Yohan Philip

Piper Alderman Law Firm

Imagine walking into Marcellin as a 15 year old never having lived in a major city before or never being educated in English either, that was Yohan Philips’ introduction to being a student here!

Yohan emigrated to Australia with his family from a small town in Malaysia called, Taiping. His parents chose to move because they wanted to provide greater opportunities for their son and two daughters. Yohan’s Dad is a Doctor and his Mum (who is a regular guest at our annual Marcellin Mum’s luncheon) was an English and Economics teacher in Bangalore (though she now volunteers as a counsellor and is active in faith based groups).

Having just been admitted to the profession, Yohan is a Lawyer at Piper Alderman, a full service commercial law firm with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. It is one of Australia’s oldest firms and is a truly national united partnership.

Interestingly, Yohan claims he was not an outstanding student at school. He says he tried to apply himself but was not naturally gifted in his academics. I’m sure many current students would feel if they can’t achieve a 90 ATAR in VCE there is no point in aiming for a career in the law, however Yohan is proof that commitment and understanding the system can get you there. He did three years at Melbourne Uni studying a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and West African Music then went to Monash Uni where he completed a Juris Doctor in Law in three years.

While studying, Yohan worked part time in various jobs including as an actor (most recently in the movie LION), selling cars at Tesla INC and working at a suit shop, even dressing the likes of Hamish and Andy, Mack Horton, Carlton FC and a number of Bachelor Contestants.

Presently Yohan is working in Insolvency; winding up companies and advising liquidators and administrators on the correct legal process. Yohan says this area is the best area to learn how companies, directors and shareholders can go wrong. Eventually he thinks he would like to settle in Mergers and Acquisitions, a more transactional based team.

Success

Piper Alderman prides itself on providing excellent legal services whilst being very competitively priced in the market place. They offer a full range of commercial legal services and its lawyers are often ranked as some of the best in their fields in the profession.

Yohan says his own success is dependent on him building trusting relationships with his team and clients and building his legal technical skills over the next few years.

Challenges

From a personal perspective, Yohan’s first challenge was trying to find a clerkship and then a graduate job. The legal industry is a true reflection of the saying its ‘who you know not what you know.’ Yohan says where you went to school does matter (although he prefers that it did not), some lawyers still get work from clients only because they went to high school together. Yohan found this very difficult having no connections in corporate Melbourne. Only through another Business Network Group (BNI) did Yohan get some work experience and that eventuated into an actual job.

Other challenges he faces as a young Lawyer are that he has little control over what type of work he gets, the hours he works and the ability to balance life outside work.

From the Firm’s perspective, Piper Alderman is competitive in the market place and continues to evolve as a business. They must always try and keep up with how the market is changing. Technological advances are also a factor. And lastly, the demand from more clients for fixed cost work as opposed to billable increments.

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Personal Fun Facts

Yohan declares when he first got to Marcellin that he was more focused on succeeding through his studies, but over time and with the encouragement and mentoring of the legend John Meagher, he took up running and in Year 12 went to the World Championships in Malta as a 6k cross country runner and won a Bronze Medal with his team. He still runs today and attributes his understanding of work ethic and true hard work to John.

Favourite Subject: Systems Engineering

Favourite Holiday Spot: Cuba/ New York/ Italy

Favourite TV Show: Atlanta, Master of None, Kim’s Convenience

Favourite Canteen Food: Chicken Subs

Teacher Most Remembered: John Meagher

Favourite Singer: Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino

Famous person you would like to meet: Sidney Poitier

AFL team: Carlton

Favourite Car: Jaguar 1967 E Type Roadster series 1, or more practically Tesla Model S 100D

Worst School Rule: Short Hair, No spray jackets in class

Best School Rule: if you were SRC you would get a free lunch for helping in the Canteen

Cats or Dogs?: Dogs

Do you still see Marcellin mates? Several….10 regularly

Fondest Marcellin Memory: Music program and Sport especially Cross Country; Representing Australia at the World Championships in Malta in Yr 12