Women At Work: Charlene Harris

Posted on 28 November, 2019

Think there are two sides to a story? Ask a criminal lawyer and they’ll tell you there are actually three, and that life is just never as simple as black and white—there’s always a touch of grey.

“The common thing people say to you when they find out you work as a criminal defence lawyer is ‘how do you sleep at night?’,” says Charlene Harris, senior associate at Canberra law firm Aulich.

“The way the media portrays defendants is pretty black and white, and it’s so far from that. When you have the chance to get to know these people and their families you get a completely different perspective, and you realise there are all manner of greys. Often there’s a tortured history or a series of events that led to the offence—it might not excuse the person, but it puts their conduct into context. I think if people knew what a particular defendant had been through to get to the point where they were charged, even with serious offences, they may not be as quick to judge. It’s really different to what you see on the outside…”

Charlene isn’t what you’d expect of a criminal lawyer. In fact, she’s about as far away from the stereotype of the ‘grey-haired, stuffy male’ criminal lawyer as you can get.

But managing partner of Aulich, Peter Woodhouse, says Charlene has built a strong reputation as a fearless criminal advocate.

“She’s known in Canberra as a fighter and she has the respect of the local judicial officers and her peers.”

Aulich Senior Associate Charlene Harris and Aulich Managing Partner Peter Woodhouse.

But what really sets her apart is what she does outside of her day job. After hours she can be found training hard as a 4th-degree black belt, and the chief instructor and president of a Taekwon-Do school.

Since she first had a go at the martial art 22 years ago after watching her brother, she’s gone on to compete all over the world, including winning the world championships in 2013 for board breaking, where she was competing against women at least twice her size.

In 2013 she also opened Precision Taekwon-Do Australia in Canberra—now one of the most successful Taekwon-Do schools in the country. Charlene is just as accomplished as a coach as a competitor, with her team taking home 63 medals at the recent National Championships.

“Taekwon-Do’s a fantastic challenge. It’s good to be breaking stereotypes in Taekwon-Do and criminal law, both of which are very heavily male-dominated fields and especially so in the senior ranks. I get a bit of a kick out of breaking the mould,” says Charlene.

Charlene Harris at Precision Taekwon-Do Australia.

“I don’t ever make a big deal about being a woman in either field, I just put my head down and get the job done. I treat my male and female students exactly the same. But by achieving the same things men have, I do appreciate being able to show other women that we can do exactly the same things as men, and that you can be just as successful if you have the right attitude and the right approach.”

It’s that attitude and approach that she applies to her work as a criminal lawyer.

“It’s really interesting, challenging, diverse work. Certainly, as a female lawyer, I think you naturally face a bit of an uphill slope because the vast majority of criminal clients are men. So you have an initial hurdle as a young, female lawyer showing them that you can represent them as capably as any male solicitor. I’ve certainly never let it stop me.”

Charlene believes that what sets her apart as a successful advocate for her clients is really taking the time to hear them out and never giving up the fight.

“That puts me in a position to properly convey the full story to the court. I think a lot of lawyers take a bit of a ‘box-ticking’ approach—they have proforma questions they ask the clients, but they don’t develop a proper rapport and so the client doesn’t feel comfortable opening up to them. They end up missing some critical fact, often something sensitive like childhood trauma, that might have assisted the Court in their decision,” says Charlene.

“Because I don’t put my clients in boxes and don’t prejudge them, I actually make the effort to delve a little bit deeper and that information can make a big difference in terms of the outcome you achieve in court for them. Because if you’ve got the whole 3D picture of the client, you can paint a comprehensive picture for the court. Whereas if all you’ve done is tick boxes, there’s a lot of white space on the canvas.”

the essentials

What: Aulich
Where: Ground Floor, 3 Hobart Place, Civic
Phone: 6279 4222
Website: aulich.com.au
Facebook and Instagram: @aulichlaw

This editorial was created in partnership with Aulich. For more information on sponsored partnerships, click here.