25 November 2008
25 November 2008: Clayton Utz lawyer Anna Rakoczy has been named Australian Young Lawyer of the Year by the Law Council of Australia (LCA).
The Australian Young Lawyer Awards are conducted annually by the Australian Young Lawyers Committee (AYLC) and recognise excellence in young lawyers and young lawyer organisations. Anna was selected as the recipient for this year's Award for Continuous and Outstanding Contribution by an Individual to the Profession and the Community. The judging panel included President of the LCA, Ross Ray QC, and the AYLC described this year's finalists as "an extremely strong calibre of nominations ".
As a senior lawyer in our Perth Litigation and Dispute Resolution team, Anna is heavily involved in the firm's pro bono program and is the Perth coordinator of the Clayton Utz Community Connect committee.
Of recent significance has been Anna's involvement in the Australian Employment Covenant (AEC) – an ambitious initiative led by the Australian Children's Trust (ACT), the Commonwealth Government and industry partners, to break the cycles of welfare dependency and poverty in Indigenous Australia. The AEC will place 50,000 Indigenous people through job-specific training in an industry of their choice, and into employment, supported by a workplace mentor. Anna drafted the legal documents which constitute the Covenant on a pro bono basis, and continues to provide pro bono legal advice to the ACT in relation to the implementation of the AEC.
Over the past two and a half years Anna has been a Committee member of True Blue Dreaming (TBD), a youth and community development program for 12 to 18 years olds living in rural and remote Australian communities. Anna has also acted as a program mentor through the TBD program.
Anna also works with the David Wirrpanda Foundation (DWF), founded by AFL football player David Wirrpanda, which aims to improve the life outcomes of Indigenous children. Anna has developed a volunteering program with DWF, in which Clayton Utz staff participate.
Through the Community Connect program Anna travelled to the Tiwi Islands earlier this year as one of a group of Clayton Utz staff to help run a holiday program with the Australian Red Cross for children in the remote Indigenous community of Milikapiti. In her role as Perth Community Connect coordinator, Anna has also coordinated and assisted in the organisation of dozens of charity events within Clayton Utz.
Finally, Anna has been an active member of the profession, having previously served as a member of the Young Lawyers Committee in Western Australia and participated in the Law Week School Talks conducted by the Law Society of Western Australia for the past three years, which involves making a presentation on legal issues to High School children.
Commenting on the award Anna said: "I am incredibly grateful for the support, opportunities and resources Clayton Utz has provided to me, which allow me both to be a commercial litigation lawyer and to pursue my passion for community development. I wish to thank in particular my supervising partner in the Perth office, Mark van Brakel and Perth community connect partner, Peter Wilkes, for their ongoing support and guidance."
Commenting on Anna's award, Clayton Utz pro bono partner David Hillard said: "Anna is passionate about working to improve the lives of young people at risk and helping to overcome disadvantage. Anna represents the very best of what a lawyer should be. She is a valuable member of our litigation team and an asset both to the firm and the legal profession as a whole. We are immensely proud of Anna's achievements."
The award tops off a highly successful year for Anna who was also named Lawyer of the Year by the Law Society of Western Australia during the State's inaugural Law Week in May and who had the opportunity to attend the launch of the AEC with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at Kirribilli House in October.
