Koreen Partridge, Property Law Specialist
Law in the Real World Session 2 Speaker
“Every student comes out of university wanting to be a criminal lawyer. It’s different in the real world.”
As a fresh UNE Law graduate, this was a word of careful advice Koreen Partridge received when she spoke to her employer of her enthusiasm to work towards her goal of becoming a criminal prosecutor to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Koreen’s employer was a boutique firm in Sydney that “did a bit everything,” as Koreen describes, “but property law was their main transaction.”
However, in support of her interest, she was given the opportunity a few months into the job to work on a criminal case that had been referred to the firm. And, as warned, it was not what Koreen had imagined.
“I did not enjoy it at all,” she says. ” I really struggled to be able to assist the client in a fair way, knowing what they had been charged for. And that was a really hard lesson for me, that maybe criminal law wasn’t for me because I couldn’t set aside my emotions in defending a client.”
“By that stage, I’d really come to enjoy property law. So I was lucky that I had fallen into something that I did quite enjoy.”
As Koreen discovered through this first employment experience, law ‘in the real world’ is quite different to studying the subjects. She was keen to share her experience and advice for current and future students at the second Law in the Real World session talk, presented by the UNE Law School.
So what does she enjoy about working in property law?
“I think a lot of people think it’s just buying and selling residential houses, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s probably the one area of law most people will come into contact with in their life.
“It quite suits my personality because it generally has a start and an end. There’s a goal at the end and you get to achieve it.
“Property law at university is very theoretical. You learn the history of property law and how we got to where we are today, but that’s completely different to what you do in the real world on a day-to-day basis.
I encourage students to give property law a go because it interacts with so many different types of law. Even having a basic understanding of property law can set you up really well for many other career trajectories, including corporate and commercial law, estate planning and family law.
Koreen's practical advice for students at the event included:
- Create a short signature – “Nobody told me at university to create a short signature to use professionally. My signature is quite long. Occasionally you are a witness for documents that run over 50 pages and you have to sign every one of them. So getting a really succinct signature is a good tip!”
- Proofread your work – “As a senior lawyer, when you’re short on time, there’s nothing more frustrating than getting a document that’s riddled with spelling errors.”
- Own up to mistakes – “everybody makes mistakes, and most can be fixed. But a partner or senior lawyer can’t help you if they don’t know it exists. Admit it, apologise, and offer a solution if you can.”
- Don’t be afraid of the red pen – “get comfortable with it. Your seniors have been practising for quite some time, and they might have a particular way they like to write.”
To experience different types of law, Koreen says working for a smaller firm can be useful.
“Lots of small firms are a bit more generalist than the big ones. So I think that’s often the best way to start if you’re looking to train in and trial different types of law. I got a lot of one-on-one client interaction working for a boutique property firm for the first six years of my career and it helped establish what type of law I enjoy working in.”
From there, she moved to a firm in Newcastle, which was a different kind of experience again.
“It was primarily a corporate and commercial firm, which was really good for me because they did a lot of mergers and acquisitions and also had a planning law branch. It really bolstered that kind of knowledge and those skills for me which supports property transactions.”
About two years ago, she started in her current workplace, and is now a Special Counsel at Sparke Helmore Lawyers, which she says has provided lots of interesting experiences.
“There is something really nice about helping someone buy their first home. But I also get a lot of enjoyment out of the weird niche property law matters. I’ve been lucky to do two adverse possession claims now, which most people know as squatter’s rights. It’s super rare in this jurisdiction, so it’s been great to work on two! I really enjoy those kinds of matters that most practitioners wouldn’t deal with on a day-to-day basis.”
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Interested in a career in law? Come along to the next networking and Q&A session:
Law in the Real World Session 3
When: Tuesday 21 July 2026, 5pm
Location: UNE Sydney Campus, Parramatta and Zoom
Speaker: Liam Garty, Associate, Chamberlains Law Firm, Corporate and Commercial Team.
