The Victorian Asian Australian Lawyers Association launched its annual Mentoring Program 2019 at Herbert Smith Freehills’s offices on 21 February 2019. Mentoring programs were launched simultaneously at AALA branches in NSW, WA and QLD.

This year, the Victorian AALA’s mentoring program has over 50 participants with mentors who are from the judiciary, barristers and partners and senior associates of law firms. The mentees include graduate lawyers and junior lawyers from government departments and commercial and personal injury law firms.

In Victoria, we had the great privilege of hearing from keynote speaker, the Hon. Chief Justice Anne Ferguson of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The Chief Justice spoke of the importance of cultural diversity, particularly amongst the senior ranks of the legal profession. She noted the current underrepresentation of people from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds in those ranks. Her Honour encouraged using mentoring as an invaluable mechanism for addressing this issue by providing access to knowledge and opportunities to those who don’t necessarily have it. She acknowledged AALA’s important work on this front.

AALA thanks the Chief Justice for speaking to our members and sends its best wishes to this year’s mentoring relationships so that they are fruitful and enduring. #aala #culturaldiversity #mentoring