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

I currently manage all of the substantial customer contract related matters across the globe, remotely from Melbourne, Australia. In the past year I have strived to achieve inclusivity of colleagues located in various regions. I have listened to their concerns and worked to make the team feel more included into the PacketFabric family. I have resolved several contract related issues and assisted the chief legal officer in reconciling existing contracts.

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

(1) The foremost is respect, empathy, and the ability to assess opinions and take them on board even if one does not completely agree with it. Things ultimately boil down to commercials in a corporate setup. The fondness of an opinion may not necessarily help mitigating risks.

(2) Sharp interpretation and communication skills – Accurate interpretation is dependent on the ability to analyse clauses in several ways and articulating them in the right manner, depending on the requirement. Missing details can make contacts go sideways and thereby raise the chance of splitting within legal teams. Good interpretation and communication skills can avoid clause malfunctioning in contracts and team malfunctioning at large.

(3) Brainstorming while working under pressure – Legal teams are usually working under the pressure of either interpreting or resolving contract related issues in the corporate setup. Brainstorming forms an important part of providing best outcomes to the business by integrating varied ideas and opinions.

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

Intellectual property (IP) violations – One of the most common threats within a smaller company is infringement of IP, both national and international. The deterrence and enforcement mechanism of laws against violation are not strong enough. I oversee the IP matters and process across the globe, at PacketFabric. I strive to ensure that the team is aware of the news and changes from various trade commissions around the world. I also strive to ensure that we conduct timely research on bigger companies who are in the business of transmission and cloud storage and keep a tab on new announcements and enhancements they offer, so infringements can be spotted early. Like most other big companies, we have strived to acquire IP for our inventions, not just in the United States but also other important countries, so international infringements can be minimised.

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

Remote working and digitisation have been the major challenges in the recent past. Revised planning and coordination methods had especially become much harder and there was a sudden need of being ‘technologically woke’ for almost everyone from all industries. With businesses being affected by inconsistent health of employees, global supply chains, and travel, I had the challenge of becoming a technology guru overnight, and had to learn how to remotely manage workload, expectations, and relationships within the legal team.

With changing requirements within legal teams of various organisations I have been a part of, mental and physical wellbeing of legal teams had been a major challenge that I overcame by promoting communicational harmony amongst the members.