Leon Pasternak's professional life was based in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, the most populous state of Australia. His tertiary education took place at the University of Sydney, which was established in 1850 by an act of the New South Wales Parliament and is the oldest university in Australia. The university opened in 1852 with a focus on the classics, sciences and mathematics, and it awarded its first degrees in 1856.
Pasternak studied at the University of Sydney, where he obtained a Bachelor of Economics with Honours and a Bachelor of Laws. The Bachelor of Economics had been offered by the university's economics faculty since 1914, and the faculty itself was founded in 1920 as the first faculty of its kind in Australia.
He was admitted to the bar in New South Wales in 1981, marking his entry into legal practice in that state.
Pasternak also holds the Associate designation of the Australian Society of Accountants (A.A.S.A.). That body was formed in the early 1950s through the merger of earlier accounting institutes and later became known as CPA Australia.
Pasternak worked as a partner of Freehill Hollingdale & Page. The Sydney firm was founded in 1871 by Bernard Austin Freehill, and it took the name Freehill Hollingdale & Page in 1947. Under partner Brian Page, the firm grew into corporate and commercial practice within Australia and internationally.
In 1978 the firm became the first major Australian law firm to appoint a female partner. In 1979 it agreed with Muir Williams Nicholson & Co of Perth to form Australia's first national law partnership.
In 2000 the state partnerships of Freehill Hollingdale & Page became a single national partnership known as Freehills.
The Australian Society of Accountants was a professional body for accountants in Australia, formed in the early 1950s from antecedent accounting institutes. It admitted members at several grades, and its membership was largely drawn from people working in industry, commerce and government. Pasternak's documented membership is at the Associate level of this society.
