About

Stuart Thomas was already high profile in Australia’s entertainment industry before he joined Network 10, with former roles including Macquarie Radio Network’s COO and GC and Nine Network’s GC. Since his arrival in 2013, he has already restructured the function along more specialist lines and brought large segments of work in-house. He has also repositioned the department’s focus towards complex, high end work. The combined result has been a significant reduction in legal spend, and a greater commercial focus within the team. ‘Change management’, in the midst of these transformative efforts, has been his biggest challenge, Thomas says. He would also like to see greater efficiency and a bigger focus on value in the service law firms provide. ‘They should adopt a cost management culture which is reflected, in turn, in more cost-effective charging rates and practices’, he adds. A former Gilbert + Tobin partner, Thomas also headed his own specialist media firm for four years, and began his career at Allens.