Get to Know Your Council Members – Louis Benjamin

In this edition of Get to Know Your Council Members, Louis Benjamin is interviewed. Louis is a Senior Associate at Rae & Partners practising civil litigation – particularly estate disputes – and employment law. He has a background-driven appreciation for legal logic and variety. Louis values continual learning, mentorship, and resilience, and sees retention and technology as key Tasmanian challenges. To those entering this profession, he emphasises that ‘we are all human and working in this profession is a marathon, not a sprint’. It is evident that Louis values a work-life balance as he unwinds with golf, reading, and building 2-3 LEGO models a year.

Can you tell us a bit about your current role and the main areas of law you practise?
I am a Senior Associate at Rae & Partners. I practice in civil litigation (primarily estate disputes) and employment and industrial relations law.

What first drew you to the law?
Dissatisfaction, arguably. When my prior career failed to provide me with long-term satisfaction, I chose to explore alternatives by enrolling in a general degree and taking a series of elective units in various disciplines including law. I found I enjoyed the underlying logic of the law, the history of methodical development of rule and exception, and the day-to-day application of those principles. On the whole, to date, I derive much greater satisfaction from this line of work.

What do you enjoy most about practising law?
Not only the fact that I seem to manage to learn something new every day, but simply that every day is different.

What do you think are the biggest challenges currently facing the legal profession?
In Tasmania, retention and technology spring to mind immediately. I can think of as many, if not more, members of my 2020 graduating cohort who are not practicing in Tasmania as those who are. AI becoming more and more integrated into practice is probably inevitable, whether it is a revolution or bubble. The obvious challenge will be keeping up with it.

What’s your top tip for early-career lawyers just entering the profession?
Get help. We are all human and working in this profession is a marathon, not a sprint. Show resilience and apply yourself, but lean hard on your supervisors or mentors, and get good systems in place early. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or make your “problem” files or any paralysing issues your mentors’ problems and actively reflect on what you learn.

What do you like to do outside of work to unwind?
I’m awful at golf and I love it. I’m not an every-weekend golfer, but I try to get out pretty regularly. I absolutely see the restorative value of escapist entertainment like movies and reading, and I’m not scared of a beer. I am also something of a LEGO enthusiast, I probably purchase and build 2-3 big sets per year.

Tell us something about you that people might be surprised to learn.
They are generally well hidden and tend to stay that way, but I am probably more heavily tattooed than your average lawyer.

Do you have a favourite book, podcast, or quote that inspires you professionally or personally?
“There’s things that have no finish, Scully, no ending to speak of. There’s no justice to it, but that’s the God’s truth. The only end some things have is the end you give em.” – Tim Winton, The Riders.

If you weren’t a lawyer, what career do you think you would have pursued?
I’ve established that engineering design isn’t for me. If I hadn’t pivoted to law, I suspect I would have gone academic. English and sociology were on the table before I chose to lock in and focus on law.

Coffee or tea? Morning person or night owl?
Coffee, black with no sugar. I am a night owl, particularly when looking for extra productivity. I most often find myself in a flow state in afternoons or evenings.

December 2025

Louis Benjamin
Senior Associate
Rae & Partners