Opinion
(Reverse) Culture Shock!
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10th Oct 2024
Just over six months ago I commenced with Rin Kim Law (RKL) as Legal Practice Manager. RKL is quite a unique operation as:
- Its sole Director and Principal is an (incredible) Korean/Canadian woman under 40 years of age.
- Our Office Manager is an accomplished Korean woman under 40 years of age.
- Excluding myself, all of the professional and support staff come from Asian backgrounds – Korean, Thai, Filipino, Fijian/Indian, Chinese/ Taiwanese – and can communicate in at least two (and in some cases three) languages.
- We practice not only in personal injuries, but also in complementary areas of administrative/regulatory work, property damage, TPD claims and employment law (with a local, interstate and international client base from my past career as an employment law partner in several national firms).
Coming into such a unique ‘Asian’ firm, I anticipated experiencing some culture shock – and I did, but not in the way or sense that many of you might think.
I actually had no ‘shock’ in interacting and building working relationships with my Director, Office Manager and staff – all are unfailingly respectful and polite – albeit unceasingly direct (which I also appreciate and value). Indeed, it is such an incredibly stimulating and positive environment to be a part of – especially at lunchtime in our communal kitchen and dining space, with so many smells, flavours and discussions across multiple cultures and jurisdictions. So, from that perspective, it has been a very comfortable and welcoming experience for the sole older ‘Aussie’ on the team.
No – my culture shock was over the attitudes of insurers and their representatives to our claimants with foreign backgrounds.
My PI work history is of almost 20 years as a WorkCover and CTP defendant panel lawyer and, more recently, several years as a plaintiff lawyer. In my time as a defendant PI lawyer, I cannot think of a time when I ever considered a claimant as other than an individual; and to tailor my investigations and responses based on the actual evidence at hand. How that seems to have changed.
In returning to PI in the last three years, I did initially see some responses and processes from insurers and their representatives from the other side of the table that did concern me as being somewhat ‘one-size-fits-all’, but nothing like the ‘shock’ that I received upon arrival at Rin Kim Law.
What do I mean? Well, has anyone in another plaintiff PI practice acting for a ‘Mr Jones’ or ‘Ms Smith’ rather than a ‘Ms Jung’ or ‘Mr Shinawatra’:
- received a request to provide information by statutory declaration pursuant to s45 of the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 (Qld) (MAIA) with liability questions along the lines of ‘How long prior to the collision did you first see the respondent’s vehicle, what distance was it from you, and at what approximate speed was it travelling etc’ – notwithstanding that the claimant was injured in a stationary vehicle at traffic lights and struck from behind;
- had CCTV of an accident where the claimant’s stationary vehicle is plowed into from behind by a truck at significant speed, and yet received a liability response from the insurer denying liability 100%, asserting 100% contributory negligence and refusing rehabilitation on the strength of the liability denial;
- been told that the claimant’s injury is inconsequential due to their lack of medical treatment or time off work, despite medical evidence of a significant injury and the reality that, as a foreign national, the claimant has no access to Medicare or Centrelink benefits – such that they cannot afford to seek treatment despite needing it, nor take time off;
- at compulsory conferences had their clients accused, to their faces, of being liars without evidence in support (and I do not consider a photograph on Facebook of someone smiling in a birthday photo to amount to ‘overwhelming’ evidence that they do not suffer from a diagnosed Adjustment Disorder or other injury); or
- had their economic loss calculated at their pre-accident rate of pay, notwithstanding that amount is below the applicable Modern Award rate and ignores the ‘wage theft’ inherent in that arrangement.
The examples are many and, to my mind, distasteful.
Imagine my further ‘shock’ to be told by my staff that these are their uniform experiences in PI matters acting for claimants of Asian name and background.
So now that the ‘shock’ has abated and the cold reality has set in, what is the answer?
Well, from my perspective, it has always been to rise above it, to be better and to do better. The MAIA, Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) (WCRA), and Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) are not without provisions that can be used by claimants to their benefit. I certainly think s47 MAIA and s279 WCRA are underutilised; as is pt 3 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and rule 189 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) (good topics for future blogs!).
Our firm’s response to ‘culture shock’ is to do the only thing we really can – develop and demonstrate our skills as specialist lawyers in the unswerving advocacy of the rights of our clients, despite the shocking additional ‘cultural’ hurdles and challenges obstructing justice.
The ALA thanks Stephen Hughes for this contribution.
Stephen Hughes is Legal Practice Manager at Rin Kim Law. He holds a LLB (UQ) and LLM (QUT), and is admitted as a solicitor in Queensland and the High Court of Australia. Stephen is a QLS Accredited Specialist (personal injuries) of over 25 years’ standing and has served as an Honorary Board Member and Legal Counsel for the Australian Society of Rehabilitation Counsellors Ltd (ASORC) since 1993. He holds an Honorary Fellowship and an Associations Hall of Fame Award for pro bono services to ASORC and the not-for-profit sector respectively. Stephen is also a committee member of the LAWASIA Employment Law Committee of over nine years’ standing.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).
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