Janine Stevens

Courting tradition

The large cedar desk that solicitor Janine Stevens inherited when she joined Armidale's A.W. Simpson and Co came with its own legal legends. For 40 years, until he retired in 2003, it was the workspace of Ian Johnstone. Long before that, it was part of the furniture of one of the oldest law firms in NSW.

"You'll never find another desk as big," says Janine. "Ian often pops in to visit me, to sit at 'his' desk and reminisce about his career. I really like that sense of tradition, that our firm is part of the community and has been since 1863."

Although she spent 15 years working in Sydney after graduating with a combined Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws degree from UNE Janine says she had long harboured a desire to return to the region she grew up in.

"For 12 years I worked for the Crown Solicitor's Office in Sydney, in the dispute resolution team that mainly looked after police and the Attorney-General's department and the justice agencies of the NSW Government," Janine says. "I had a senior position and got exposed to some fairly sensitive and high-level political matters. It was an intense litigation role at times and, while I enjoyed it, deep in my heart I hoped that one day I would be able to come back to the country. "

In 2015 the timing was right, and joining A.W. Simpson in 2018 soon reminded Janine why she'd wanted to become a lawyer in the first place.

"I grew up in Moree and while my Dad wasn't a lawyer - he worked in government administration - he was always helping the more vulnerable people in our community," she says. "He was always very approachable and people would come to him if they needed help or to fill out forms. That was something I admired about him, his preparedness to help people.

"It definitely gave me a balanced perspective on life and a strong sense of social justice. As a student at UNE I mentored and tutored Indigenous students, and I'm pleased that I have been able to continue helping people in my professional career. I have tried to make justice accessible to people who might not otherwise get help."

The arts component of her studies gave Janine an understanding of "the human side - the way things are organised in society and how people operate", which she says proves useful in dispute resolution and family law work.

"I really enjoy helping people to take a collaborative approach, working with clients, their accountants and child psychologists to ensure our negotiations are more therapeutic than litigation based," she says. "The aim is to help people sort things out as calmly, quickly and cost-effectively as possible, and to arrive at arrangements that enable the individuals to rebuild their lives."

A passionate advocate for domestic violence victims, Janine is one of those rare senior lawyers who likes to take on legal aid cases, and occasionally does pro bono work "for people who have been a victim of something that I see as particularly unjust".

However, practising in the country is very different to the city. "The work is very much the same, but you are more visible in a smaller community," Janine says. "It's something you need to be conscious of - to maintain professional and personal boundaries. I take my confidentiality requirements very seriously and allow clients to decide whether they acknowledge me in the street or not. In a city you can blend in and be pretty anonymous, but here you can't."

But living and working in a close-knit community does have its advantages. "Much of my work is from referrals," Janine says. "I have had matters where I have acted for one party, the matter has been sorted out well, and then someone connected to the other party will ask me to help them. In most situations, if you can help reduce conflict and do your job objectively, people respect that.

"In the country I also think there's an opportunity for you to bring a greater sense of empathy to your work. You can be more personable and people are generally much more open with you. I get to know their family and where they fit into the community, what their story is and why certain things are important to them - especially the rural families in the area who have a long history. Some of our clients have been with the firm for generations and that's a unique part of working somewhere small like A.W. Simpson."

The practice's connections with UNE also stretch back decades. Albert Whitby Simpson's seventh child, Eustace, who followed his older brother Jack into the family business, was one of the local businesspeople who campaigned for the establishment of UNE and a conference room in Dixson Library is named in his honour.

These days, the practice takes UNE students completing their practical legal training and Janine also works as a casual marker for UNE family law lecturer Bronwen Jackman, who taught Janine herself in the 1990s. "I'd like to think that UNE students benefit from having local practitioners who know the area guide and mentor them," Janine says. "I find it very rewarding seeing law graduates make their own way in the legal profession. There is a lot to be gained by sharing life experiences as well as legal knowledge."