Legal eagles up for award

THE Victorian Legal Awards, organised by Law Institute of Victoria, celebrates the outstanding achievements of the Victorian legal profession.

Two of the three nominees for the Regional Lawyer of the Year Award category are from Ballarat.

Sue Emery, born and raised in Ballarat is a Senior Associate who leads the team at Slater and Gordon Lawyers Ballarat.

Ms Emery is thrilled to be nominated by her peers for the award.

“It is pivotal in terms of an award for a lawyer, especially working regionally to be noticed and nominated is amazing,” she said.

“I consider the LIV awards very special as they are for lawyers who practice in our state.”

Traditionally regional lawyers were expected to be able to cover any legal scenario.

Ms Emery who practices as an accredited specialist in personal injury law said it is now considered normal for regional lawyers to concentrate on one particular field of law.

She achieved her degree at Victoria University in 2006 and started working in the personal injury area a year later.

As local in the true sense of the word Ms Emery said it is important for her to work and live in her hometown.

“I really love coming to work each day to help others, especially people going through tough times,” she said. “It is my job, and a great source of personal satisfaction, to maximise my client’s compensation entitlements and to make a difference for the better to their lives.”

Ms Emery said she is in very good company when it comes to the other Ballarat nominee, Adrian Tinetti, as they are both long standing members of the Ballarat and District Law Association.

Mr Tinetti graduated with degrees in Commerce and Law in 2003 and commenced as a solicitor in Ballarat in December 2004.

He joined Federation University five years later and is currently Director, Corporate Governance and Secretary to Council.

As in-house counsel at the university he advises the management team on legal matters and supports its Council from a governance perspective.

Mr Tinetti, a first-time nominee for the Awards, said being recognised by his clients and peers is first and foremost very gratifying.

“I really enjoy the variety in my role across most areas of law and ultimately supporting our students to achieve their goals,” he said.

“In terms of community perception, law as a profession does have a number of different facets to it and even in regional locations you get diversity as can be seen by the different areas in which Sue and I practice.”

The winners of the 15th Victorian Legal Awards ceremony were announced on Friday, 17 May.

Unfortunately, neither of the two Ballarat based nominees took home the award.