Kim Schoeman – GC Powerlist
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Australia: Rising Stars 2019

Kim Schoeman

Legal counsel | Kentucky Fried Chicken

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Australia: Rising Stars 2019

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Kim Schoeman

Legal counsel | Kentucky Fried Chicken

About

Kim Schoeman qualified as an attorney at law in South Africa in 2008 and moved to the UK the year after. Whilst in London, she worked in-house at dunnhumby, a data science company wholly owned by Tesco. During her seven years at dunnhumby she gained extensive commercial and corporate experience across a wide variety of areas including privacy and data, IT and IP. She also undertook the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test and was admitted as a solicitor of the UK and Wales in 2010. She and her family decided after seven long winters in London they were ready for sunnier shores so moved to Sydney in 2016. Another amazing in-house opportunity presented itself and she began the position of sole in-house counsel at MySale Group reporting to the CEO. Over her two years with the Group, she looked after all commercial contracts, IP-related matters, and acted as the group compliance officer. In 2018, she undertook the necessary exams and was admitted as an Australian solicitor. She is now proudly qualified to practice law in three different jurisdictions and is currently the in-house legal counsel at Kentucky Fried Chicken responsible for all general corporate and commercial matters. The role is diverse and supports various teams including supply chain, property and development, IT and marketing. Recently her transactional highlights have included the acquisition of UK based multi-brand online retail start-up Hot!Mess; and the acquisition of Identity Direct and Ortega Publishing, an Australian and New Zealand based personalisation catalogue and online business. She has also established and implemented a comprehensive Australian consumer law compliance program pursuant to court orders and s87(b) undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission following a $500,000 fine. Schoeman has worked in large corporations across multiple jurisdictions while qualifying as a practising solicitor in each, consistently building strong relationships with key stakeholders including the CEO, COO and CFO, and where her advice was relied upon to make material business decisions. Schoeman highlights that it is a great benefit to in-house lawyers if senior management show willingness to share knowledge and insights from their experiences and show flexibility and authenticity in their mentorship. She particularly highlights ‘adaptability and flexibility in a digital world. Workplaces are changing in material ways and general counsel need to be viewed as collaborative business partners rather than traditional service providers. General counsel need to remain curious about the businesses and industries they work in and demonstrate that by building authentic relationships with their stakeholders’.

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