance to explore.

Her favourite trips include visiting the freshwater wadis in Oman and hiking in the northern emirates.

“The UAE desert landscape and star filled night skies are also breathtaking.” she says.

Are you an Australian lawyer overseas? If you’d like to share your story, email explainers@afr.com

Thirty years ago, Matthew Murphy would sit at a yum cha restaurant in Brisbane, practising with staff the Chinese he’d learnt off cassette tapes.

“A lot of people thought that it might be better to learn French or one of the Romance languages, and then head off to London like everyone else seemed to do back then. But I really saw the potential, fairly early, in China,” Murphy tells The Australian Financial Review.

Murphy moved to Hong Kong when he was 26. He would travel to Beijing and Shanghai once a week or so, but he didn’t move there because in the 1990s, the mainland offices were “pretty much just postboxes”.

He runs his own practice, MMLC Group, working between Beijing and his hometown, Brisbane.

Murphy’s specialties are Chinese intellectual property, corporate competition and technology. He advises on mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and foreign direct investments.

How it all started

Murphy’s extended family had lived in Hong Kong, and growing up he had spent years listening to stories of their school excursions into China and the region’s growing potential.

“There was a real vibe in China, they used to tell me,” he says. By about age 15, he recalls, “I could sense that things were definitely on the rise.”

Foreign lawyers did not necessarily need Chinese language skills to work in the region then. Today, though, it would be difficult to get a job in China without strong language skills.

Murphy says an internship in China or Hong Kong significantly increases Australians’ chances of landing a full-time gig there.

Salaries in China

When Murphy moved in 1997 to work for the London-based Simmons & Simmons in Hong Kong and China, the firm offered him four times what he made in Australia. He says salaries have since levelled off.

Nevertheless. Murphy says there’s a “three-tier system” when it comes to lawyers’ salaries in China.

On the top tier are the large British and American firms that pay top dollar to expats and locals.

On the second tier are Chinese firms, which typically pay 20 or 30 per cent less than the big internationals, although they still offer good money.

Then there are Chinese boutique firms that offer a wide range of salaries, which are generally lower than the others.

“You’ll meet good-quality Chinese lawyers in Beijing with five to 10 years’ experience at the associate junior partner level who are on $US70,000 ($109,000) a year. You meet that same person working for a boutique firm in Shanghai or Beijing or Guangzhou, and they’ll only be on $US40,000.”

It also depends on the area of law you practise, and the quality of your network.

“Some IP lawyers are driving Ferraris in Beijing these days,” Murphy says.

Two shifts a day

As a China-based international lawyer, Murphy’s hours are intense. He works a “two-shift” day, planned around the people he works with in other timezones.

“I’m often having conference calls by 5am Beijing time until about 6.30am,” he says.

After the early-morning calls, he goes for a run and heads into his office. The staff have internal meetings while their foreign clients are asleep, around midday China time.

Murphy enthuses about many aspects of the Beijing lifestyle that make it worth it, such as going out for long lunches and taking tea with clients and colleagues.

There are challenges for Australian lawyers who want to work in China. Foreigners cannot practise Chinese law, or be admitted to the bar. Foreign firms may set up branches in China but may only act as foreign or international legal advisers. Furthermore, foreign lawyers cannot speak on the record in court.

“I’ll need to have a Chinese lawyer there to essentially regurgitate what I’ve said about the Chinese law and get it officially on the record from a Chinese lawyer. So, it’s a complicated set-up. I mean, international lawyers in China still, technically speaking, aren’t meant to advise on Chinese law.”

Murphy says there is a social divide between expats and Chinese lawyers.

“[Chinese lawyers] essentially have to agree to be members of the Communist Party,” he says, “whereas the international lawyers, expats like myself, don’t have to deal with that side of things, and we tend to be fairly independent.”

Murphy believes there is a strong respect for Australian professionals in China.

“I think [Australians are] are put on a par with the US-trained lawyers out of the top law schools, and the UK-trained lawyers as well.”

Are you an Australian lawyer overseas? If you’d like to share your story, email explainers@afr.com

It was after a moot competition at university in Perth that Jake Lowther, 35, realised he wanted to work overseas in arbitration.

He now lives in Stockholm, Sweden, working as a legal counsel at the SCC Arbitration Institute – an institution for international arbitration affiliated with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

“In my day to day, I am taking decisions on the management of cases, preparing memoranda and proposals for the consideration of the SCC board on questions such as jurisdiction, advances on cost and appointment of arbitrators, attending meetings, events, and conferences to promote the SCC Arbitration Institute, and drafting articles on arbitration law,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

From Perth to Stockholm

After finishing his degree, Lowther first got a job at Ashurst in Perth working in employment, M&A and infrastructure.

But that exposure to arbitration during university, as well as some international cases at Ashurst, encouraged him to undertake a master’s degree in international dispute resolution in Berlin, Germany.

Lowther then worked in Seoul in South Korea as foreign legal specialist in the international division of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, before taking a job in Stockholm at a law firm, Magnusson Law. Earlier this year, he joined the SCC Arbitration Institute.

Australian lawyers in Sweden

Lowther says the Swedish legal industry is tougher to break into than in other popular countries, but not impossible. He knows many Australian expats working there at local firms and in-house, and even one Aussie working as a junior judge at the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court.

“Australians’ reputation as hardworking and down-to-earth fits well into the local social dynamic and office culture,” Lowther says.

Most offices also operate in Swedish, and as such, knowledge of the language will make a huge difference in gaining employment and fitting in socially. Lowther finds that while most of his colleagues can speak English, they are more “open and relaxed” in their native tongue. There are, however, intensive language programs that foreign-qualified lawyers can access, and he has gained proficiency through both lessons and immersion.

Salary and culture

Lowther says that Australian lawyers looking to work in Sweden “should not expect a London or New York salary”.

Unlike Australia, salary in Sweden is calculated on a monthly basis, rather than annually.

According to figures from lawyers and business professionals union Akavia, the gross median monthly salary for lawyers in 2023 was about SEK53,000, equivalent to just under $90,000 per annum. The gross average law firm salary about $105,000 per annum. In-house counsel typically earn more than external counsel.

Lowther says that despite the more modest salaries, the lifestyle of a Swedish lawyer makes it worth his while.

He spends most of his day attending meetings, events, and conferences on behalf of the institute, and drafting articles on arbitration law. However, there’s an element of Swedish culture that captivates him in the hours between.

“Fika [the traditional Swedish coffee break] is taken with the team at least once per day, and the whole office gathers for breakfast together on Fridays,” he says.

In Sweden, this is not just a coffee break, but a way of life. The custom promotes social connection, improved productivity and mental wellbeing, and some Swedish companies even write fika breaks into employment contracts.

Lowther also finds time for regular tennis and swimming sessions.

During winter, there are only a few hours of sunlight each day, so Swedes look forward to, and make the most of, the bright, warm summer months while they can.

“Under Swedish law, an employee is entitled to take up to four weeks of annual leave in one go between June and August,” says Lowther.

During this time, he has also taken to exploring different islands in the local archipelago, and enjoying the cultural life of the city, which includes museums and local rooftop bars.

Are you an Australian lawyer overseas? If you’d like to share your story, email explainers@afr.com

In central London, near the Smithfield Market from Oliver Twist, you will find Australian expat lawyer Michael Whitbread at his home office, working two jobs.

He works remotely as senior legal counsel for Melbourne-based AI company Vesparum, and, on the side, resolves workplace disputes for employees on Guernsey, a small, picturesque island in the English Channel with a population of just 65,000.

Whitbread, 40, is an employment and tech lawyer from Newcastle, who worked in-house and at major firms in Australia before he moved to the UK at age 32, where he joined multinational firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – one of five member firms that form the prestigious UK Magic Circle.

Then in 2017, he took a job with offshore law firm Mourant in Guernsey, the second-largest island in the Channel Islands off the north-west coast of France. The group of islands isn’t part of the UK, but a dependent territory of the British Crown. Guernsey is also a popular tax haven for the wealthy.

“I was in a fortunate position,” Whitbread says. “I didn’t have any children or extended family to look after or anything like that. So, I really made career decisions based on my own preferences.”

“It’s a physically stunning place – just google Saint Peter Port or the Bluebell Woods to see what I’m talking about. Professionally, people are very welcoming, and it is possible to progress much more quickly professionally than onshore,” Whitbread says.

He was far from being the only Australian on the island, despite it being remote and relatively small.

“[There are] loads. Australians, Kiwis and South Africans are all over the offshore world – for example, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Bermuda, Cayman and British Virgin Islands – as well as mid-shore – Hong Kong, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. I’d like to see Australia do a better job acknowledging its very large overseas diaspora,” he says.

Following a stint on nearby island Jersey, which Whitbread says is much more like the UK, he moved back to London in 2022.

He is still chairman of the Guernsey Employment Discrimination Tribunal and flies back to the island for hearings. It’s a part-time role, which involves resolving employment complaints such as unfair dismissal, discrimination and minimum wage issues.

He also works full-time as senior legal counsel with Australian company Vesparum. He has a flexible work arrangement that allows him to stay in the UK, but also gives him more opportunities to visit his family back home in Australia. It’s also allowed him to branch out from pure privacy and employment law and learn more about the tech industry.

Whitbread believes now is a pivotal time for the field, given both the explosion of tech developments, and the Australian government review of the Privacy Act, which aims to update data protection and security for the 21st century.

Whitbread thinks Australia can learn a lot from Europe’s privacy laws. As the Australian law stands, companies that experience a data breach do not need to report to customers whose data was compromised, as long as they rectify the breach and conclude that it did not pose “serious risk of harm”.

Whitbread compares this to letting students mark their own homework. In Europe, all breaches leading to unlawful processing must be reported to the national information commissioner within 72 hours.

Whitbread says it is history that drives Europe’s approach to privacy and tech law.

“I’ve been to the Stasi Museum [in Berlin]. They could haul people out of their homes in the middle of the night, no explanation [...] throw them in a room, interview them, take bodily samples … So, that explains why the Germans, in particular, are just not having some of the liberties that US tech companies are allowed to take.”

Whitbread says Australia might not share the same history, but we face the same choices, which will affect our economy and national identity into the future.

Are you an Australian lawyer overseas? If you’d like to share your story, email explainers@afr.com

Helen Tung was in her mid-twenties and working as a litigator in London when she had a “quarter-life crisis”.

The Melbourne native, who studied at the University of Sheffield in England, moved back home to work as a foreign-qualified lawyer advising clients on international law. It was then she decided the traditional route wasn’t working for her.

“I thought to myself, I could do this for the rest of my life – I could see myself, 80 years old, taking my suitcase into court – or I could be doing something different,” Tung tells The Australian Financial Review.

She decided to merge her passion for law and technology, and attended a months-long course at the Singularity University, a highly networked institution that focuses on advancing technologies, at NASA Silicon Valley campus.

She then co-founded a satellite propulsion start-up, which “failed miserably”.

“At the bar, the way we’re trained is not [to chase] perfection, but you want to win every case. You can’t always win in the start-up world, it’s actually the polar opposite. And you really have to get out of your comfort zone, where there’s so much uncertainty,” she says.

Nevertheless, she found the experience invigorating, and it led her to an engineering course at the International Space University in Delft, in the Netherlands.

Space law is a tricky field to work in from a pure law background, and many practitioners have some form of science education.

“I remember attending a conference called The Water on the Moon, where I walked in, sat down for five minutes, and I understood nothing.”

Other parts of the program included lectures on nanotech and immortality, which Tung described as “a deep dive into the matrix”.

UAE career opportunities

After several years, including a stint in Japan, Tung moved to the United Arab Emirates to work for the UAE Space Agency, drafting new space-oriented reinsurance laws. She now has her own consultancy where she advises entrepreneurs in the space industry.

Tung says that along with a thriving expat community, the career opportunities in the UAE were the main drawcard for moving to the Middle East country.

She is also a teaching fellow at the Australian College of Law, where she teaches International Arbitration, Space Law, and ESG.

The city offers an engaging music scene and many high-quality restaurants. When she wants to escape the city, she’s only 30 minutes away from the desert, allowing her to easily enjoy the UAE’s natural landscape. The country has a hot, arid climate and in the summer temperatures range between 35 and 45. It’s much milder in winter, when temperatures are between 15 and 25.

The UAE is a good country for her practice because the culture is entrepreneurial and embraces new technologies firmly. “They are constantly reinventing themselves,” Tung says.

Booming space sector

“Space law is still very theoretical. The beauty right now is it’s a booming sector, with entrepreneurs who are trying to create technologies where there are no laws,” Tung says.

“You can try and adapt [existing laws]. You can say, ‘that looks like consumer law’, ‘that looks like it could be medical device law’, etc. But the beautiful thing is, we can also create new law, which is the most exciting thing for me.”

Tung sees new legal issues arising from mass adoption of space travel. In particular, she hopes to develop laws around space resources before they become something we fight over.

A recent law passed in Luxembourg allows private companies to retain ownership of resources mined in space. It has attracted a lot of attention and talent to the small European nation. Tung says this could become ugly if more countries attempt to pass similar laws.

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