About

‘I see my purpose as general counsel to be a problem-solver, developing strategies with the benefit of my legal skills, but also broader trends, experience and stakeholder interests. This includes being attuned to geopolitical developments and community views, and weaving that into my thinking’ says Caroline Cox, group general counsel of mining giant BHP. With a world-class reputation for outstanding legal support, Cox first joined BHP in 2014 as vice president legal, regulatory and disputes and was subsequently appointed vice president legal, corporate, regulatory and disputes, before assuming her current role of group general counsel in March 2016.

Currently leading a team of 100 lawyers across eight countries (including major markets such as Australia and the US), Cox helps support diverse businesses as well as strategic initiatives handed down from senior management including new country entry, cross-border M&A, derivatives trading, human rights and regulatory investigations. Having won several industry awards, BHP’s legal team has been instilled with a judgment and solution-focused approach directly influenced by Cox’s leadership, which also emphasises a holistic perspective towards risk and opportunities. Such an approach has been welcomed by the BHP business with over 90% of stakeholders describing the legal team in an independent survey as a valued business partner. As well as this point of pride for Cox, she explains other projects during her in-house career that have moulded her as a professional. Regarding the crisis response to the tragic consequences emanating from the Samarco dam failure in 2015, Cox states she was ‘acutely aware that legal considerations were only one relevant factor in how to respond to this tragedy’.

This had the impact of cementing Cox’s ‘holistic approach to identifying and managing risk, taking into account regulatory and community expectations as well as legal requirements’. Cox also highlights her role on BHP’s leadership team, where she oversees health, safety, environment, ethics and compliance, legal and corporate affairs. This experience has shown her ‘first-hand the criticality of assessing issues and opportunities with the view to the long-term viability and reputation of the company. As a result, my legal team views issues not solely from the perspective of “can we do this?”, but “should we do it?”’. Her commitment to self-improvement saw her co-lead a review of BHP’s global risk management framework, where she ‘identified the imperative for diverse perspectives (beyond technical experts), a culture that is open to such diverse views and, what the airline industry refers to as “chronic unease”, to ensure the proper identification and management of risk. Legal plays a key role in this by testing assumptions, challenging the status quo and voicing a unique perspective’. Cox has amassed an enviable track record of important transactions and litigations during her recent work, including, most recently, a US$10.8bn divestment of US on-shore petroleum shale assets in less than 12 months, the settlement of US class action related to the aforementioned Samarco dam failure and a $350mAUD settlement litigation with a regulator.

Cox has also introduced a range of measures to develop the team (including legal and commercial secondments), support flexible work arrangements and promote mental health. In 2017, team members ranked the culture as “above high performing”, including on engagement and inclusion. Outside BHP, Caroline is a member of the executive committee of the Australian GC100, is on the legal committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of the European General Counsel Association.