Could you tell us a bit about your significant successes in your role?

Progressing within the UGL legal team over the last five years has provided me with an extremely broad exposure to corporate, construction, infrastructure and engineering portfolios. Our team provides a national support role across our diverse range of business functions. I have been lucky over the course of my time with UGL to have been offered an opportunity to immerse myself in all our areas of the business.

Some highlights have been fulfilling company secretarial duties for one of our defense joint ventures; being an integral part of our team engaging with the ACCC over an extended period regarding payment terms and reverse factoring. Other highlights are the assisting in streamlining internal legal and procurement processes and procedures and supporting the business units in winning and delivering work across all portfolios whilst protecting UGL interests, including being foundation support of new lines of business such as telco and renewables.

In your opinion, what are the qualities and skills needed to form a strong legal team?

I think a collaborative open minded and enthusiastic outlook is key to forming a strong legal team. An awareness of how individual team members respond and how to get the most value out of the various working styles, knowledge and experience banks. The combined output of a collaborative team’s input cannot be overstated.

I am lucky to be part of a very strong legal team and have worked under a fantastic leader in Stephen Barrett-White where I have seen him form this type of collaborative team that plays a core role in UGL.

What is the biggest risk to your industry or organisation and how are you contributing to prepare your organisation for this?

As everyone from the corporate mogul to the online consumer is aware now, supply chain issues including the increasing cost of materials, logistics and shipping issues and of course Covid impacts to some degrees are rife. In our industry this is particularly relevant as a portion of our supply chain is derived from overseas destinations with long lead times and we often enter into long-term contracts.

A current focus of our pre-contract review process is to ensure that due consideration is given to our contractual arrangements to ensure that they include robust mechanisms to address these issues, including rise and fall mechanisms and appropriate relief regimes specific to each project and procurement arrangement which will hopefully help our organisation mitigate time and cost overruns in the current, unpredictable market environment.

What challenges have you overcome to get to the position you are in today?

My pathway to senior legal counsel was not a straightforward one. I completed my studies in Ireland in the middle of the GFC with limited job opportunities in the legal market at that time, so I took the chance to travel with a view to returning a year later to kick the professional exam route back home. However, I took a role in a boutique construction firm in Sydney and decided to explore the route to qualifying as a solicitor in Australia, signed up with the LPAB and the rest is history. Working full time and studying at night was a challenge, particularly being away from home but I look back now and am delighted I made the commitment and bit off the challenge.