About

Chris Drake has been general counsel at finance portfolio manager Portigon for 15 years and currently manages a team of five lawyers across Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney. During his time in the role, he has taken positive steps to empower his team to take greater ownership of their work. ‘The turbo boost to your department’s output is phenomenal,’ he says. ‘I’m not sure if it’s a paradox or if lawyers are just naturally careful, but taking away the oversight made my people more invested in their work’. The introduction of compliance to his role he admits was ‘a bit daunting’, but one which has had successful outcome to date: ‘We haven’t stepped on a banana skin since I took office’.