Australia 2019
Group general counsel | Orica
Malcolm Haack
Group general counsel | Orica
Group general counsel and chief compliance officer | Orica
General Counsel | Orica
chief counsel, Middle East and Africa | AECOM, United Arab Emirates
Heading a 12-strong team, supporting the Middle East, Africa and India, Malcolm Haack is revolutionising the structure and effectiveness of the legal function, in the view of some sources. Amongst...
Group general counsel | Orica
Leading energy giant Orica’s legal team on a day-to-day basis, Malcolm Haack – the company’s group general counsel – has experience working in and managing legal teams across Asia, Africa,...
Amongst many others, one of the most important matters I’ve been involved in is Orica’s acquisition of GroundProbe in 2018, which was an integral addition to Orica’s technology capabilities and a key step in Orica’s technology strategy. GroundProbe is a global market leader in the provision of critical monitoring and measurement technologies for the mining sector. Its radar and laser-based monitoring systems, combined with advanced processing and analytic software, provide mining customers with geotechnical slope stability monitoring for improved mine productivity and safety. It is a profitable business with a proven track record of commercialising technology.
The value that external law firms bring to Orica is assessed across a spectrum of criteria covering technical capabilities and soft skills. The need for soft skills, including the ability to quickly read people and adapt style and communication in real time to efficiently address the key issues, is important.
Criteria that we consider when calculating the value external law firms bring includes:
• A detailed knowledge of the company;
• Industry and region knowledge and experience;
• Effective and efficient communication;
• Quality and value of work product;
• Ease of use;
• Willingness to go the extra mile;
• Passion;
• EQ (emotional quotient).
We have a panel arrangement for external counsel in each of our regions and for corporate. In creating the panels, we reduced the number of external law firms by more than half and significantly improved our relationships with those firms on the panel, which has increased the value we receive from those firms.
I see in-house legal evolving in various ways in a continuing environment of doing more with less. To name a few, gathering data and using it to interpret and enhance or change what we do and to report within our team and across the organisation, creating collaborative work environments and developing variable delivery models. Outsourcing commodity work, focusing on cross-disciplinary value adding and enhancing soft skills are other areas in evolution.
Take the opportunity and do it. It makes you a better lawyer. Opportunities to travel and live overseas for in-house lawyers aren’t as common as they are in other industries, and such experiences provide a variety of riches for personal experiences and professional development. The exposure to different cultures, customs, and legal practice adds to the tapestry of skills for in-house lawyers and is transferable and sought after across regions and industries.
The main benefit for me is the personal growth experienced from pushing myself beyond my comfort zone and from meeting like-minded people. I always challenge myself to grow, to develop. Participating in such activities is a very enriching experience, and I encourage all in-house counsel to do so.
To successfully introduce and implement culture, leaders need to consider and manage many issues, including understanding the existing culture, engaging early and often with the team on the journey of cultural change, and being empathetic to the challenges and impact cultural change will have on the team.
“Stay strong” – these two words have come to mean a great deal to me. It would be fair to say that they, or more accurately, what they mean to me, have guided me on my on-going journey with mental health over the past five years.
I didn’t start using the words “stay strong” until 2016 in discussions with my mother when she was dying from cancer, but the emotion behind them first appeared for me in 2014 in South Africa. I was on a long-term secondment in Johannesburg away from my wife and children who were expats in Abu Dhabi when I experienced emotions and thoughts that I had not experienced before. I was in a run-of-the-mill discussion. Nothing too stressful. Suddenly, my heart started racing, my breathing became shallow, my palms started sweating and I had spots before my eyes. I couldn’t speak. I was frozen. It was my first panic attack. I immediately left the discussions. In a foreign country away from my family, I didn’t know what to do. I returned to my hotel room, closed the blinds, dimmed the lights, and tried to breath. Luckily for me, one of my team members who was at the discussions visited me and asked if I was okay. With the unfamiliar thoughts of dread bouncing around my mind, I summoned what strength I had and spoke with my team member. She listened with compassion. She cared. And with her assistance, I met with a psychologist the next day. That was the start of learning about these feelings – being strong for myself.
While I have experienced several attacks with similar intensity since my first experience in 2014, I have learned to recognise the early warning signs and to manage them. I have learned the importance of communication and empathy; the importance of support; and above all, the importance of staying strong because those dreaded emotions pass. After all, we are, by our very nature, fallible, and that’s okay.
