Clayton Utz lawyer Liz Hamshary is passionate about tax. When she was first exposed to tax structuring whilst working at an accounting firm during her second year of university, she knew it was something in which she found great enjoyment.

"I knew straight away that was what I enjoyed and that was what I wanted to do. I had always enjoyed the numbers side, so to me it was just a natural progression into tax," she says.

"To me it made sense. In my mind it was quite easy, and I always figure you should go down the path of least resistance."

But Hamshary realises that others may not always share her passion for what is often viewed as a rather dull facet of the legal profession.

"Most people just sort of switch off after about two minutes of me harping on about tax," she laughs. "It's a killer at weddings, I can assure you!"

But the fact is that Hamshary not only loves tax, she's extremely good at it too.

A third year lawyer at Clayton Utz, Hamshary is quickly carving out a name for herself in the male-dominated practice area, developing new strategies to resolve unique tax disputes for clients, managing large scale corporate and high wealth individual audits, settlements and tax litigation, advising on a range of complex tax matters, including cross-border issues, and international tax disputes and multinational restructures.

Hamshary's bubbly and vivacious personality has ensured that she is a hit with the clients, though this in itself can pose challenges.

"[There are] competing pressures on my time in terms of clients ... so I am running close to 40 matters at one time. It is quite difficult to juggle all that, but having said that, it is actually what drives me," she says.

"My partners let me run with it; I have direct client contact, run meetings. It makes such a difference when you can pick up the phone and you know the client on the other end, and you can have that informal conversation and let them know where the matter is at. That is what really drives me. At the end of the day I am helping people that I know quite closely. That is the satisfaction that I get."

Hamshary has also recently been appointed to the position of pro bono coordinator; a job which keeps her busy, but provides balance in her working life.

"The pro bono work is fascinating. I love it. It is quite different to my tax role, so it's a good balance I think," she says.

Click on the images to read more profiles of the Lawyers Weekly 2010 Young Guns:

>> Jnana Gumbert, Director, Stacks/Goudkamp

>> Eliza Evans, Lawyer, Minter Ellison

>> Darren Fittler, Lawyer, Gilbert + Tobin

>> Liz Hamshary, Lawyer, Clayton Utz

>> Fergus Green, Lawyer, Allens Arthur Robinson

>> Kylie Lane, Senior Associate, Blake Dawson

>> Clayton James, Lawyer, Freehills