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The Aboriginal Legal Service – never a dull moment
James Jeffrey explains to Zoe Lyon why he keeps coming back to the Aboriginal Legal Service.
THE ABORIGINAL Legal Service (NSW/ACT) is a not-for-profit organisation that provides advice and representation for Aboriginal people, mostly in criminal matters. James Jeffrey, now an ALS trial advocate, started his career in a small private law firm in Tamworth. He’s held various other positions throughout his career, but he estimates that all up he’s spent 14 out of a total of 20 years of legal practice working at the ALS.
“I love working at the ALS,” Jeffrey said. “I explain it this way: there’s only one thing worse than working for the ALS, and that’s not working for the ALS.
“In other words, I think it’s the best job you can have as a lawyer, because it’s fun. I think the vast majority of lawyers lead lives of quiet despair, but we lead lives that are interesting. In fact I think ALS lawyers are the only lawyers that complain about their job being too interesting.”
Though Jeffrey admits that there’s not much variety in terms of the type of work he does (“it’s criminal law, criminal law, criminal law”), he believes it’s the “colourful cavalcade of people” that make the job interesting.
“Knowing aboriginal people on a personal basis has been really great – there are some absolutely marvellous people out there,” he said. “People are aware that Aboriginal people have been treated really badly and unjustly in this country and lawyers are more aware of that than anyone else. Aboriginal issues are really important, and it’s great to work in that field.”
Another upside, Jeffrey said, is not having to worry about billing and the profits – an ongoing concern for partners in private law firms.
“I think that private practice is about making money. You’ve got to make money to survive and I’m not critical of people in private practice – the most important job you can do for your clients is to be there the next day, and to do that you have to make money. But that’s not even a concern for me here and I love not having to worry about that,” he said.
However being reliant predominantly on federal government funding -which Jeffrey believes to be insufficient - does have its flip side. “We lose a lot of our lawyers … Our jobs are really tough and we’re paid significantly less than Legal Aid lawyers, and I reckon Legal Aid people are underpaid too,” he said.
22-Aug-2008
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Aboriginal Legal Service , James Jeffreys
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