I am an Associate at Craddock Murray Neumann Lawyers.
After finishing high school, I commenced a Commerce/Law double degree at Macquarie University and graduated in 2008. At university, I lived on campus at Dunmore Lang Residential College. This was an excellent opportunity to make new friends and be more involved in university activities. I was a Resident Tutor at the college and on the executive of the university business club (the Economics, Commerce and Finance Society).
After I completed my degree, I commenced as a graduate at the Australian Taxation Office. At the end of the time that I was in the ATO, I was the Manager of the Sydney team responsible for determining taxation objections lodged by High Wealth Individual taxpayers.
After having been at the ATO for a period of time, I decided that it was time to gain experience outside the ATO and to broaden my skill set. I commenced a role at mid-tier accounting firm Crowe Horwath Australia where I gained considerable experience providing tax advice to taxpayers on numerous issues primarily affecting small and medium size enterprises and high wealth individuals.
I have been in my current role at Craddock Murray Neumann Lawyers for about ten months. The position was advertised as a Tax and Insolvency Litigation Lawyer role and I was attracted by the opportunity to further develop my litigation experience.
My responsibilities are acting for clients in tax litigation matters in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. I also represent clients in insolvency matters by providing them with advice and appearing in various State and Federal Courts.
I regularly draft legal documents, including deeds and affidavits. I also frequently appear in Court. In one morning last week, I appeared in both the Supreme Court of NSW and the Federal Court within a short period of time and had to prepare detailed submissions for both matters.
An accounting degree in addition to law is helpful in my role, as I regularly look at financial statements and deal with financial information.
You need attention to detail and a desire to continuously learn. Tax law in particular is continuously changing. However, making the effort to stay on top of developments can be very rewarding.
Winning a case or obtaining a favourable decision can be quite exhilarating. It is also nice to get favourable feedback!
The role can occasionally be quite stressful. While I don’t generally do a great deal of work on weekends, the week is always quite busy and the hours can be long.