Me and My Mentor. Norah Breekveldt
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the best possible outcome.
If you are a leader or senior decision-maker, these stories are offered to help you understand how practical leadership can make a real difference in the career development of talented women.
If you are a mentor, you are invited to learn from the journeys described and the experiences of other mentors and apply it to your own mentoring journey.
To all the readers of this book, I hope you will find much value in these stories and gain valuable insights that you can apply to your own career journey.
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1 www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/gender-pay-gap-statistics.pdf
2 www.wgea.gov.au/media-releases/australia’s-latest-gender-equality-scorecard-released
3 Ibid p. 60
4 D. Kay & R. Hinds, A Practical Guide to Mentoring, second edition, 2005, How to Books Ltd., p. IX
The Eleven Stories
‘One of the things I am good at as an institute director is being generous. And that means being generous with your time. Taking time out to mentor our young Aboriginal researchers is really important, taking time to find out about what is happening to people in the Institute and where they are going - it takes time to be generous...’
— Professor Fiona Stanley, 2010 Australian of the Year
Pat McCabe
Pat McCabe has recently retired after fifty-six years as an insurance lawyer based in Melbourne. Pat’s legal career spans common law, litigation and commercial fraud, major government inquiries and royal commissions. He was a co-author of the ‘bottom of the harbour’ taxation investigation report in 1982. He is highly respected for his grasp of statutory common law rules and procedures and state and federal governments regularly sought his advice throughout his career.
Pat had a long-standing interest in insurance and personal injury litigation. He advised the Victorian government in relation to serious injury policy in respect to the restoration of common law rights for seriously injured workers and on policy issues arising under the tort reforms and the implementation of the reforms in the Wrongs Act (VIC 1958). He was also responsible for overseeing the drafting and introduction of significant legislation in the areas of accident and injury claims, including the serious injury provisions of the Accident Compensation Act and the second reading speech for the reintroduction of common law rights.
Michelle Britbart
Michelle Britbart has been a barrister at the Victorian Bar since 2004. Before that she spent nine years as a solicitor, mainly working in personal injuries and government litigation at Dunhill Madden Butler. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2015. Michelle’s main areas of practice are common law jury trials in the areas of public liability litigation, personal injuries and other medico-legal matters. She undertook a Master’s in Health and Medical Law at Melbourne University and holds a Graduate Diploma in Genetic Counselling from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne.
Pat’s story
My journey has been one that doesn’t have many comparatives. I did my degree part time working in the state Crown Solicitor’s office and then the Parliamentary draftsman office, went to the bar, left and became a senior partner in a major law firm, in the course of which, due to a conflict of interest issue in the firm, I became a sole practitioner for a time before returning. That breadth of experience gave me an appreciation of the different skill sets required in each area of practice.
The snuffbox of power
I spent my first ten years in the Crown. I firstly worked in the criminal law branch, instructing the prosecutors—including Bidstrup, Moloney, Mullally, Moore and Byrne—in the criminal courts of general sessions, now the County Court. Each day I would witness the best criminal lawyers arguing the principles of evidence. It was inspiring to see the great names—Cullity QC, Gillespie-Jones QC, Galbally, Dunn, Walker, Bryson, Reid and Gray—in action. The one setback was that the position did not permit attendance at lectures. One day in 1965 John Finemore QC, the Parliamentary Counsel, invited me to his office. He opened, ‘I just want to inform you that your record is the worst of all the part time lawyers in the crown. But what it reveals is that you’ve been out after dark, and that’s the role. So I’m going to nominate you for Secretary of the Standing Committee of Commonwealth and States Attorneys.’ He elaborated that Attorney General Sir Arthur Rylah was keen to control the agenda of the committee and prevent a takeover by the triangle of power in Canberra. The Committee was what I call the snuffbox of power, where law and politics collided. It was an enormously dynamic group including all the attorneys, their senior officers, and officers of the states. It was responsible for the creation of the Uniform Companies Acts and the Petroleum OffShore Lands legislation. From time to time I’d be requested to draft bills for the committee. I drafted Australia’s first privacy bill, the Listening Devices Act.
I completed my articles under the Crown Solicitor in the Common Law. The white ribbon briefs where only delivered to the those who where eminent and highly ethical in the fairness of presentation of the Crown case.I was able to instruct counsel such as Jack Winneke and Stephen Charles whose later achievements underline my good fortune in being able to learn from them.
I decided I would go to the bar from there, but a call from Rob Elder of Madden Butler and Graham, the predecessor firm of Dunhill Madden Butler, persuaded me to join the firm in the insurance group. As most litigation involves insurance I recognised the offer was an opportunity. Four years later I finally got to the bar and had the privilege of reading with two of the most eminent common law counsel in Sher QC, who took silk whilst I was his reader, and then Stanley QC. I was at the bar for eight years and authored the highly controversial McCabe-La Franchi ‘bottom of the harbour’ report into tax evasion (1982). The findings of that report and the Costigan report created a public and political furore about tax evasion. The profile wasn’t comfortable for me—there were threats to La Franchi and myself. Dunhill Madden Butler then offered me a partnership, I thought ‘why not, it’s a safe place out of the spotlight I’ll go back there for five years.’ Ultimately five years stretched to thirty-five years, with a brief gap in the middle when I set up my own firm, McCabe’s. This was necessary as I was acting for a person of interest in the Ambulance Services Royal Commission in 2000, when my firm merged with Deacons who were the solicitors to the Royal Commission. I came back to Deacons as a partner at the conclusion of the commission in 2003.
My work focus changed to delivery of litigation services to the Victorian Government and medical defence.I retired as a partner in 2009 and continued as a consultant to the government on the Bushfires Royal Commission and then assisted Nicole Wearne and Abigail McGregor in the defence of the claims against the State.Finally retiring in 2016 after a fifty-four-year career that created a truly rewarding life enriched by a legacy of friendships such Michelle.
Moments that changed me
John Finemore QC influenced me more than anyone else. He was a superlative draftsman and a brilliant lawyer. During his time 4600 bills were passed. He strongly believed in providing greater opportunities for women in the law. He ignored the barriers to married women being appointed permanent public servants and employed women lawyers even though they were banned in the Crown Solicitors office and unknown in other parts of the public service. He was years ahead of his time. John regarded women as superior in abstract reasoning and to be trusted to deliver. Women had the strength of mind to accept the greatest