Arshya Kulkarni (Wyvern 2018) believes in keeping an open mind, because you don’t know, what you don’t know.

“At school I knew I wanted to do an arts undergrad and go to law school and when I was in law school I knew I wanted to do something public law related, I was always really interested in legal policy. When I was at Queen’s in my final year. We had a presentation where I learned about the Australian Law Reform Commission and we were able to ask questions and gain more information. It was one of those things where until you know about it, you don’t. I hadn’t really heard of it before that dinner at Queen’s.”

Now as a Legal Officer with the Attorney General’s Department, Arshya supports the work of the department in delivering programs and policies to maintain and improve Australia’s law and justice framework. The role has come through hard work and by keeping an open mind.

Coming 16^th overall for Western Australia in Year 12, and topping the state in French, Arshya received the Melbourne Chancellor’s Scholarship. 

“It took off a lot of pressure, I was very privileged to have it. I knew I wanted to go into law and I had a guaranteed pathway because of my scholarship. It gave me security, meant I could study things out of curiosity, all the anxiety around performance was taken away. And in taking the pressure off, it helped me learn better. It really shows the value of scholarships, the difference they can make. I feel very lucky to have had that experience.”

Another great opportunity came in 2023, when Arshya was invited to study at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, a programme run by Georgetown University, hosted by King’s College in London.

“With eight partner universities, students came from all over the world. It was great from an academic perspective because it exposed everyone to different jurisdictions and types of law. A lot of the European students were used to a civil style of law whereas we have a common law system where Judges build on precedent and interpretation of earlier court decisions on a case-by-case basis. I learned a lot from that. Socially and personally, it was great.”

Arshya’s language skills came in handy during her studies overseas and have been another way for her to remain open to others.

“Languages are a big passion of mine. Before my family moved to Perth in 2006, I grew up multi-lingual in a Marathi family, which is a community in India, so that’s my first language. Living near Mumbai, I heard a lot of Hindi, obviously I can speak English, then in High School I did French and Italian, now I’m learning Spanish. I like how you think differently in another language, it changes your perspective on the world. You can gain insight into another person and learn a lot about their culture, their perspective. It helps you connect with people.”

Arshya has thoughts on how her experiences may be helpful to Queen’s students and Wyverns.

“Firstly, be open, interested in and enthusiastic about different activities you can try at law school because you might be exposed to areas of law you didn’t know existed. They might even end up being your dream job. Secondly, it helps to have a strong network and part of that is being proactive, reaching out to people. They can be an invaluable resource. You can do as much research as you can about an opportunity or a course but hearing from someone who has been through the experience can give you a whole other insight. Finally, and this was advice one of my tutors gave me on my first day at law school, try to form relationships with your peers. Having their support can be invaluable going through law school, and they are also going to be your professional peers when you graduate.”

True to her word, Queen’s students and Wyverns are welcome to contact Arshya through her email:

arshyakulkarni@gmail.com