When Ben Wilkie switched careers from academia to law, he was able to study and eventually work in his regional hometown thanks to ACAP’s flexible online Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (GDLP), a Practical Legal Training (PLT) program.
When Ben Wilkie switched careers to law, he wasn’t living in a metropolitan legal hub or working for a big-city firm. He was in Ballarat, raising a family and juggling the many responsibilities that come with everyday life in regional Victoria.
“I got to a point where I was just ready for a change,” Ben said.
“I’d always had an interest in the law, and I decided it was time to finally pursue it.”
Ben’s professional life started in a completely different world, working as a historian and university lecturer. He had spent years immersed in research and teaching but decided he wanted to pursue a profession where he could make a different kind of impact on people’s lives.
The decision to retrain as a lawyer while supporting a young family in regional Victoria was challenging, and after completing his studies at university he was thrilled to find ACAP’s GDLP program.
The program is not only offered in partnership with the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) but also offers flexible remote learning.
“By the time I’d finished my law degree, I had three children under six, and I was working full time,” he said. “Flexibility was really important to me, I needed to be able to juggle all of that.”
“Being able to do things remotely with ACAP made a huge difference for me; I didn’t have to uproot my life or move to the city, I got to stay in Ballarat and still pursue a legal career which was such a huge help.”
For Ben this wasn’t just important from a personal standpoint. He believes the regions need well-trained and skilled lawyers to fairly represent all Australians in the legal system.
“I think it’s really important that people can study and stay in regional towns,” he said. “I think we need to keep good professionals in the regions, because otherwise we lose people to the city.”
Despite studying remotely and online, ACAP’s course structure ensured that Ben never felt disconnected from his teachers or fellow students.
“One of the things that I really enjoyed about the ACAP GDLP was the weekly meetups and the feeling of being part of a close-knit student cohort,” he said.
"By the end of the degree I knew the mentors really well because I had a lot of regular interaction with them. It was good to have that personalised experience, that helped sustain me to stay engaged and focused on the course."
He was also inspired by the hands-on and practical approach to legal education at ACAP, which saw his cohort engaging in applied tasks from day one.
“Even if it was over Zoom, we’d all get together and do a mock court appearance, or a pretend negotiation,” he said.
“Those face-to-face experiences were really fun, and really valuable when I started to work as a lawyer, because they gave me a better sense of the real-life, day to day experiences of a lawyer.”
Publishing with the LIV
The partnership with the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) was a huge drawcard for Ben when it came to choosing ACAP.
Through the GDLP, Ben got the opportunity to write an article for the LIV’s Young Lawyers Editorial Committee, successfully pitching and publishing an article on wills and estate planning among the younger generation.
The article was inspired by the real people he saw day to day in his work as a paralegal, and his realisation that the somewhat confronting area of law is often overlooked by younger Australians.
“Young people don’t often think about estate planning because we’re talking about people dying and young people don’t think about that too often,” he says.
“But it’s important to have an estate plan in place. A lot of young people don’t have a will, and sometimes the worst happens. When a young person dies without a will, it can make things much harder for their family.”
Publishing with the LIV so early in his career was a feather in Ben’s cap and helped him forge professional connections.
“That was a really good experience,” he said.
“I put pen to paper, and I had the LIV’s editors helping me out. It was great to see it in print eventually, it felt like a real accomplishment.”
Since graduating, Ben has gone on to become a practicing lawyer and, in a full-circle moment, he has returned to the LIV to join the committee he originally published through.
Ben said that his journey to his thriving legal career was helped immeasurably by his time at ACAP.
“I would thoroughly recommend the ACAP GDLP program,” he said.
"It is flexible, you'll get to know your mentors and fellow students and it's personalised. There are opportunities to delve into areas of law that you might not have had experience of and there are networking opportunities, especially with connections to the LIV."
Interested in studying ACAP’s GDLP? Visit our website: PLT Course | Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice | Enrol Now