Each new cohort of young lawyers faces a unique set of challenges – but also entirely novel opportunities to set themselves apart.

In the current environment, younger lawyers may be forgiven for feeling the stakes are high. Law schools are producing more graduates than ever before and the competition is burning hot.

Add to that the complete upheaval being experienced by the legal profession and prospects can seem difficult.

However, with change comes opportunity, and many Gen Y lawyers are taking the industry by storm with their innovative approach and technological expertise.

Lawyers, associates and senior associates consistently play an important role in some of Australia’s biggest deals, assist on some of the most high-profile litigation and play a key role in guiding organisations in-house.

Domestic and international secondments, further tertiary study, pro bono work and involvement in extra-curricular initiatives and associations all feature on the impressive resumes of many young lawyers today.

To recognise the great potential of up-and-coming legal stars, Lawyers Weekly held the fourth annual 30 Under 30 awards on 24 June. This annual event celebrates the achievements of the 30 best young lawyers in Australia.

Achieving 30 Under 30 status offers the springboard for career progression, giving industry-wide recognition for professional competency while highlighting a passion for legal practice.

Lawyers Weekly received a record number of submissions, which high-profile judges whittled down to 10 finalists and then three winners for each of the 10 categories. Judgements were based on their work over the past 12 months, their leadership within the firm and their contributions to the legal sector.

Of the 100 finalists, 39 were men and 61 women, accurately reflecting the gender split of the profession at the junior level.

Of the winners, 12 are men and 18 are women, again reflecting a 40:60 male/female ratio. More than 450 people gathered for the cocktail event at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney to be entertained by comedian Tommy Little.

Lawyers Weekly congratulates all the finalists and eventual winners, content in the knowledge the future of the profession is in safe hands.

COMMERCIAL, BANKING AND FINANCE: Presented by Major, Lindsey & Africa

Jakeob Brown, Ashurst

Mr Brown is a restructuring and special situations lawyer in Ashurst’s Sydney office. His experience spans the breadth of the practice area including insolvency, turnaround, financial restructuring and distressed investment. He’s also well versed in litigation, including defending large shareholder actions and general litigious matters.

Rajeev Pillay, Gadens

Mr Pillay has been a solicitor in Gadens’ recovery and restructuring practice since September 2012. He spent half of the last year seconded to Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, and the other half assisting banks with their proceedings of complex and defended securities enforcement matters.

Smriti Arora, King & Wood Mallesons

Ms Arora is a solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons’ banking and finance practice in Sydney and has made a significant contribution to the growth of the firm’s fintech practice. She has led major projects for King & Wood Mallesons clients and taken responsibility for their overall service experience.

CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE: Presented by Dolman

Adam Merlehan, MinterEllison

As a special counsel, Mr Merlehan leads the construction team in MinterEllison’s Gold Coast office. During the past 12 months he led the firm’s proposals for and engagement as lead external legal adviser to a multi-billion-dollar mine project and has led MinterEllison’s construction support to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Jane Xu, DLA Piper

Ms Xu has been involved in multiple major projects as a solicitor in DLA Piper’s Melbourne real estate team. Her work includes assisting on a major retail acquisition, assisting a client in relation to a potential property dispute, and acting for a national high-end fashion retailer with more than 500 stores in Australia.

Nell van Weerdenburg, DibbsBarker

Ms van Weerdenburg joined DibbsBarker’s planning and environment team in Brisbane as a lawyer in March 2016 from DLA Piper. She has provided support to a number of major clients within the real estate and planning and environment spaces, and was involved in a number of large transactions while at DLA Piper.

CORPORATE COUNSEL: Presented by Dolman

Jessie Porteus, Coca-Cola Amatil Limited

Ms Porteus joined Coca-Cola Amatil as a legal counsel in April 2015 following two years in private practice. She has been solely responsible for a number of complex matters and works in the areas of contract law, intellectual property, competition and consumer law, dispute resolution, social media law, corporate and commercial law.

Jono Willis, Lion

Mr Willis began as legal counsel to Lion in New Zealand, and is now legal counsel for Lion Global Markets & BSW Australia, based in Sydney. The breadth of his role covers multiple legal areas, including intellectual property, disputes, investigations, sales and sponsorship arrangements, and M&A transactions.

Melissa Storey Scott, Brisbane Airport Corp

Ms Storey Scott has been a legal counsel at Brisbane Airport Corporation since September 2013, advising all commercial, operational and service departments on a broad range of legal issues. She consistently highlights opportunities for her clients that result in value creation and risk reduction.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION: Presented by KordaMentha

Allan Flick, DLA Piper

Working as a solicitor in DLA Piper’s Sydney office, Mr Flick advises on complex commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution, international arbitration and advisory matters. During the last year he has been heavily involved as a lead solicitor in two of DLA Piper’s largest, and ongoing, commercial dispute matters.

Amy Zhang, Harmers Workplace Lawyers

Ms Zhang has worked her way up from a summer law clerk to a solicitor at Harmers Workplace Lawyers in Sydney. Working across all of the firm’s practice areas, she has experience in areas including litigation, sexual harassment, discrimination, terminations, redundancies, modern award interpretation, unfair dismissal and adverse action.

Katie O’Driscoll, Herbert Smith Freehills

Specialising in construction law, Ms O’Driscoll is a solicitor in Herbert Smith Freehills’ Perth office disputes practice. Her time over the past 12 months has been primarily devoted to the extensive disputes work of a major international engineering, procurement, and construction contractor on a significant resources project.

GOVERNMENT: Presented by Speech Processing Solutions

Luke Grayson, Colin Biggers & Paisley

Mr Grayson has been part of Colin Biggers & Paisley’s planning government infrastructure and environment team in Brisbane since December 2013. Over the last 12 months he has given advice in relation to governance, public policy and major development projects to a range of government clients.

Peonie Gebbie, Clayton Utz

Having studied in NSW, Ms Gebbie is now a lawyer in Clayton Utz’s Melbourne office. Over the past 12 months, Ms Gebbie has established herself as key member of the core teams advising two of Clayton Utz’s major government clients.

Veronica Seeto, Sparke Helmore Lawyers

As a senior lawyer at Sparke Helmore in Canberra, Ms Seeto has been on secondment to the Aerospace Division of the Department of Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) since February 2015. In her role at CASG, she has advised on many of CASG’s billion-dollar contracts to acquire and support Defence’s aerospace capabilities.

INSURANCE: Presented by Polo CPI

Dan Robinson, Clyde & Co

As an associate in the insurance group in Sydney, Mr Robinson has worked on some of the most important and complex matters on which Clyde & Co is instructed. Further, he has completed an internal secondment to the firm’s San Francisco office and an external secondment to a key client of the firm.

Matthew Littlejohn, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers

Since completing the trainee lawyer program at Maurice Blackburn in February 2015, Mr Littlejohn has been promoted to regional office leader in the firm’s newly established Darwin office. The core of his work involves acting on behalf of injured workers against insurance companies under the NT Return to Work Act.

Matthew Thickett, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers

In January 2015 Mr Thickett was promoted to senior associate, making him the youngest senior associate within HWL Ebsworth at 28 years of age. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Perth workers’ compensation team and is responsible for the supervision and training of three legal staff.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Presented by Polo CPI

Jodie Lilir, Gilbert + Tobin

Ms Lilir is a lawyer in Gilbert + Tobin’s IP practice with a core focus on responding to the evolving ways in which content is consumed in an era of digital and social media. Notably, she worked on a case relating to the use of sound recordings in internet simulcasts of commercial radio.

Samin Raihan, Griffith Hack Lawyers

Working as a lawyer at Sydney-based IP firm Griffith Hack, Mr Raihan has worked for clients in a range of industries in matters spanning the breadth of IP law, with a particular focus on litigation. Matters include a Federal Court trademark appeal, a domain name proceeding, patent opposition, anti-counterfeiting and trademark disputes.

Stephanie Favotto, Baker & McKenzie

Ms Favotto recently returned to Baker & McKenzie after completing a Masters of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, specialising in intellectual property. As an associate in Bakers IP practice in Sydney, she has provided advice to many key FMCG clients and has completed a four-month secondment at McDonald’s Australia Limited.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: Presented by Major, Lindsey & Africa

Claire Thompson, Herbert Smith Freehills

Based in Melbourne, Ms Thompson is a solicitor in Herbert Smith Freehills’ takeovers and schemes team. Ms Thompson took a leading role in a number of HSF’s largest and most complex deals for 2015, and volunteered for secondment with Alinta Energy, a long-standing client of the firm.

Daria Orjekh, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

In January 2016 Ms Orjekh was promoted to senior associate in Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s corporate advisory team in Sydney. As well as completing two secondments, one domestic and one in China, she guides her Australian and international clients through complex cross-border M&A issues and foreign investment approvals.

William House, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

As a lawyer in Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s Sydney corporate M&A team, Mr House has worked on a number of high-profile M&A transactions. He has been the lead lawyer in a number of corporate acquisitions and sales and in corporate and unit trust structuring for various clients on acquisitions of corporate/property assets.

PRO BONO: Presented by Speech Processing Solutions

Justine Autour, Colin Biggers & Paisley

Ms Autour has just begun a six-month placement at the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. While working as a lawyer at Colin Biggers & Paisley, she spent two days per week seconded at Save the Children Australia, and was involved in a myriad of other pro bono projects.

Sara Bozana Lane, Ashurst

Ms Lane joined Ashurst’s pro bono team in November 2015 after spending two-and-a-half years working for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in Katherine. Since joining Ashurst in Sydney she has led a global policy project, is leading a Victims of Crime project and is on secondment at Lou’s Place.

Sharell O’Brien, Nth Qld Women’s Legal Service

Ms O’Brien is the supervising solicitor in the Townsville office of the North Queensland Women’s Legal Service. With a goal to be a part of not only the response to domestic and family violence, but also its prevention, Ms O’Brien develops and delivers legal advice and community legal education seminars.

WORKPLACE RELATIONS, EMPLOYMENT AND SAFETY: Presented by KordaMentha

Amy Zhang, Harmers Workplace Lawyers

Ms Zhang is the only double-award winner, winning in the dispute resolution category as well as the workplace relations, employment and safety. Her work covers employment contracts and policies, workplace health and safety, Fair Work Ombudsman investigations, award interpretation, performance management, discrimination and harassment, unfair dismissal, risk management, change management, and general protections.

Hannah Linossier, Piper Alderman

Ms Linossier is an associate in Piper Alderman’s Melbourne industrial relations and employment law team. She is completing the specialist Masters of Employment and Labour Relations Law at the University of Melbourne and recently undertook a secondment to the Victorian Arts Centre in the role of acting general counsel.

Ian Bennett, Sparke Helmore Lawyers

In January 2016 Mr Bennet was promoted from lawyer to senior associate in Sparke Helmore Lawyers’ Sydney employment and safety team. With over five years’ post-admission experience, Mr Bennett has developed a diverse client base and commonly assists with a range of litigated and non-litigated matters.