Evi is a Partner of Suryomurcito & Co, a local Indonesian IP firm and member of the Rouse network. She has extensive experience in all areas of Intellectual Property and, over the years, has handled complex legal disputes for both local and international clients.
According to a recent article published by Forbes, the global business and financial media company, the era of job-hopping, where employees change jobs every year or so, may be fading. As a result of general economic uncertainty and concerns about AI, many employees are deciding that, in the current climate, changing job is too risky. But avoidance of risk is not the only reason employees might choose not to job-hop. In several recently-conducted surveys in the US, more than 80% of workers in various industry sectors, listed work life balance and the chance to grow within the company as top job considerations, frequently ahead of salary. That apparently reflects a general change in attitude, in which case Evi is well ahead of the curve. She has been with the Rouse network for 24 years: during that time, she has developed professionally - starting as a secretary, qualifying as a lawyer and ultimately becoming a partner; established and maintained long-term relationships, both professional and personal; and been able to achieve an enviable work life balance.
Evi grew up in Jakarta and attended the local high school there. Her father was an engineer, her mother a housewife, and she had an older sister and brother. Her sister is now a banker, working with Indonesia’s largest private bank and her brother works as a freelancer. By the time Evi left school she was sure of one thing: she didn’t want to sign up for four or five years’ university study. She decided instead to do a secretarial diploma course and, on obtaining her diploma, applied for a job at Rouse and began work as a secretary. She obviously did well, because after a year, Sara Holder, then Country Manager in Indonesia, now based in Dubai, offered her a paralegal position. Several years later, the firm offered Evi a scholarship to study law at Krisnadwipayana University in Jakarta, and paid her tuition fees. Evi’s parents were, naturally, delighted, but, recalling her earlier determination not to pursue further study, asked her if she was really sure she wanted to do it, warning that it would be a lot of work and very challenging: she wouldn’t have a lot of spare time. If she did it, they said, she would need to do it properly.
By this time, however, Evi was keen to keep learning and had realised that in order to advance within the firm she would need a law degree. Her parents were right: it was a lot of work; it was challenging; and she didn’t have a lot of spare time. But she did it. She attended lectures on Fridays and Saturdays, which meant that Sunday was her only day off each week. Then, all she wanted to do was close her door and read or listen to music. It was, however, worth it. As her parents had urged, she did it properly. She graduated in 2019, and became a partner in Suryomurcito & Co in 2020. Although she doesn’t see herself as a particularly ambitious person, and she is certainly not ambitious at the expense of other things she considers important in life, she could not imagine herself not constantly developing and growing, as she has been able to do at Rouse.
Her chief non-professional interests are family and friends, music, reading and travel. At weekends she is likely to spend time with friends and family, perhaps enjoying a meal together or seeing a film. One thing she won’t be doing is anything domestic: apart from the fact that she doesn’t have time, she is not at all domesticated. Her mother does the cooking and for everything else, there is domestic help. Music has always been an important part of her life: in the past she liked listening to heavy metal, and groups like U2. Now it’s more likely to be K-Pop, a form of popular music originating in South Korea. She started learning English in elementary school, and listening to English music, as well as reading English books, was very helpful in learning the language. She particularly enjoys fantasy novels like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
She loves to travel - with both friends and family. In 2018 she went to London with a friend specifically for a U2 concert at the O2 Arena. So far, that is her only visit to the UK, but she is currently planning another trip with her sister to London and Edinburgh. They share many of the same interests and often travel together. Otherwise, her travel has so far been mostly in Asia- Japan, Korea and Thailand – and in August this year she will be visiting Vietnam.
It’s easy to see why job-hopping hasn’t tempted Evi. Although she has stayed in the one firm, she has developed and grown as much as, perhaps more than, she would have done if she had moved elsewhere. She loves her work, but doesn’t feel consumed by it. She has been able to establish and maintain a work life balance that would be the envy of many lawyers. Of course, at times she needs to work long hours, but she is absolutely fine with that. It’s only when necessary, not all the time. For the most part, she can focus on and enjoy her non-professional life as much as she does her professional life.