When did you start?
November 2021
Position?
Senior Associate
What attracted you to Ai Group Workplace Lawyers?
It’s got a great reputation in the industry as being a leader in terms of important issues facing employers but also the work is so broad, which I found appealing.
How do you hope to develop professionally at Ai Group Workplace Lawyers?
My goal is to get as much experience as I can in all facets of employment law. It’s a relatively big space that we play in, and there are lots of different issues that can come up. The work we do is just so broad, and we’ve got members from all different industries. I don’t know that if you were to go to other firms that they would have work as varied as Ai Group Workplace Lawyers.
How is it going so far?
I’ve already learnt and done so much in a short period of time. It’s such a great place to work and everyone is so supportive and friendly.
It’s also a bonus to work somewhere where work-life balance is valued. A lot of top-tier law firms don’t necessarily have that as a priority. Here, you can have your cake and eat it, too. You get interesting work, but you’re not completely run off your feet working ridiculous hours.
It’s been great.
What were you doing prior to joining Ai Group Workplace Lawyers?
I worked with the Fair Work Ombudsman for 11 years before coming here and was lucky enough to work on some really interesting and complex litigation matters. The work at the FWO was quite niche, though, so one of the reasons I wanted to come to Ai Group Workplace Lawyers was to broaden my experience. Here, there’s the litigation aspect, but there’s a whole lot more, including advice, helping employers through the day-to-day issues that arise when running a business, unfair dismissals/general protection claims and enterprise agreements.
How do you unwind?
I’m a sucker for reality TV, which I probably shouldn’t be admitting, but I will. You can just switch off when you watch trash TV. Married At First Sight, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette — all of those sorts of shows. I like to keep up with them. I also love bad 80s action movies, so I've probably seen every movie with Stallone or Van Damme in it.
Family is important to me, so in my spare time, my husband and I try to do as much as we can with our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who keeps us very busy.
Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at the Australian Industry Group. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a reporter, features writer, contributor and sub-editor for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK.
