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In this week’s episode of the ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life Podcast’ I had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Laura Spalding, lawyer, creative and lover of fish and chips!  Laura is a commercial lawyer working at Law Squared- a firm I have loved watching grow these past few years.  I fell across Laura last year when she was the President of The Legal Forecast here in Queensland.  It is no secret that I am a huge supporter of everything The Legal Forecast are up to and so I was keen to learn more about their (now former) Qld President.  This interview did not disappoint.

Laura is clearly a considered, intelligent woman.  She loves being a lawyer but it hasn’t always been that way and in this conversation Laura shared very honestly how she has had to work hard to find her place in the law.  This is a timely conversation in our industry but helpfully Laura’s lived experience of finding her way from Law Clerk to Grad to now the world of #Newlaw just reminded me again that there are many different ways to be a lawyer- there is no right or wrong but there is space for all of us to find our place in law.

I loved chatting with Laura.  She had me laughing, thinking and dreaming of fish and chips!  We talked soft furnishings (Check out wework!) travel and of course law- lots about life in the law.

In this interview, Laura and I also chatted about-

• If Laura was not a lawyer she would have been an artist or something creative!
• The importance of creativity in our law life.
• Growing up near Lake Macquarie in NSW, Laura attended boarding school from age 16 and then moved back to Brisbane once she graduated.
• Laura’s experience of boarding school and how she found herself studying law.
• After writing a letter to her local council about a bus stop, her passion for arguing and writing began.
• The contrast between the study of law and the practice of law.
• Laura attended Griffith University but didn’t necessarily love the study of law.
• Laura however fell in love with the practice of law and started working in a law firm early in her studies.
• Laura’s experience early in her career- the bits she loved and the parts she struggled with.
• Her work with The Legal Forecast and how that opened up opportunities to different ways of practicing law that Laura hadn’t previously known were available to her.
• Laura was The President of the Legal Forecast in 2018 and shares her experience in leading the Qld branch of this amazing volunteer organisation.
• Laura has found her happiness in working at a firm that was consistent with who she is as a person at Law Squared- she described the mix in her work now, from law to marketing to sales to product development.
• Laura helped to launch ‘Cubed‘ which provides legal essentials for Startup Law firms.
• Fixed Fees, casual work attire, and co-working spaces are some of the aspects of Law Squared that Laura had to adjust to.
• When Laura is not a lawyer she loves boxing, the beach and is learning to play the piano (oh and fish and chips!  Yep I can’t get past the fish and chips!)
• Happiness comes from finding out what your values are and then living to them.
• Laura’s Happiness Tip.

Sit back and enjoy this interview with Laura Spalding

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Learn more here about upcoming events and courses and connect with Clarissa Rayward at the ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life’ knowledge centre-  A community for lawyers who want to make the best out of their life in and outside of the law.   

Listen to last week’s episode here