Why working in the bush isn’t ‘career-limiting’

In the same episode, she discussed how a stint in regional law can equip young lawyers with practical skills and expertise rarely gained in the city – accelerating professional development and fast-tracking their legal careers.

While it is a commonly held belief within the profession that regional practice can limit a lawyer’s career, Callander pushed back on this notion, explaining that even a short stint in the country equips practitioners with valuable experience that significantly strengthens their future opportunities.

“Look, I don’t agree with that at all. I think that moving to the country, if you were doing it as just sort of a career move and you only wanted to do it for the first couple of years, I think that anybody who works in a firm in the country and works in a number of areas of law, or even if they just specifically focus on one area, they’re always going to be able to bring a lot more to their next job,” she said.

Rather than viewing it as a professional disadvantage, she stressed that for early-career lawyers who often struggle just to land their first role in a firm, regional practice can open doors sooner and accelerate development at a far greater pace than many city-based firms.

“I don’t see it as being career-limiting at all. I think with graduates, too, one of the biggest things I know I experienced as a graduate was, you know, it can be very difficult to even get that first job,” she said.

“I know the first job that I worked in, there were people who were working there as paralegals, they were solicitors, but they were just working as paralegals because there wasn’t a role available.”

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Callander explained that it’s not about where you gain your early-career experience, but simply about getting those formative years behind you – stressing that without them, “you can’t progress,” not just up the corporate ladder, but as a lawyer.

However, she acknowledged that once lawyers begin practising in regional areas, many find it difficult to return to metropolitan firms, having become accustomed to a different lifestyle and a more balanced, holistic approach to work.

“What I would say too about that is I would find it very unusual if someone went and worked in the country, that they would go back to the city,” she said.

“You get quite comfortable with the lifestyle and the way that we practise out here, that those sort of pretty hardcore hours and things like that that are expected from you in the city aren’t as appealing anymore.”

Despite that, Callander emphasised that even a few years practising in a regional environment – before returning to city life – can be far from limiting, instead offering experience that becomes a significant strength to carry back into metropolitan practice.

“However, people move from the country back to the city, and I can’t say having sort of all the experience that you would have here and that holistic approach to the law to be limiting at all to any graduates,” she said.