Graduate making a difference in child protection royal commission

“Securing my current position with the Royal Commission is my greatest career achievement because so far it has been the best fit for me professionally,” said recent Master of Criminology graduate, Ruth Brigden.

Now working in Darwin with the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, Ruth believes the Sydney Law School helped her to achieve her professional goals because lecturers were available and accessible to talk through career options.

“My educators took a real interest in encouraging us as students into employment opportunities that were a good match for our interest areas.

“The Master’s degree sharpened my ability to think critically and analytically in the criminal justice space, and enhanced my research skills.

“It also helped me to synthesise lived experience with theoretical underpinning, which means I bring a knowledge base to a workplace that is adaptable to policy and research contexts.”

After completing a project as a community worker in a remote Aboriginal community, Ruth was eager to engage in focused study on social justice issues facing Indigenous people in particular.

“The Sydney Law School has a great reputation for its criminology courses so it seemed like a natural choice,” said Ruth.

Throughout her degree she enjoyed the academic rigour, choice of subjects, and experience and expertise of the lecturers.

“I liked how the lecturers took an interest in the students. I also enjoyed being in classes with students who had come from a variety of professional backgrounds.

“A highlight for me was the Criminal Justice Internship subject which was vocationally based and provided me with the opportunity to do an internship at a regional NSW Aboriginal Legal Service,” said Ruth.

 “Having interned overseas in 2016, I am also considering a career where I can work across borders and so Law Without Walls (LWOW), in facilitating physical and virtual cross-cultural teamwork, has been an invaluable experience,” said Sharon.

James would like to enter the legal workforce and generate social change.

“My LWOW project involves tackling the current issues faced by migrants in detention. My experience in LWOW will equip me with the ability to look at contemporary legal issues and generate and implement practical solutions to these problems,” he said.

The program aims to accelerate innovation and is designed to prepare experienced and inexperienced talent with new skills and network contacts to make them more successful global business leaders.

Students will leave the program with knowledge and expertise to meet the challenges of economic pressures, technological advances and globalisation, which is significantly reshaping the legal industry.

We will update you on their experiences when they return.