Lilly started university studying science. She finished with a postgraduate law degree and a job in the Tax Controversy and Policy team at EY Australia. The path between those two things is less of a straight line and more of a series of good decisions made without a map.
Growing up, she wanted to help people solve problems. She thought that might look like science or medicine: fields built around understanding complex issues and finding practical solutions. Then she got into postgrad law, sat through a tax subject, and found something she hadn’t been looking for. The legislation keeps changing. Every case brings new variables. There’s a puzzle in it that she hadn’t expected, and once she noticed it, it stuck.
She also came into the workforce with more than just her degrees. Through university she worked as a paralegal, tutored VCE students, volunteered, and spent time studying overseas. By the time she wrote her application, she had a clearer sense of what kind of work suited her and what a career in tax looked like in practice.
What she does
Tax Controversy and Policy sits at one of the more interesting intersections in professional services. Lilly’s team works directly with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) on behalf of clients, helping businesses navigate complex tax disputes and understand their positions in an environment where the rules are constantly changing. Day to day, that means researching case law and legislation, drafting memos, reviewing documents to identify what matters in a matter, and translating complicated information into something clients can use.
“A lot of my work involves taking complex information and presenting it in a clear way, making it easier for our clients to understand.”
The problems aren’t so different from the ones that drew her to science in the first place. They’re just dressed in legislation.
Why EY
The Graduate Program was a big part of what drew Lilly in. The 12-month program is built around connection and development, with regular technical training sessions alongside other tax graduates and a camp with the broader Oceania Tax Controversy and Policy team. Every graduate is also assigned a buddy and a counsellor, two people in their corner from day one.
“After speaking with those who worked there, I felt like it was a very supportive environment where you’re encouraged to ask questions, learn, and work collaboratively with others.”
That kind of environment matters more than people expect, especially early on. Being part of a cohort means you’re not navigating the first year alone; you’re figuring it out alongside people at the same stage, with more experienced colleagues and structured guidance behind them. For Lilly, that sense of support was a deciding factor.
Tax graduates work across a wide range of clients, from high-net-worth individuals and small businesses through to ASX-listed companies and multinationals. The variety comes early, and so does the responsibility.
What the days look like
The team is national, so Lilly regularly connects with people across different offices. A typical morning starts with a check of what’s urgent, then settling into research, drafting, or working through the graduate program’s learning modules. The work itself is detail-heavy: reading through legislation and case law, identifying what’s relevant to a client’s specific situation, and building memos that make complicated legal positions clear to people who aren’t tax lawyers. The ATO doesn’t slow down, and neither does the legislation it enforces, so there’s always something new to get across.
The broader Tax Graduate Program runs alongside all of this, covering more than 36 tax topics through tutorials, discussions, and practical application. It’s a lot to absorb in the first year, but the structure means it builds gradually rather than all landing at once.
And most days, there’s a matcha walk.
“We also make time for a coffee chat or a matcha walk during the day, which I always look forward to.”
The part about not having a plan
She didn’t know she wanted to work in tax until she tried it. The advice she’d pass on is to stay open-minded, get involved in things outside your degree, and have as many conversations as you can with people already doing the work you’re curious about.
“I didn’t know starting out that I wanted a career in tax, but trying different subjects and roles really helped me figure out what I enjoy.”
Part-time work, sport, volunteering, time overseas: not because it fills out an application, but because it builds up a clearer picture of what kind of environment suits you. A lot of Lilly’s clarity came from conversations with people already in the workforce who could tell her what a career in tax law looked like from the inside, the parts that don’t make it into the job description.
If you’re a few years into a degree and still working out where you’re headed, her story is a decent reminder that the answer doesn’t always arrive on schedule. Sometimes you find it in a subject you weren’t expecting to like.
Curious about a graduate career at EY Australia? Find out more here.
