Amy Lonsdale packed everything into her humble $500 car and left the Big Smoke to complete her practical legal training in regional Australia.

She said Sydney's legal life was no match for the opportunity, country hospitality, and meaningful work she experienced in Dubbo, in the NSW Central West.

When she arrived in Dubbo on a late Sunday afternoon in January 2014, it was completely deserted.

The 22-year-old thought 'Oh my goodness, what am I doing out here?'

She moved into a house with other lawyers, which was owned by the local Public Defender (now District Court Judge Christine Mendes). It was Ms Lonsdale's first experience of country hospitality.

"People supported each other. It was the attitude of, 'it will sort itself out,'" she said.

On her first day in Legal Aid, she was thro

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