Spark New Zealand – GC Powerlist
GC Powerlist Logo
Australia and New Zealand Teams 2017

Spark New Zealand

| Spark New Zealand

Download

Australia and New Zealand Teams 2017

legal500.com/gc-powerlist/

Recommended Team

Spark New Zealand

About

Boasting 2015 revenues of over $3.5bn NZD, Spark New Zealand is a major telecoms company that provides fixed and mobile phone services, internet services and IT services. The company is in a state of constant innovation and adoption of new technologies, many of which have been ‘implemented with substantial legal team involvement’ according to general counsel Melissa Anastasiou. Anastasiou enjoys a direct report to the managing director and leads a 30-person legal team in support of this innovation. ‘The team has helped to drive a mindset shift from defending legacy positions to delivering better outcomes for consumers’, she explains, ‘including through securing the lowest cost, high quality broadband inputs from suppliers and taking a refreshed and simplified approach to wholesale contracting’. As well as this, the team has had to evolve internally in response to an ever-changing business climate. ‘Driven by digital disruption and the need to respond competitively to changing markets, convergence and the impact of global entrants’, Anastasiou explains, ‘Spark has transformed from a traditional telecommunications provider to a digital services company, and in response to this, the legal team has radically evolved to ensure it continues to offer value-based services that solve pertinent business issues’. Amidst a highly regulated industry, Spark’s legal team expertly manages the company’s response to new legislation passed down to it, alongside dealing with a plethora of other challenges: ‘The team has been involved in complex regulatory input price and non-price determinations, managed litigation through the High Court and the Court of Appeal, successfully advocated against backdating of regulatory charges and counselled the business through implementing price increases that have been sustainable in the market whilst avoiding undue legal risk’, says Anastasiou. In addition to the general counsel, Spark enjoys the talents of top legal professionals throughout the team. In particular, Sasha Daniels (lead competition and regulatory counsel), Rod Morris (assistant general counsel and head of commercial) and Charlotte Swan (assistant general counsel) came in for particular praise. Daniels was singled out for ‘his high quality technical legal expertise and advice, collaborative, solution-focused management of external counsel, and his ability to guide the business through complex challenges’, while Morris and Swan were mentioned for their ‘role in a number of legal and business initiatives within Spark resulting in tangible benefits to the organisation and Spark customers’ and ‘[her] implementation of initiatives relating to culture, technology and processes’ respectively.

Related Powerlists

Melissa Anastasiou

General counsel

Spark New Zealand

View Powerlist

Melissa Anastasiou

General counsel

Spark New Zealand

View Powerlist