By Nancy Afify
A Griffith law graduate has claimed The People’s Choice award at the National Golden Gavel held at The Pullman, King George Square, in Brisbane.
The prestigious Golden Gavel event is held every year by the Australian Young Lawyers’ Committee of the Law Council of Australia.
Lawyers from across the country represent their firms by competing in a public speaking competition before an audience of legal professionals and showcase their comedy skills.
Each speaker is given five minutes to impress the audience with their speech on a topic that is revealed to the speakers only 24 hours beforehand.
This year’s People’s Choice award went to Matthew Littlejohn from the Northern Territory for his speech ‘Send the ravens to file the pleadings: Lessons for lawyers from Game of Thrones’.
Matthew’s acerbic wit and clever turn of phrase impressed judges as he drew a cut-throat parallel between aspects of the legal profession and Game of Thrones.
Matthew Littlejohn graduated from Griffith Law School with honours in 2012. He was the president of the Griffith University Student Law Association and vice president of the Australian Law Students’ Association from 2011-2012.
He then got his Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the Australian National University.
Matthew was admitted as a legal practitioner by the Supreme Court of Queensland in December, 2012 and he now works as a judge’s associate at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.
Nancy Afify is a Communication student at Griffith University.