Me and My Mentor. Norah Breekveldt
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the business of the government of the day. He proudly proclaimed the intellect of women with these abilities provided security of good laws for the state. During my time in the Parliamentary Counsel’s office, John brought in Jan Wade, who later became Attorney General, Rowena Armstrong QC who later succeeded John as Parliamentary Counsel and the present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Marilyn Warren, amongst others.
One of the reflections of my early career was that there was no such thing as structured mentoring. Often I had to work out by myself whatever the purpose was and create a pathway to get it done.
And time was of the essence. So energy levels were demanded which are normally not required in every job. When Finemore instructed me to create the first privacy bill in Australia there were no drafting instructions. Rather it was research English and American legislation and draft a bill for the committee to debate. Another example was when Sir Daryl Dawson QC, our Solicitor General, and Haddon Storey, the Attorney General, met with me in relation to the appointment as an investigator into the ‘bottom of the harbour’ schemes. I said ‘where do I start?’ and Sir Daryl replied, ‘with a blank sheet of knowledge’. The absence of structured mentoring was such that at times in my career I felt I was running matters about which I was totally inexperienced. I can remember running a Wrongs Act claim in 1970 without knowing how to assess a Wrongs Act claim. I learned by trial and error and bluff. I hope I passed on the importance of self-confidence and bluff in my mentoring. Building self-confidence in your lawyers and being able to commence your letter of advice with ‘In my opinion’; that’s the thing. You’ve got to develop the confidence that comes with a positive mindset and believing that we are all equal in and before the law. And that was clearly something I learned from being in the Crown where I could go down the corridor at the same time as the Deputy Premier and the Attorney or Solicitor General. As a result, I would always assert to my young lawyers that they should never be overawed by any opponent.
Building a team of fearless advocates
I had one rule in life—to give to my team members what I would have hoped to have had at the same time in my career. Young lawyers often have a fear or under-assessment of their own skill set or potential. But they need to see themselves as equals with older practitioners and have a go. Having been at the bar it was always foremost in my mind that every member of my team would have the capacity to appear in court, and develop the confidence to address the court and deal with whatever the other party is going to raise. And eighty percent of what the other party was going to raise would not be contained in their affidavit of support. So you’ve got to be well prepared and intuitive in your ability to respond on your feet.
Frankly, insurance law is a ‘non-sexy’ area. It is not the kind of practice where you could go home to your family and say ‘I’m doing the next big commercial deal and Freehills are opposed to me!’ So I had to make ‘working with Pat’ something that was attractive. If you say ‘insurance’ it sounds boring but we were dealing with people and acting for the Transport Accident Commission or the VWA. We developed a strong ethical standard that became recognised and well regarded. I wanted to be seen as leading a group who were regarded by their opponents as fair but hard and be rated by the client as the best service providers on the panel. Part of my hyperbole was to say, ‘work with me for a year and I will make you a lawyer with at least three to five years’ experience at the end of it. You will be able to leave me and go out into any other field of litigation and be immediately competent to a level of seventy percent, you will then have the chance to pick up the other fifteen percent’. None of us get beyond that.
Altered states of mind
The 1980s was an era when diversity was all of a sudden no longer the elephant in the room. People were asking ‘how can we get women into the partnership?’ In the ’90s we had a young chief executive partner in David Nathan. David wanted a firm with people who had had exposure to life outside the law, and he wanted more women in the firm. But frankly, there were some people in the firm who initially found it hard to work with a woman. Human Resources would ring me and ask, ‘Pat can I send someone down to you?’ And they’d arrive with a Kleenex box. I think we had to have two in a room for a while because I had so many in the team. And it was in an era when the TAC would give me as much work as I could handle, so that was great.
There were a few barristers who also had difficulty accepting women instructing in matters. They would say things like ‘I don’t want to deal with you’, ‘get Pat up here.’ I even wrote two letters to different silks informing them that their conduct was inappropriate, and if I had another report about them I would inform the bar council. That worked. How to manage your counsel is an art, particularly when settlement offer and counter offer are not far apart. I instilled into the team that the instructing solicitor, no matter their level of experience, is the most important part of the process in court, they’re the ones who give instructions to counsel, not take instructions from counsel, and any developments in instructions were made by the solicitor consequential upon making a recommendation to the client.
McCabe’s wisdom
I regarded annual performance reviews as a sterile process. I preferred personal bi-monthly coffees, lunches or whatever with each member of the team; I’d take them out of the office and we’d sit down and enjoy the moment. I understood about people’s need for diversity or part-time work or trying new things. I had someone who wanted to be a stand-up comedian for two days a week, and someone else who was an author and producer of plays. So I would help where I could to enable them to combine their hobby and their career. Likewise, with women requiring flexible hours or days. The ideal was to achieve the best outcome and realise potential in all endeavours. I would tell the team that I understood that all of them would one day leave but that did not alter my regard for them or my willingness to help them. Otherwise anyone who wanted my chair was free to apply—they just had to beat me to the desk at 6am.
I can remember having a lunch with Michelle and saying, ‘Tontini-Filippini is the only ethicist in the state, and he presents a very Catholic view on all ethical matters. I see you as having the potential to develop a role in ethics, and you could be the next go-to ethicist lawyer in this state. So I want you to push by getting into the medical field,’ where the big ethical issues were.
I used Sir Daryl Dawson’s ‘blank sheet of knowledge’ philosophy, and I also had other phrases I used, like ‘bare desk energy’. That means you can get energy out of a bare desk, because it’s there to be filled. In other words, you should never be afraid of not having any work. It creates some momentum; people will find you and realise you’re available. Another is ‘going into a tunnel where there’s no light at all’ and ‘finding a pathway to use your ideas’. These were strategies to deal with the need to be positive no matter. As mentor you’ve got to be able to develop those notions as part of building confidence. Even in the face of superior court precedent I would say, unless it is a decision of the High Court, find a point of difference. I had no involvement in Michelle’s plans to join the bar but I remember telling her ‘I expect you to apply. To be a leader for women it’s very important that you take the next step.’
I think mentoring as understood today is more a management tool of this century, just as leading and managing people was the phrase for the last century. This century there is an expectation that a mentor will provide a structured process. My approach was more tilted to the deep end experience with support. In my group I had cells led by members with expertise in particular fields, for example, medical or the AMA guides, drafting and VCAT. The team rotated and were then given active roles in preparation of advices and appearances in court at directions hearings and at conferences. They would then be thrown in the deep end with my assurance that I would be holding them by the hair and never let them drown. There is an enormous gap between someone being a very competent student with a great degree, and being successful in practice, so it’s an extraordinary privilege being their mentor; to be presented with a lot of plastic and putty, and effectively create the pillars for their careers and love of the law.
Although it was a privilege to be a mentor, I also did it because I had a personal advantage in being able to build a team who were loyal and were fantastic in the way they delivered their advices. When you come into a law firm it’s not good to learn by happenstance and working it out. You’ve