Tommy says…

Travel tip #13: Three scams to be avoided at all costs:
- the Gypsy woman/girl who asks “do you speak English”?
- the Gypsy woman/girl who hangs around the station ticket machine
- the String Man

Continental Europe can be a pretty crap place if you get caught up by a scammer. These are three of my pet peeves.

“Do you speak English?” – This is almost definitely a bad sign on the streets of continental Europe, especially when asked by females dressed in colourful rags. Don’t respond. I did, once, back when I was a naive little Aussie on his first trip to Europe. The lady in question quickly clutched my arm and shoved a postcard in my face: it read “I’m a poor widowed mother of eight pitiful orphaned girls from Bosnia, all the men in the family were brutally disembowelled before my very eyes. I have been diagnosed with cancer of the ovulus and need a lump of money just to buy my daily bread…” or something along those lines. The truth is, these people are Gypsies, not war refugees. They are well organised and they are very, very good at what they do. The best response is simply to feign deafness – easier to pull off when you are Asian. Answering “no” – in English – is probably the dumbest response.

Ticket machine scam – The more industrious Gypsy drifter works in one of two ways. Some loiter around station ticket booths and ticket machines, and offer to help you buy your ticket for you. They will then ask for a few Euros for their troubles. Not a good deal for the traveller, since all ticket machines in Western Europe have an English language option, and in any case the station staff (at least in the cities) are highly trained, very helpful, and speak English. The second, more resourceful variety, we saw in Geneva, and features an old lady who holds a stored-value ticket at a ticket machine, and offers to buy a ticket for you. I don’t know where she got her where she got the stored-value ticket from, but this is an even worse deal for the traveller, because Geneva has a scheme where all hotel/hostel guests receive free public transport. It is a little sad that these people are “working” in these trades, when they are obviously quite bright and speak English quite well. Perhaps if there weren’t such prejudice against Gypsies, they’d be able to make a living in a job that doesn’t depend on fraud.

The String Man – If the “I’m Bosnian rescue me” scam is just annoying, and the ticket machine scam is at least a fee for a service, then the String Man is downright dangerous. The scam works like this. The African man (they are usually black) approaches you, offers to tie a string around your wrist “for good luck” – then demands 5 euros to take it off. “Just walk away”, you are thinking, right? The reason the String Man is dangerous, is because he is not reluctant to use force – first grabbing your arm or bag if you try to ignore him, then blocking your way if you try to walk away. The antidote? I saw it firsthand in Milan. A group of String Men were pestering tourists on the square before the Duomo (cathedral), when a bunch of young mafia bloods spotted them and approached them. The String Men dropped everything and fled – ran – out of the square. It’s great. After the Carabinieri (national military-police) and the Polizia (provincial and specialist police), the Mafia is pretty much the third police force for maintaining public order.

Until next time,

Tommy

P.S. my bear does not appear in this post because I thoughtlessly left him in Florence during this leg of the trip. He will return for the next leg of the journey.

Events, Random thoughts, Travels

Travel tip #11: Four ways to survive in a foreign country with little or no skills:
- busking
- working as toilet attendant
- begging
- loiter around free food stalls

The busker: Italy doesn’t seem to have the strict busking licensing laws of, say, London, so buskers are everywhere. Some make an effort – the guy who’s painted all in gold posing in front of the Uffizi Gallery looked the part – kind of. It’s a pity that his white sneakers sneaked out and somewhat ruined the effect. The smartest busker, though, was one who set down a set of stereos, put on some opera, and walked away. Passers-by still dropped coins for him.

The toilet attendant: A job for candidates who have some proficiency with a mop and look good in a tux. A German phenomenon, a toilet attendant keeps a public toilet in a reasonable state of cleanliness, and in return gets to stand at the door and demand 50 euro cents off each person who comes in. Most of them are plump matrons, though there was one man in Berlin immaculately turned out in a waistcoat and dress shirt, who looked like he could have been a concert pianist.

The beggar: To the Tube carriage in London: “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. I apologise in advance for disturbing your journey. Times are tough for us all, and I am looking for a little something to get through these times. So if you have any change, or any food or drinks left over from lunch, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your kind help.” — delivered with confidence and clarity, and highly effective. Almost everyone in the carriage gave him something – money or a sandwich.

The food stand: The best ice cream I’ve had on this trip? Ferrero’s frozen grain dessert, free at Milan station from a promotional stand, not yet available in Australia and probably never will be. If you plan strategically around promotional samples, you can easily survive for a day without spending a cent!

Until next time,

Tommy

Random facts, Random thoughts, Travels

Enoch has kindly credited me in his excellent article about the clerkships process – I must admit that my contribution to that article consisted of about 5 words and one set of parentheses.

(For those not familiar with the context, the vacation clerkship program, run every summer, is the primary route of recruitment for mid-to-large-sized law firms in Sydney.)

These are excellent tips, though, and it’s recommended reading for all the keen baby lawyers out there. I thought, however, that I’ll also share a few of my thoughts on the clerkships process.

#1: Take it seriously, but not too seriously. Some would see the clerkships process as a single, crowded drawbridge across the chasm between struggling law student and high-flying corporate lawyer. Others don’t seem fussed about it at all. It’s important to have a realistic sense of how important the process is.

The clerkship process is important. For those whose parents are not judges or an important client of a major law firm, it is the best and – despite the many hurdles set in the path – the easiest path to a job at a commercial law firm. Unfortunately, the profession in Sydney places far too great a significance on a start at a commercial law firm. In some respects, a clerkship becomes a badge rather than what it should be – a chance to find out whether you and commercial law make a good couple. As a result, though there are many paths forward, and many paths to commercial law, if your interests swing that way, the clerkship is significant for a law student because it is the easiest way to earn that badge. If you do not put your best – and smartest – effort into the clerkships process, you may end up spending twice or three times the effort to score a graduate job – efforts subject to all the vicissitudes of the market. So start preparing early (ideally, a year early), talk to everyone, read everything, and carefully think through every decision you make in this process.

At the same time, it’s important to keep in mind that a clerkship is not the be-all and end-all of starting your career. There are many other paths to commercial law: as a graduate, after a further degree, as a qualified lawyer, or as a foreign lawyer. Remember, also, that commercial law is not for everyone. It is neither particularly remunerative in the first few years, nor does it offer work life balance as a matter of course. Does working on internationally significant commercial transactions for large corporations float your boat? If it doesn’t, happiness might be just an application (to the public or community sector) away. So don’t fret if the clerkships process and the competition seem a little daunting - there could well be a better path out there.

#2: A successful clerkship application must be balanced but stand out in some way. What does it take to get a clerkship offer? Some firms are rumoured to look only at marks; others supposedly only hire law society executives. In truth, all firms look for a combination of things. For the majority, being well-balanced is key. Academic results, work experience, extracurricular activities, quality of writing (in the application form and in the cover letter), as well as maintaining a good impression in the interview – all combine to make a successful application. To ensure an offer, however, an applicant should be stand-out in at least one area – some quality or experience that helps you to make it past the “maybe” pile into the “yes” pile. For those who are organised, it may be worthwhile cultivating that stand-out quality in the months or year before the clerkship process.

#3: Focus on a few firms, and try as many paths as possible. The clerkship application process is stressful, intense, and time-consuming; a quality application takes a lot of effort and time to perfect. It is prudent to apply for a good number of firms, but anything more than half a dozen will probably be a serious strain on your life. Anything more than a dozen is not for the faint-hearted. Applying for too many firms not only means more applications to draft, check, and customise – it also means that you may find it difficult to remember all the facts about each firm when you front up for the interview. A cover letter carrying the wrong firm’s name is almost certainly the biggest no-no. While not as dramatic, a bland, generic application does not impress the reader, either.

The second part of this item is that it’s a good idea to try as many things as possible. As Enoch mentioned, while a giant law firm might seem the perfect, glamorous workplace, it is not ideal for everyone – indeed, it is not ideal for most people. On the other hand, while a small firm might advertise its great atmosphere and work-life balance, you may find its work a little, well, less than exciting. The clerkship process is a chance to check out the options on offer, and you never know what you might find.

#4 Talk to as many people as possible. Before and during the clerkship process, talking to those who have gone before is a good way of avoiding pitfalls that others have encountered. During the clerkship process, talking to others can shed light on the realities of life and work with your potential employer. All the marketing talk thrown at you during the process are also best read when filtered through a competitor’s interpretation. Firm-organised cocktail parties and other events are a good chance to meet and talk to the lawyers in the flesh – they are primarily for the applicant’s benefit, and only secondarily for the firm to spot outstanding candidates. While it may seem an elusive prospect while you are stressed by the interview process, this information will come in handy when you do need to choose between competing offers. Talking to many people also has benefits beyond the process – whether or not you choose the particular firm in the end, the relationships you forge through the interview process can build or extend your network in the profession.

Finally – this is not strictly speaking a tip – keep track of which firm is offering the best food during the process. It’s something fun to focus on when your mind needs a break from the stress of the process!

______

Tommy completed vacation clerkships at two law firms in London and an Australian law firm in Melbourne, and completed his practical legal training at a community legal centre and a corporate general counsel’s office in Sydney. No, he doesn’t talk about himself in the third person as a matter of habit.

Law, Random thoughts, The Sydney Grind application, clerkship, law firm, vacation scheme

Tip #8:Going up a mountain while afflicted with a severe cold leads to long lasting eardrum damage!*

The lady at the ticket booth assured us that “up-there” it would be nice and bright, even if it was hard to believe standing here on the ground.

It wasn’t until our cablecar had ascended halfway up Mount Pilatus (2120 m), near Lucerne in central Switzerland, that my last scepticism burned away. At ground level, it was a wet, gloomy day. Dark clouds sealed the horizons. An icy drizzle slowly but steadily turned the ground into slush.
It seemed at first that the cablecar would enter the grey clouds and never emerge – in places, visibility was just a few metres. Then suddenly, it burst through the clouds, and we were bathed in brilliant sunlight. Fluffy cumulous clouds dotted a blue sky, against which stood the granite bulk of the mountain. The ticket lady was right.

Though grey clouds sometimes seem to cover the sky, the sun is still out there. All it takes is the will to climb through and find it.

Written by the shore of Lake Lucerne, 15 Jan 2009

____________________

* I caught a cold while standing around on Pariserplatz in Berlin at the beginning of the trip, and the cold – with associated hiccups – was still with me when I went up a few thousand metres of mountains in Lucerne. The air pressure change popped my ears – and my hearing didn’t recover until … well, I’ll save the story for another post.

Events, Random thoughts, Travels

Tiananmen remembered: 20 years on

In pics: then and now

Events, Random thoughts, The Sydney Grind anniversary, china, democracy, government

Q: What’s the difference between an i-banker and a sloth?
A: The i-banker sleeps as much as the sloth is awake.

Random thoughts sleep

In January 2009, I took a one-month trip to Europe, transitting for a few days at each end through China. Not having reliable access to internet, I decided to write my thoughts down – with a pen – in my little black notebook. So here they are, now twice edited and with a travel tip heading each note.

Travel tip #1: Write down travel tips as you think of them; writing them down “later” probably means you’ll forget them.

Some would define a city by a landmark building, a particular view, or, failing all else, a three-letter abbreviation.

For me, a city is first defined by its smell. When the airlock doors open at the airport, the smell of a city impresses itself even before the eye adjusts to the light outside. Whether it’s day or night, and regarldess of the weather, a city’s smell is probably its most indelible character.

In Sydney, it is the smell of a sun-burnt country overlaid with a fresh yet salty hint of the sea.

I don’t know what ingredients make up Shanghai’s odour. At a guess, it’s six parts air-borne pollutants and three parts the muddy East China Sea. To me, however, it is the pregnant hint of an exciting metropolis of 20 million souls.

Shanghai’s growth is incredible – that probably sounds cliched now. Still, I was struck by some surprise even on the fairly short journey from the airport. The futuristic wavy form of the new airport seems to have reproduced itself across the highway – in the form of a second terminal every bit as grand as the first. A maglev train zooms past alongside the highway. A giant, inverted step yramid dominates the skyline to the south – it’s the centrepiece of the 2010 World Expo site. As we ascend the great concrete rings that lead onto Lupu Bridge – Sydney Harbour Bridge magnified in concrete – I spot the new IFC, in the shape of a polygonic bottle opener.

Despite having read about and seen the building in print, I was struck by the way it dominated the Pudong skyline – and dwarfed the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, once the pride of Chinese engineering, now at a mere 284 metres tall (if my Communist-drilled memory serves) a ridiculously disproportional bulbous erection beside the IFC.

The city’s cultural life has also changed. Mandarin is even more dominantly the lingua franca. The person sitting next to you on the bus could be of any nationality. The traditional pancake-and-fried-dough breafast I grew up with is gone, replaced by a myriad of options ranging from bacon and eggs to northern Chinese fried buns – this I found out after an hour of fruitless searching one cold, cold morning.

Some things, though, have not changed. The subway announcement still says “Nexus stop” instead of “Next stop”. There are huge crowds everywhere. When I got up on a ledge to take a photo of the famous crowds on Nanjing Road, I noticed two other photographers doing exactly the same thing.

London, on the other hand, smells like grilled ribs.

Until next time,

Tommy

Random thoughts, The Sydney Grind, Travels cities, crowds, london, Shanghai, smells, sydney, travel

I passed by the Guardianship Tribunal of NSW in Balmain recently, and noticed an Indian restuarant on its ground floor – it had a massive sign saying “AIR”. Air? That’s a strange name for an Indian restaurant, I thought. Then I noticed the small writing: “All India Restaurant“, and I realised that it was a pun. Geddit? I’m guessing no.

Here’s how it works: “All India Restaurant” → A.I.R. → “All India Reports”, the most commonly used law reports series for Indian cases → law → Guardianship Tribunal. Geddit?

I like it because it’s so obscure

Law, Random thoughts, The Sydney Grind All India Reports, Guardianship Tribunal, pun, shop signs

I was walking down the long, dark valley of the shadow of death that is Phillip Street (and not in a particularly elated mood, as you can probably tell) when I looked up, and saw – sapphire blue sky reflected in the windows of Chifley Tower, and behind, Governor Phillip Tower, its roof foils gleaming in the sun, against a brilliant sky dotted with whispy clouds. I was happy.

Sometimes, you just have to look up.

Random thoughts, The Sydney Grind happiness, phillip street, sky, sydney

On Sunday, I submitted the last assessment for my College of Law course work. This brings to an end 15 weeks of stress, learning, and – sometimes – fun. I’m glad to say that my thousands of dollars in accrued debt has not gone to waste. I made some great friends, learned a great deal, and now have the slightly dubious boast that my best subject at College was trust accounting.

In two weeks’ time I will face a much more momentous ending. It will be my last exam, and the end of six years of university. What lies ahead? Life, career, mortgages, “real life” as I like to call it, away from the comfortable cocoon of school. It’s been a great journey, with twists and turns; moments of intense emotion as well as pure carefree joy; times when I wished the world would just disappear, and moments that I wished would last forever. To those who have been most important for me – and you know who you are, hopefully – thank you, and I am thinking of you right now.

The present blends quickly into the future. Next Monday, I begin my final seven weeks of work experience towards qualification as a lawyer – even before I do my final exam. This leads, in the blink of an eye, to full time work in February (and hopefully, an admission ceremony in the same month). My life is rolling ahead, and I’d better start jogging to keep up.

Events, Random thoughts college, Law, life, university, work