I've been a Literacy Buddy for five or six years now.

The thing that attracted me to the program is I'm quite an avid reader myself and it's

something I'd like to help kids out there who may be struggling.

Why do you think it is important to be a Literacy Buddy?

There's a number of reasons why it's important.

I think it's something that's very easy for us to do.

I also think that lawyers at Clayton Utz live a very privileged life and it's good to have

opportunities to help out other people who may not have had the same sort of advantages

that many of us had, particularly when we were going through school and growing up ourselves.

What have you personally gained from the experience?

I think I've got a lot of fun out of the experience.

I've certainly enjoyed getting in touch with my own inner child.

I guess a lot of the dialogues that you have with the Buddies that you have tend to be

in relation to more fun activities and also sorts of things that perhaps are more purely

fun.

I've certainly recently spent a lot of time talking to my Buddy about the Harry Potter

films which has been quite a fun activity discussing who our favourite characters are

and things like that.

What would you say to other people considering signing up to be a Literacy Buddy?

I'd say definitely do it.

I think it's not something that takes much time, it's a pretty low level commitment in

terms of the amount of time it actually takes you to do it but also something that's very

rewarding and something I think people can feel very positive about doing.

Can you share a funny Buddy experience?

I don't know I've got a funny Buddy experience but in my last letter from my Buddy, I received

a number of jokes so I'm happy to share some of those with you.

For example, "Why was 10 scared?

Because 7 8 9!" and "What did the didgeridoo?

Answered the phone when the boomerang!