About

‘A true business partner’, Claire Bibby is widely regarded across Australia and New Zealand’s legal landscape for her commercial approach, technical knowledge, and high-powered transactional expertise. She supported Brookfield’s takeovers of Multiplex Group and Thakral Group, and is praised highly for her role in guiding the business through this rapid and momentous growth. ‘She is very good at making and supporting the legal “calls” and letting the business make the commercial calls’, says one private practice source. ‘Too many general counsel cross that line and feel they are in charge of the deal itself, rather than being the legal facilitator to the deal’. ‘She is a clear and precise thinker, who is very much driven by business outcomes’, another source adds. ‘Her clarity of thought and responsiveness enables effective advice to be sought and presented by external providers in many different disciplines’. Bibby’s strong entrenchment in Brookfield’s business operations was reflected in her promotion to senior vice president in 2011. She credits a great share of her success to the strength of the team around her. ‘I lead a highly skilled team with strong negotiation skills and excellent relationship management’, she says. ‘My team and I have a proactive approach and we have taken ownership of the legal function and legal budget that we manage for Brookfield’. In her view, her biggest challenge of recent years has been coping with the global financial crisis. The demands of restructuring, investor management and internal manoeuvring, have required ‘legal and strategic insight’, she feels. Bibby’s role continues to expand in line with her success and she now has oversight of the wider Asia Pacific region.