Chapter 2: Finding His Feet

Clerkship season for Richard was a lesson in preparation and resilience. His initial attempt was unsuccessful, a result of his disorganisation during the application period. The following year, he switched his approach, poring through the Law Student Society’s career guide, meticulously tracking deadlines and contacts on a spreadsheet. This preparation paid off, securing him multiple interviews and several clerkship offers. He admits the process wasn’t without its stumbles. ‘You're going to sit down with people and they're going to ask you questions and you're going to freak out or say something stupid. That's okay. You're going to have experiences and you'll learn from the good experiences and the bad experiences.’

After being introduced to mergers & acquisitions during his clerkships, Richard was initially drawn to this field, but after two years, the realities of the work set in. The long hours, sometimes stretching to midnight, became ‘grating’ and Richard found himself gravitating towards litigation. This led him to construction law, covering both front-end contract drafting and negotiation—‘it could be working on a design & construct contract for an apartment building, a construction-only contract for a shopping centre, a consultancy agreement, a development agreement, or an infrastructure agreement’—as well as back-end dispute resolution, sometimes taking him down to the courts. Richard notes that the choice between the two often comes down to personality: front-end work suits the ‘lover’ type who builds consensus, while the back-end is for the ‘fighter’ who thrives on argument and advocacy.

Chapter 3: The Daily Grind 

A typical day for Richard begins early, usually between 8 and 9 in the morning. He likes to tackle his big tasks first: settling a contract or finalising advice—‘something significant, intellectually’, as he puts it.

His clients come from all corners of the construction industry: builders, developers, subcontractors, owners, and consultants. ‘A whole lot of different clients, which keeps it quite dynamic and quite interesting because you're thinking about problems and issues from different perspectives, which I quite enjoy.’

No two days are ever quite the same. ‘Sometimes I'm running trials, sometimes I'm in meetings that go for multiple hours.’ For him, it’s the variety that keeps the job stimulating and has kept him passionate about the field for so long.

As a partner at Cornwalls, much of Richard’s work revolves around settling other lawyers’ drafts that land on his desk for review. ‘I'll be talking to the lawyers and giving them feedback and asking them questions and collaborating to get that work done.’ His feedback often comes down to three recurring lessons. The first is simple but easily overlooked: answer the client’s question. Junior lawyers, he notes, often have a habit of writing memos that are detailed but read like a stream of thoughts, making them difficult to use in practice. Richard likens this to the difference between lecture notes and exam notes: ‘You need to go away and actually re-cut. It’s like going from your lecture notes to your exam notes and putting them into something more useful.’

Second, Richard encourages his team to think about the purpose of their work and ‘what we are trying to achieve’. Who is the advice for? What’s the next step? What are the practical applications? Once these questions are answered, the work product can be shaped to fit that purpose.

The third lesson, and potentially the most challenging for new lawyers, is working out what really matters to the client. ‘You don't always know because you haven't been a lawyer for 15 years. You haven't worked in industry necessarily. You don't always know what matters to people. But the sooner you try and work that out for clients, the better.’ This is where Richard’s role as a mentor comes in: guiding juniors through the process and picking out the important issues to deliver better quality advice. His guiding principle? ‘People want easy-to-understand, practical advice.’

Chapter 4: The Side-Quest

In 2020, Richard’s career took an unexpected turn when a former classmate approached him about a significant human rights case, Kaplan v State of Victoria (No 8) [2023] FCA 1092. Five Jewish students from Brighton Secondary College had endured years of escalating anti-Semitic bullying and neglect from the school, prompting Federal Court proceedings. Cornwalls took on the case largely pro bono, ultimately securing a successful outcome for the students.

Though emotionally demanding, Richard’s experience dabbling in human rights law is marked by pride and passion. He encourages students drawn to the field to pursue it—but not without caution. ‘You’ve got to understand that most firms don’t do human rights work because there’s no commercial justification for doing it.’ Unlike in the US, where compensation is often substantial, Australian compensation is relatively modest, while the cost to bring a case can run into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Still, for those who are truly passionate and committed, Richard believes the work offers a reward far more valuable than money: the chance to make a meaningful impact and drive systemic change.