Kate Hasbani – GC Powerlist
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Australia: Rising Stars 2019

Kate Hasbani

Director, real estate and special counsel | WeWork

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Australia: Rising Stars 2019

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Kate Hasbani

Director, real estate and special counsel | WeWork

About

Kate Hasbani, director, real estate and special counsel at WeWork, began working for the company in London in July 2018, and moved home to Sydney with the company in November to manage real estate legal affairs across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to this, she was a lawyer at Speirs Ryan, a boutique property law firm based in Sydney. While the majority of her legal career has been focused within the property sector, she has worked in a number of other areas, including public liability and insurance litigation, energy and resources, building and construction, and commercial contracts. About her role and achievements, Hasbani highlights that, ‘while no two days at WeWork are the same, it is always exciting to broaden our community through bringing new buildings into our portfolio. In the short time I have been with the company, I have helped grow WeWork’s presence in existing and new markets through the signing of three new buildings at 50 Miller Street Sydney, 120 Spencer Street Melbourne and 152 St Georges Terrace Perth – and there are plenty more on the way!’. Her legal skills and market intelligence give her the tools needed to confront challenging situations. For example, last late year, the confluence of its physical design and legislative changes put a building opening date at risk. Using her nous and experience she explains that, ‘with our in-house engineer and development project manager, I was able to work out a solution to fire compliance issues in a timely fashion, which meant we could still open as scheduled. Beyond this, it is so rewarding when colleagues from all business lines defer to me to seek guidance – as an in-house lawyer, being seen as a help rather than a hindrance is one of the biggest compliments you can receive’. Hasbani identifies that her career will be impacted by the property industry continuing to challenge traditional notions associated with the way real estate is used. There has been a recent shift in this attitude in that traditionally, lawyers were seen to be gate keepers, however Hasbani is now seeing in-house lawyers being brought to the table earlier in the piece, and relied on to help frame the strategic direction of wider decisions. When asked what kind of support and peer mentoring would help up and coming in-house legal rising stars in their development, Hasbani identifies the following: ‘Rising stars should never underestimate the power and value of a mentor and champion. These are people both within and external to your organisation that you can test your ideas against, ask career-oriented questions of, and who can help you upskill in those areas where formal training may fall short. Access to mentors and champions is not easy to come by, which is why I worked with the NSW chapter of the Future Directions Committee of the Property Council of Australia in 2018 to develop and implement a mentoring program that was targeted at addressing this need.’

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