The confluence of economics, social work and law has been a valuable skillset for Kriti Jha in her policy-making career.

A Senior Government Officer in the Strategic Policy team of the ACT Government, Kriti enrolled in a Juris Doctor at The Australian National University (ANU) after completing a Bachelors in Economics and Masters in Social Work.

Kriti first considered studying law while completing her social work placement at the  Women’s Legal Centre in Canberra.

“This was an insightful experience which helped to develop my understanding of the ACT Family Court and key legal issues, along with participating client interviews and providing support as a budding social worker,” Kriti said.

“I think this is the point where I started thinking that I would be interested in pursuing a law degree along with practicing as a social worker.”

Fast-forward a few years and Kriti is now in her penultimate year at ANU.

Kriti choose to study at ANU because it “provides a great platform to acquire new skills with the ability to provide high quality education”.

A highlight of her studies so far has been interviewing The Hon Associate Justice Verity McWilliam.

“Listening to her experience and in particular some of her insights into being a female judicial officer really inspired me and I would say those were the best on-campus moments that I have had,” Kriti said.

Kriti also found our Legal Theory course to be one of the most interesting subjects of her degree.

“The content, quality of discussions and the overall delivery of this course was so engaging that it really helped me to understand law and test its foundations from social work theories of feminism and whiteness,” she said.

“I also found administrative law to be incredibly interesting and useful to the nature of work that I do with the government. I think it’s a must do course for policymakers as I often find that understanding of legal framework to strategic policymaking is indispensable.”

Kriti’s current role involves working on a range of socio-legal policy projects, including raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the ACT, out-of-home care and child protection policy reforms, and the pre-employment and protective screening scheme. 

“Working full-time solving complex policy issues alongside studying law full-time, and with the aspiration to get the higher, if not the highest grade, is certainly not a cakewalk and is often a challenge for students like me who need to balance everything,” Kriti said.

“I always have to strategically prioritise and maintain a work-study-life balance so that I don’t disadvantage myself from either or any of these.”

Kriti said she has found it particularly challenging due to her “limited availability to be on campus and build connections and rapport with others”.

“I have tried to mitigate this by participating in competitions and in my previous leadership roles with the ANU Law Students' Society,” she said.

“I strongly believe that passion, hard work and persistence are the key ingredients to overcoming most of the challenges that I have faced so far in law school.

“And yes, of course, rewards and breaks, so that I can recuperate and revive – for me playing badminton early mornings and travelling whenever possible really works.”

Now more than half-way through her degree, Kriti believes that the ANU Juris Doctor is an “incredibly useful program with the flexibility to pursue several career pathways.”

“I hope to steer my professional pursuits towards meaningful work where I can use my economics, social work and law skills,” she said.