Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network

More needs to be done, both by those at the Bar and the legal profession more broadly, to manage the idiosyncratic wellbeing issues faced by barristers – including, but not limited to, moving beyond performative, awareness-raising conversations about barristers' experiences. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Melbourne-based barrister Dr Michelle Sharpe about her two decades at the Bar and what she's learnt, her perceptions about barristers' wellness across the board, whether the Bar is lagging behind private practice, and moving beyond box-ticking exercises. Sharpe also reflects on her concerns about wellness conversations not being conducted in the most productive ways possible, pushback experienced when trying to advance specific wellness conversations, the flow-on consequences for barristers' wellness not being at optimal levels, how the whole profession can better cater to barristers' wellness needs, and why she is cautiously optimistic that the Bar can move forward constructively.

After a 25-year career in journalism at some of Australia's most well-known media organisations, including Channel 9 and Channel 7, Naomi Shivaraman has traded telling stories for interpreting statutes – sharing her inspiring and compelling journey of becoming a lawyer later in life. In a recent episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Grace Robbie speaks with Naomi Shivaraman, legal affairs strategist at BlackBay Lawyers, about her 25-year career as a journalist across some of Australia's most prominent media organisations, including Channel 9 and Channel 7, reflects on the moments she holds closest to her heart and explains what ultimately inspired her to trade telling stories for interpreting statutes. Shivaraman also delves into the challenges of returning to study as a mature-age law student while working in a fast-paced newsroom, reflects on the unique advantages and transferable skills her media background brings to the legal profession, explains how experiencing the law from the inside reshaped her perspective as a reporter, and offers thoughtful advice to professionals considering a major career change later in life but feeling hesitant to take the leap.

In this special episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, produced in partnership with NROL, host Jerome Doraisamy sits down with NROL founder Jesse Shah to explore the future of the legal profession and the launch of LawUno, a new platform designed to better connect, support, and empower lawyers. Reflecting on the 2025 Women in Law Awards, hosted in November, Shah shares why his continued involvement in the awards remains deeply personal and professionally important, and how supporting women in law is inseparable from building a stronger, more inclusive profession. The conversation then turns to the real challenges lawyers are facing as the profession moves into 2026, from fragmented networks and limited access to information to the lack of meaningful community, training, and career visibility. Shah outlines why these issues have reached a critical point and how LawUno has been created to directly address them. Shah also discusses the importance of better connection "more than ever", the evolving ways lawyers present themselves professionally, reflections on the upcoming 30 Under 30 Awards, and his perspective on embracing change in an industry that is often sceptical or risk-averse. LawUno represents a new way forward for the legal profession, one platform, one network, built by lawyers, for lawyers. To learn more about LawUno, click here.

In the face of voluminous market change, from privacy to technology, medical negligence work is perhaps more challenging than ever before. In the face of such a climate, there are myriad takeaways for practitioners in this space as the new year gets underway. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers principal and head of medical negligence Emily Hart about her background in personal injury law, perceptions about "what a lawyer is", her biggest takeaways from the last 12 months in medical negligence law and what has stood out to her, and why it's such a fast-growing practice area. Hart also delves into growing trends in this space, including medical technology and devices, and how such developments are changing the game for lawyers, the impact of AI and other emerging technologies, the extent to which cyber security hacks are influencing lawyers' work with clients, the difficulties that lawyers in this space will face in 2026 and beyond, and why prioritising lawyers' wellness will be so essential moving forward. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected]

Feelings of fun and happiness play a significant role in offsetting the stressors and rigours of working life. In this episode, brought to you by Lawyers Weekly's sister brand, HR Leader, an Auckland-based academic dives into the need for businesses to get creative in ensuring staff engagement and the critical role that HR must play in doing so. Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with University of Auckland Business School Associate Professor Barbara Plester about her research into humour and fun in the workplace and why it's of such interest to her, the extent to which the pandemic shifted workers' levels of happiness, workers' level of connection post-COVID-19, and how critical creativity has become in keeping workers engaged. Plester also delves into how the pandemic has correlated with an uptick in worker happiness, whether it had led to greater productivity, movement away from standardised approaches to wellbeing, the place for worker autonomy, employer limitations on flexibility, practical steps that employers should be taking to ensure optimal levels of employee happiness and striking the right balance with business objectives, and the role of team leaders in doing so. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected]