Karl Maakasa is eager to learn more tech tricks
The idea of a career in law was first introduced to Karl Maakasa because he wanted to avoid maths and geography. Since then, he has thrived on this path – earlier this year, he was promoted to principal at McCabes.
Maakasa considers mentoring graduates and junior lawyers to be a highlight of his career in recent years, and believes that lawyers are “never too senior” to receive mentoring as well. He has enjoyed learning new “tech tricks” with guidance from the firm’s knowledge team.
In this May interview, Maakasa discusses why “small changes achieve better balance”, three tips he’d like to give lawyers, and which character from The Crucible he’d defend in court.
I was asked at Year 10 Careers' Day, "if there were two VCE subjects you could avoid doing, what would they be?" I responded, "maths and geography", and I was advised to consider law. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea, and I have no regrets.
My favourite part of the job is the people focussed nature of insurance/personal injury law, and working with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders from all walks of life.
There is a nice vibe at the firm as we continue to grow and invest in our people. It was great to see many of our talented lawyers being promoted to associate, senior associate and special counsel over the last 12 months and celebrating their success at the firm's EOFY and Christmas parties.
In addition to promoting our talented lawyers, McCabes has invested heavily in our graduate rotation program, and the last couple of years has seen the biggest intake of graduates to date. Mentoring and working with many of our graduates and junior lawyers has been a highlight of the last couple of years for me.
McCabes has a top-notch knowledge team that is constantly finding innovative and creative ways for the firm to deliver legal services. The team has experts who have private practice, in-house and government experience. They understand how lawyers operate and most importantly, our clients' service standards and their legal, regulatory, and operational drivers.
I'm excited to learn more tech tricks from the team over the coming year, particularly with Outlook.
My promotion to principal. It is the product of hard work, forging great working relationships over many years, and the start of an exciting new chapter.
Small changes achieve better balance. Over the last year, I have dedicated time to learn a few new tech tricks, arranged walking-meetings, reviewed more matters with colleagues in person, over coffee, and allocated small pockets of uninterrupted time, for complex/ urgent tasks to minimise the “switch cost” effect.
Three tips:
We have come a long way with mental health awareness, diversity, and inclusion. The focus should now be on overcoming barriers to progress and the use of qualitative data directed at the lived experience of members, to better inform/understand statistics on gender and demographics.
Settling into my role as principal; welcoming new team members and continuing to mentor and work with our graduates and junior lawyers to build on the strong relationships with clients and key stakeholders.
Abigail "Abby" Williams from The Crucible because there would be a chance to voice her narrative and truth which may provide a modern/different perspective in a time where there is a greater awareness of gender bias, and more work to do including on gender-based expectations and prejudices.
