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From the courtroom to his medical rounds: After gaining his law degree, Roderick Mulgan decided he wanted to go into medicine.
Running from court to his medical rounds is what an average work day looks like for Dr Roderick Mulgan, a qualified criminal defence lawyer and a practising doctor.
He’s been juggling both distinguished professions for two decades.
While he says he’s “not a total workaholic”, on the day Stuff talks to Mulgan, who is also a published author, he’s just walked out of a district court, having been at a rest home that morning, and was en route to another aged-care facility that afternoon.
“The first half of my week is law, when I also do my writing, and then the second half of the week is rest home, and the rest homes can be moved around when I have court dates,” he says.
Mulgan studied at Otago Medical School, and gained a fellowship at the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners before moving to Auckland in 2008, where he chose to serve at aged-care facilities. Mulgan practices at 13 aged-care establishments and runs Caliburn Medical Services, which specialises in providing medical services to aged-care facilities.
While Mulgan knew a handful of people who did the two degrees, he didn’t know anyone who was practising both medicine and law: “I am the only one I am aware of that has a foot in both the camps all the time.”
Mulgan, who grew up in Wellington, gained his medical degree after secondary school. However, he was always interested in learning law.
“The thing in life is you always [want] one more thing. I wanted the next thing, so I thought why not [law]?”
Chris McKeen/Stuff
Dr Roderick Mulgan is a lawyer and a doctor. Pictured at the Manukau District Court.
Mulgan studied law at Victoria University in the 2000s, at that time married with two young daughters.
Fortunately, despite having two of the most sought-after degrees, his studies didn’t come with a mountain of student debt, thanks to the fees-free system of the 80s.
“I slipped through my first degree without having to pay, and the law degree wasn’t too expensive.”
Working as an emergency department doctor in Kenepuru Hospital north of Wellington at night helped him attend law school during the day, which was “fairly punishing”.
“The thing about being a community doctor is that you can do sessions, and pick a session. Obviously, when university was not on, I could work during the day. So one way or the other, you can arrange a week where you are doing paid work some of the time and lectures some of the time.”
The reality of juggling the two professions is exemplified in a story barrister and Auckland District Law Society council member Samira Taghavi told LawNews recently, of finishing the day alongside Mulgan at a trial on the North Shore.
“After the trial concluded, [Mulgan] said: ‘Sami, we have to make a stop at a funeral home because I need to issue a death certificate. You’re welcome to join me,’” Taghavi told LawNews. “It was an enriching day to say the least.”
Mulgan said that was nothing unusual for him.
“I do three death papers a week, quite often. [For her] what she saw was bizarre.”
Mulgan said doctors often encounter legal issues like privacy and informed consent, and compliance with patients’ rights and representations in tribunals.
“Recently, I gave a presentation at a conference on the assessment of capacity [where] you have to see whether an elderly person is competent to make a will or sell a house. That engages both legal perspective and medical perspective.”
Conversely, his knowledge of medicine helped in a trial of a man accused of killing a person with a punch.
“[The accused] had a genetically deformed hand, so I had to go and find a hand surgeon who would examine him and go to court to give evidence about his disability. The jury [said], ‘if he can’t form a punch with the hand he has got then we have got doubts about what he was alleged to do’… The accused was acquitted.”
