“It’s a very bizarre feeling, where I am today,” he said.

Mr Raad noted that he didn’t envisage becoming a partner at such a young age.

“Where I planned to be when I was in my first year of law school is certainly not here,” he said.

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“To be here today in this role is great; it shows how the continued adaptation of where I want to be has landed me here.”

Mr Raad explained how a certain way of thinking about career direction is created by universities and law firms.

“Looking at it now, as an established lawyer, I see the perspective both from law students themselves, as well as the law firms that push clerkships.

“For a big firm pushing clerkships, it’s a great opportunity to get your pick of a bunch of really good students. All these people are effectively auditioning for you — it’s great from a big law firm’s perspective,” he explained.

“From a student perspective, it’s pushed on you at university. That’s the goal that’s advertised throughout all your uni publications, in your classes — so it’s fair people feel like that’s the natural progression.”

“I personally never wanted to pursue a clerkship,” he highlighted. “I thought my experience would push me further than going into a rotation at a big firm.”

“My sense of what a clerkship was, was that you get a few weeks in a firm, get rotated in a few different areas, where you touch on the surface of each area, then cross your fingers and hope you get a graduate position,” stated Mr Raad.

Mr Raad was very deliberate in forging his career — he knew what he wanted to do by the time of his penultimate year of university.

“I knew I wanted to be a transactions lawyer,” he said. “I had three years of property experience, which was much more than most of [the] people I went to uni with — so for me, it was an easy decision.”

Mr Raad explained how he knew what he wanted for his career path.

“From quite early on in my studies, I was uncertain.

“Yet, I was always challenging myself to put the pieces together.

“I had these questions about my career and the direction I was going in,” he said.

“Every two years, I told myself to re-assess how I was going.”

“I used to be quite into thinking, ‘how am I feeling? How am I feeling about my next steps? Where do I see myself in the next two years?’

“That’s how I did it,” he said.

“I don’t think I’m special or necessarily different from everyone else. I was just a bit more organised.”

Mr Raad shared advice for how those coming through the ranks can plan their career trajectory.

“For a lot of people, it’s a daunting thing to think about your career and try to plan it. Especially at a young age,” he highlighted.

“There are big decisions, and they always change.”

“There are hard decisions, but take them in your stride — it shouldn’t be stressful or difficult.

“If you pick a path, that doesn’t necessarily close other paths,” he highlighted.

Mr Raad also explained how one can take into account the financial and lifestyle aspects of the career path they choose.

“If you’re thinking about starting up a sole practice, you’ve got to think about holidays, when your next matter is going to come in — it’s very stressful,” he explained.

“I’m lucky to have the support of my two business partners, Robert and James, but I’ve got plenty of friends and colleagues that are in the sole practitioner burden.”

“One of the things that they consider quite daunting is what happens when they want to go on holiday? Or what happens when there’s a little bit of a lull in work?

“One thing to consider is your appetite for risk,” he outlined.

Mr Raad continued: “You need to think about how it fits into your lifestyle.”

“If you want to take the traditional route or the route that is pushed on you at uni, it’s working your way up the ranks in a law firm. It’s secure. You’ve got leave, you’ve got people to support you if you want to go away,” he explained.

“The thing to understand is, though, where you see yourself ending up in that role financially.

“You may want to be a partner of a big firm, an equity partner, to have an understanding of how that equity works,” he noted, “because, in different firms, it’s all different”.

“If you don’t want to be an equity partner and you just want to make a really good salary, do you want to even be a partner? Do you want to be a senior associate? A special counsel throughout your career?” he asked.

“There’s a lot of things to consider when you’re actually thinking about financially, where you want to end up.”