Tilé and Olly Meets

The absolutely astute and admirable Arlou Arteta shares some of her story, practice experience and wisdom with us. At the time of recording this episode, Arlou was special counsel with the Racial Justice Centre. However, she has recently transitioned to the role of Education Lead at the Racial Justice Centre. She is a lawyer with extensive experience in anti-discrimination, employment and human rights law. She has over 10 years of experience as a lawyer across private practice, government, community legal centres and Legal Aid Commissions across Australia. Arlou has experience advising and acting on behalf of complainants who have experienced sexual harassment, race, disability and other forms of discrimination in various Commissions, Tribunals and Courts. Arlou is also a lecturer in employment law and recently conducted an anti-racism consultancy with the United Nations. Arlou really takes us deep in this episode and we are so excited for you to hear it. Our conversation traverses steps or strategies if you are experiencing harassment or abuse in the workplace, the challenges of DEI as a framework from an anti-racist perspective, and finding belonging in a fluid and always moving profession by calling-in community. We felt really privileged to hear and learn from her. Please consider donating to the Racial Justice Centre at the following link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=2RAYVEEU2VUFC&amount=20

In this episode, we sit down with the affable and knowledgeable, Cate Heyworth-Smith KC. She hails from Brisbane, and grew up around the law. She followed her father’s footsteps by taking up the call to the bar, a vocation she has undertaken with grace and charisma for her entire adult life. She also moonlights as a comedian and keynote speaker, her witty and eloquent personality shines through this episode. No wonder she is regularly sought out by associations, such as the Women’s Legal Association of Qld (WLAQ), the bar, and a few others to provide professional & comical relief at events as Master of Ceremonies. She is at the time of publishing this episode, the Vice-President of the Queensland Bar Association. Cate Heyworth-Smith KC has general civil and commercial practice in areas including commercial property, financial services litigation, insolvency, equity and trusts, intellectual property, insurance law, and succession and estates. She is especially interested in the use of equitable remedies in commercial matters and their impact in insolvency. We loved meeting with Cate back in April of this year! Like many great lawyers, she is an excellent storyteller, and she shares some great stories in this episode. Our discussions traverse the topics of self-care at the bar, the intersection of our role as custodians of conflict with our sense of belonging in the profession, and her beautiful answer to the question if she dreams big for the future. If you have been considering going to the bar and not sure where to start, this episode is a great starting point as Cate takes us through those steps.

When we recorded this episode back in February, we had no idea it would end up getting published, fortuitously, we think, on Reconciliation Week. You are in for a treat as we meet with not one, but two leading Australian barristers, Joshua Creamer and Melia Benn. Their accolades are many (and we try to provide a snapshot below), but they are truly down to earth individuals and we really enjoyed our yarn. Joshua Creamer Joshua is a descendant of the Waanyi and Kalkadoon people from North Western Queensland. Joshua is a barrister who specialises in human rights class actions and native title. He was previously a member of the Board of Legal Aid Queensland and a past President of the Indigenous Lawyers Association of Queensland. Joshua is ranked in Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific and Doyle’s Guide for his work in the native title jurisdiction. In 2017, Joshua was the recipient of the National Indigenous Legal Professional of the Year Award. In September 2023 he was appointed as a Commissioner of the Queensland Law Reform Commission. He has recently been appointed as the Chair of the Truth Telling and Healing Inquiry in Queensland. Melia Benn Melia is Mamu and Gunggandji. She is one of only two Aboriginal women barristers practicing at the Queensland Bar. She grew up in Far North Queensland and was called to the Bar in 2018. Melia has a dual practice in both Endeavour Chambers, Cairns and Aspect Chambers, Brisbane. She has a broad practice in Class Action proceedings including advocating for First Nations People, Coronial Inquests, Discrimination and Human Rights matters. Melia is a sessional legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. In 2021, Melia was awarded the Australian Lawyers Alliance’s Queensland Civil Justice Award, which recognises individuals or organisations who have displayed an outstanding commitment to the pursuit of justice. In 2023, Melia was awarded the Outstanding Indigenous Alumni Award by James Cook University.

Let us introduce you to our guest of the week, the magnetic and astute, Alex Ladd. Alex Ladd (pronouns he/him) is a human rights lawyer and advocate based in Brisbane. He graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (extended major in International Relations), and in 2020 he completed his Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law. Alex has experience in the disability, LGBTQI+ and elder law spaces, and spent almost three years at the recently concluded Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of Persons with Disability. He currently is a lawyer in the Seniors Legal and Support Service at Caxton Legal Centre – a community legal centre with a four-decade history of supporting Queenslanders to improve their access to justice. Alex proudly identifies as a member of the LGBTQI+ community, and has lived with a vision impairment from birth and is blind in his right eye. Alex was recently fortunate to attend as part of Australia’s Civil Society delegation to the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of People with Disability, held at the UN Headquarters in New York City. He is also a one-time Tony Award attendee. Emphasis on that last sentence! We both truly believe that Alex is destined to do some incredible things in his career and felt inspired by his insights and perspectives as an early career lawyer. His life experiences certainly teaches us a lot of lessons about the art of ‘pushing back’ and the importance of dialogue and communication as an important feature of inclusion. Digressions in this episode include the origin of Alex’s surname, his funny life footnotes like his very brief dream to become a French pastry chef or his expertise as a film critic.

We had the absolute pleasure to meet with Brenda Milo (née Siaosi) on the lands of Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. Brenda is a lawyer who has specialised in environmental law, planning, infrastructure and public/administrative law for almost 18 years - first in New Zealand (NZ) and now in Sydney. Born in Samoa, she was raised as the middle child of five sisters and a brother in a working class, provincial New Zealand town, and now a proud resident of Western Sydney. Brenda works as a Principal Lawyer and Manager - Legal for the NSW Government’s primary environment regulator. Brenda is also a mother to two young children, including one with complex special needs, and shares full time carer responsibilities for her parents and in-laws with her husband, Talamau John Milo. Brenda wears many flowers in her flower crown – she is in the inaugural president of the Pacific Legal Association of New South Wales, co-lead alongside Trina Faaiuaso (PLAQ President, and former podcast guest!) to co-create the Pasefika Lawyers Collective, Board Director and Company Secretary for the Pacific Professionals Network, co-founder of the Pasefika Autism Village Support Group and official observer for the Aotearoa Pacific Practitioners Group. We had a very wholehearted conversation with Brenda filled with many laughs and reflections. Some wonderful digressions include about humility as a Samoan value, motherhood, and her connection to the Misadventures of a Pacific Professional webisodes.

In this episode, we sit down with powerful and passionate advocate, Sarah Ibrahim. Sarah is a commercial and human rights lawyer, and humanitarian of Egyptian descent. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics and a Bachelor of Laws. She has over 15 years of civil and human rights law experience resolving legal issues for clients through advice and litigation. Sarah is the founder and principal of Central Lawyers Pty Ltd. Central Lawyers’ focus is commercial law for all small to medium businesses based in Sydney. Transforming her personal experience of racism and discrimination in the workplace, Sarah founded the Racial Justice Centre with other like-minded individuals. The Racial Justice Centre is an incorporated community legal service that offers pro-bono and low bono legal help with the aim of reducing systemic injustices. It is the first community legal centre of its kind dedicated to racial justice. Sarah is passionate about social justice, human rights, equality, and advocating for the marginalised, particularly women from culturally and racially marginalised backgrounds. Sarah discusses anti-racism, and she shares candidly about her lived experiences growing up in Sydney and the ways her critical consciousness was raised throughout her life. A highlight for us is when she flips the script on what 'belonging' means to her that we found really insightful.

SEASON 2 IS HERE! Welcome to Season 2 of Tilé & Olly Meets – Traversing Inclusion and belonging. In this premiere episode of our second season, we had the absolute privilege of inviting the sensational Sarah-Elke Kraal to help us kick off our new season. In this episode, we reflect on Season 1 with lots of laughs and gratitude, but also look forward with hope and anticipation for this brand new season. When we recorded this episode, we hadn’t quite landed on our season sub-title, but we knew it would be about inclusion and belonging. Sarah is a joy to work with, and she certainly kept us on our toes in this episode. Her energy and effervescence was just the perfect breath of fresh air we needed to set our intentions and open the chapter for this new season. If you haven’t come across her before (then where have you been?), Sarah-Elke Kraal is a lawyer, writer, and professional development disruptor. She is a prolific podcaster, having created and produced two legally-focused shows so far (“The Brief Case” and “Sh!t They Don’t Teach You at Law School” – both available on Apple and Spotify); and the go-to authority on all things CPD and CLE in Australia. Find her, follow her, admire her and shower her with love on IG @sarahelke, LinkedIn or visit sarahelke.com.

It is our season finale! Can you believe? Thank you for joining us once again. We were so excited to have the opportunity to speak with the self-professed iced latte afficionado and fantastic human, Trent Wallace. Trent is a Wongaibon person raised on Darkinjung Country, and has a background working in the community legal sector, government and education. Combining both legal and First Nations lived experience, Trent drives First Nations initiatives across the firm and provides thought leadership and education around cultural safety and awareness. Working across the social justice sector and corporate Australia, Trent seeks to embed key cultural considerations to create meaningful change for First Nations Peoples. In this work, Trent collaborates with a wide variety of clients to develop and execute First Nations initiatives. Trent offers cultural awareness education and advice on how to work effectively with clients and also collaborates with People & Culture on programmes of attraction and retention to First Nations employees. As a lawyer, Trent is able to identify and mitigate risks to reputation through building a strong foundation of strategies to support cultural awareness. Trent is Co-Chair of the Legal Profession Reconciliation Network and is on the Executive Committee of Just Reinvest NSW. In addition to these roles, Trent is also a Director of Metro Arts (QLD), Editorial Board Member for LexisNexis, Advisor to the Starlight Children's Foundation, Advisor to the Board of ActionAid Australia and is a lecturer in law and First Nations Peoples.

In this episode, we sit down with the indelible Rachel G. Barnard - our first non-lawyer guest, but a beautiful human with a heart for justice and equity. Rachel is a speaker and facilitator who has designed 100s of sessions for 1,000s of people to step into their greatness and contribute powerfully to the world around them.  As the founder of Young New Yorkers (YNY) she created the first arts-based Alternative-To-Incarceration program in NYC and assisted over 1,400 young people to exit the criminal legal system without an adult criminal record. In this role she partnered with—and created programs for—multiple criminal legal agencies including the Center of Court Innovation, Kings County DA's Office, NYC Department of Probation, and the New York Police Department. Over the decade Rachel led YNY she took it from a one-off project, to building it to be a go-to restorative sentencing option in NYC with a $1 million annual budget. Rachel has been acknowledged in the media and received awards and fellowships. She holds a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. Digressions in this episode include the role of public art as a dialogue, ego, Rachel's favourite kind of jokes, and many insights into the power of partnership and collaboration with diverse communities to make social justice a reality. We are so grateful for the opportunity to meet with Rachel and to have the opportunity to hear from her practice wisdom and heart.

In this episode, we meet with emerging leader, and lawyer, Elizabeth Aisi (Liz). Liz was admitted as a lawyer in December 2022 after completing her Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland. In this episode, she shares about how she has worked towards building a career focussed on human rights. She was a co-founder of the ⁠University of Queensland's Human Rights Case Law Project⁠, a resource that collates 'case notes' for case law that mention Queensland's Human Rights Act. She has then paved a career for herself at Caxton Legal Centre, initially as a paralegal within Caxton's Bail Service, and later the family law service, to eventually being promoted to a solicitor within Caxton's Seniors Legal and Support Service. Digressions in this episode include Liz's impersonation of a line from her favourite movie, Liz's open-mindedness framework, what it was like growing up in New York, and the impact of "micro-aggressions". With nearly one year post admission experience under her belt, the sky is the limit for Liz, and we think she is a lawyer to keep an eye on! We definitely left this meeting feeling energised, and we know you will too!