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

I measure my success by the success of my team. I have a fantastic team who are effective and efficient, are confident when it comes to stakeholder engagement, and have excellent skills in managing expectations. I know I am a good leader and mentor when I receive unsolicited positive feedback regarding members of my team from those within the business.

On a more personal level, my most recent success has been promotion to a regional role, which has significantly expanded my scope of responsibility to cover eight countries in the Pacific. This promotion is recognition not only of subject matter and organisational expertise, but also of the leadership and mentorship I bring to the table.

In your opinion, what are the qualities and skills needed to form a strong legal team?
It is somewhat cliché, but I subscribe 3 C’s – Connection, Collaboration and Camaraderie.

Connection — prioritises information flow. I encourage open dialogue and prompt discussion of anything and everything without judgment or criticism. As a legal team, it is imperative that we engage in Socratic dialogue to stress test our positions before presenting to the business. With the diversity of thought, experience and background of my team, this really means the advice we give is robust, clear and concise.

Collaboration — encourages effective and efficient use of our time. Time is the most precious resource my team has, so I want to make sure its value is maximised. As a largely remote team, we have Slack channels, meetings with pre-set agenda and a range of tech solutions to help us assign matters and ensure work isn’t double handled.

Camaraderie — is what creates our culture. In being transparent and authentic with my team, I have built trust and developed bonds despite the large geographical distances between us. It is often hard to build culture amongst remote teams, but I often find team members sharing anecdotes, jokes and personal advice in a beautifully human way.

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

Knowledge management and retention is one of the largest risks facing organisations. Post-pandemic, employees have more opportunities to find meaningful work, flexibility and balance. Unless organisations can match or better these positions, they face losing immense talent, and with that, years of knowledge and know-how.

Our team has spent most of 2022 embarking on an exercise to consolidate and centralise resources in an easily accessible platform. This process has also encouraged my team to review existing resources and update them for changes in both legal and commercial positions. This is something that I did not expect of my team, and for their unprompted initiative on this I am so grateful – their commitment to striving to be the best legal advisor, and to form the best legal team, is truly admirable.