VU’s top law graduate honoured with Supreme Court Prize

From flight attendant to top law graduate, Hailey Wallace is ready to launch the next chapter of her career after winning the 2021 Supreme Court Prize.

Completing a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) during a global pandemic isn’t easy, but for Hailey the hard work has certainly paid off.

This June, she was awarded the Supreme Court Prize – the most prestigious academic prize for law students, honouring the top students from each of Victoria’s eight law schools.

“It was a big surprise and very humbling to win such a wonderful award,” she says. “You put so much effort into your studies for four years, but you never expect that you'll get that level of recognition for your hard work.

“So it was a really nice send off for my degree, and it’s a bit of a confidence boost moving forward to feel like I've worked as hard as I can.”

Celebrating excellence in law studies

The Supreme Court Prize has been awarded since 1864, and is traditionally presented at a ceremony held at the Supreme Court of Victoria. 

Many past winners of the prize have gone on to lead distinguished careers – including former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, former Governor-General and Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia Sir Isaac Isaacs, and the current Chief Justice of Victoria, the Honourable Anne Ferguson. 

Three years' of award winners honoured

This year’s Supreme Court Prize ceremony also recognised the award winners from the past two years, who were unable to be honoured in person at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This included VU graduates Dylan Harrison (2020 winner) and Lachlan Martin (2019 winner), who have since both been successful in finding jobs as lawyers and are thriving in their current roles.

“It was really nice to have the 2019 and 2020 winners all in the same room and to honour everyone who's had a bit of a harder journey the last few years of studying during the pandemic,” Hailey says. 

“For me, the last two years of the degree were all online, so it was completely different to what we expected. So it was nice to have everyone together to recognise how hard all of those three cohorts have had to work.”

A rewarding career change

Hailey had spent 10 years working in different industries, including as an international flight attendant, before she decided to embark on a career change in law.

"As I got older and had done a lot of travel, I thought law could be a good way to do something good for the world and find a way to help people,” she says. 

"The VU Block Model was what really appealed to me about VU, being able to do four weeks of one subject and really immerse yourself in it. Also, the availability of placements was a really great opportunity."

Advice for future law students

For future law students, Hailey’s advice is simple – make the most of your studies and give it your best shot.

"From a practical point of view, as cheesy as it sounds, make sure you do all the readings,” she says.

“But also, enjoy it and pick the electives that interest you. The four years go pretty quickly, so put all your effort in and hopefully the hard work will pay off."