Nicole Chee could hear chattering as she approached the microphone, groups of people from the legal community talking among themselves. But when she started to tell her story, an awed hush fell over the room.
Three years earlier, Nicole explained, she had been in jail - a trajectory that started after she began using methamphetamine.
"I just had a big hole inside of me at the time," Nicole reflects.
"I had a lot of unresolved trauma - methamphetamine really stopped me from having to feel anything or deal with that trauma."
The drug took away more than her ability to feel or think - it robbed her of everything.
Nicole giving her address at the Justin Crosby Memorial gala dinner
Within 18 months of using, Nicole had lost her house. Her child had been taken from her. Her car was stolen. She was on the streets, selling drugs. She was sick with addiction.
Nicole spent the next seven years intertwined in the prison system - a spiral that could have deepened if not for the intervention from an old friend she met at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting while still in jail.
Her friend, who was clean, was facilitating the meeting.
When Nicole had a parole hearing come up, her friend offered her a place to stay.
But there were strict rules - no men, no drugs, no alcohol and she had to attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings every day and go to rehab.
Nicole agreed but was quietly sceptical about whether any of it would work - a common thought pattern many people grappling with addiction experience.
"I don't know what happened," Nicole says. "It wasn't really a spiritual awakening but I think I just started to learn how to accept myself and stop hating myself.
"The support I had from the people in the rehab and the community around me - who accepted me even though I made some big mistakes - that was really big for me."
Nicole has clearly always been intelligent - she completed high school by distance education, despite living a tumultuous life at the time after having a baby when she was just 17.
She would eventually go on to complete a Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours - a degree she was drawn to through an innate curiosity about how the world works at a molecular level.
But after she completed her Honours, Nicole started using methamphetamines, which quickened her spiral into Queensland's correctional system.
Having an intimate knowledge of the system is one of the reasons Nicole became interested in studying law.
"The prospect of being able to help other people reintegrate and successfully battle recidivism - I think I could make a real difference in this area," Nicole says.
Nicole and her daughter Jordan
Nicole is humble and accountable - not backing away from any of the wrongdoings of her past. She wants to change, to work on herself through self-improvement.
But she knows there are going to be plenty of hurdles along the way.
Apart from fixing personal relationships in her own life, including with her daughter, who she's reconciled with, the path to being admitted to the Supreme Court as a lawyer for someone convicted of a crime or crimes, is not impossible but it's not straightforward either.
"There was no issue with getting into study law - I just had to satisfy the entry requirements," Nicole says.
"But if you have a criminal record, to be able to even answer phones in a law firm or undertake basic administration duties, you need to make an application, which goes to the Queensland Law Society."
Nicole understands this intimately - having just been through the process after starting work at Rynderman Legal .
"I just recently had mine approved - with conditions. I can't handle trust monies or sign anything," Nicole says.
"I wasn't going to be allowed to appear in court either but my boss contested that because we're just a small law firm - there may be circumstances where I need to."
Nicole and Ben Rynderman at Rynderman Law
After Nicole finishes her degree, to be admitted as a lawyer, aside from meeting all the regular requirements, she will have to make a submission to the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board (LPAB) disclosing her past offences.
The LPAB assess the submission, providing advice on whether to admit her to Queensland's Supreme Court.
Nicole understands the road will be difficult and nothing is guaranteed. But there is plenty of precedent.
Aside from Nicole's own mentor, who served time and is now a practicing lawyer in Australia, one of the most well-known examples in Australia is Debbie Kilroy - the first person with serious convictions to be allowed to practise law by Queensland's Supreme Court.
She is now a powerful and highly awarded advocate for the human rights of female prisoners.
UniSC Law lecturer Dr Dale Mitchell says the concepts of restorative justice and rehabilitation are core tenets of Australia's legal system.
"Our legal ecosystem is made stronger when people who have lived experiences contribute to it," Dr Mitchell says.
"As in the example of Debbie Kilroy, previous offenders can be powerful and effective advocates to create a fairer, equitable and more just legal system."
"We are happy to support Nicole in her journey and as with all our students celebrate her successes with great pride."
Nicole on the UN's panel of formerly incarcerated people
When Nicole finished her speech after accepting her award for the Justin Crosby Memorial Law Scholarship , people in the crowd gave her a standing ovation. A few people had tears in their eyes. Others approached her with job offers.
It was overwhelming - compounded by the fact that the next day she would be flying out to sit on a panel of formerly incarcerated people for the UN's Crime Commission in Vienna.
This was the first UN panel of its kind in history.
"Our panel was on education, not incarceration," Nicole says.
"Just being able to talk about the benefits of education rather than warehousing people in prisons - to make impact on recidivism - that was huge for me.
"I hadn't even been on a plane since I was 20."
Nicole has indeed come a long way from the person she was in her youth. But at the same time, she knows there's still a long way to go - she just needs to keep going on her journey.
