Alyse Walter
A lawyer with a busy practice will often be required to represent people who are living through challenging circumstances. This is especially the case in matters of personal injury, industrial negligence, motor vehicle accidents or workers’ compensation, where people have sometimes suffered traumatic or life-changing injuries.
How do lawyers cope with the complexities that these cases present, and which can take time to resolve?
For Alyse Walter, Partner at DBH, leading a committed team is a way of ensuring that these and other matters can expedited more efficiently on behalf of her clients.
As a Partner and senior solicitor, Alyse runs her own practice, and so operates with a large degree of autonomy. At the same time, however, she also works in collaboration with junior solicitors and others in the firm, and the resulting teamwork produces a number of significant benefits.
“It can be tempting for lawyers to become protective of their own work,” Alyse explains, “but there are only so many hours in the day. Working collaboratively and creating a team ethos means that you are able to deal with more matters more efficiently. This is good for clients, in that we are able to progress matters expediently on their behalf, and good for the firm as it enables us to be more productive when representing people who need our help.”
This ethos is key to how DBH is organised and operates. It also means that while Alyse is someone who others in the firm can turn to for advice and guidance, her fellow Partners are likewise there for her when she is in need of a sounding board.
However, seniority does bring with it some challenges and Alyse is always trying to improve her management style. “It’s a good learning experience though, and I enjoy being able to help and inspire others to progress their careers and practices.”
It’s not just at DBH where Alyse is someone who thrives as part of a team. She is also an enthusiastic soccer player and former President of Pembroke Old Scholars’ Womens Soccer Club.
As well as a passion for the game, playing soccer is important to Alyse as she believes that having interests outside of work and the law is essential to maintaining mental and physical health and wellbeing.
“I enjoy the sense of community that you get from being part of a club. I like the competitive element too, even though I wouldn’t consider myself an especially competitive player on the pitch,” says Alyse. “It is good for me, too, to have to make time to rock up to training every week, and there are the fitness benefits as well,” Alyse says.
“Working in the areas of law that I do, I regularly represent people who have had terrible things happen to them. In order to do the best job I can for them, it is important to be able to switch off sometimes, as some days can be quite heavy. It’s good to have other interests and a bit of detachment at times.”
Alyse started playing soccer at school, and then got “roped in” again after university. “I’m naturally bossy, and like organising things, so I ended up on the committee of the club, and then President for three years. I take pride in the fact that the club still exists despite the hard times during covid, although I’m glad that now I have stepped down from being President, I only have to worry about getting myself to training, not trying to get everyone else to games on time!”
As a lawyer, Alyse is driven by the sense of satisfaction she gets from helping people who have been injured to get on with their lives as far possible. Creating a work environment based on teamwork and collaboration is important to achieving this. “DBH is such a good place to work because we have a really strong, young and fresh team here. Personal injury claims can require a lot of problem solving, and communication is vital, and so a firm where this sort of approach is actively encouraged means we have even greater capacity to get things done for our clients.”
You can read more about Alyse’s practice, and get in touch with her here: https://www.dbh.com.au/team/alyse-walter/