What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The shift towards the regulation of the internet and digital services: this has certainly been a trend over a more extended period, but it has culminated over the last 12 months or so as we have managed: (i) the development of online safety laws, and contributed to the development of industry-based regulation via the development of the Industry Codes under the Online Safety regime; (ii) the continuation of the ACCC’s five years long, Digital Platforms Services Inquiry, with Topic 5, in particular, recommending digital specific consumer reforms and ex-ante codes for managing issues like data use; and (iii) the creation of Misinformation and Disinformation voluntary industry codes, creating pathways for both the management of disinformation online, but also supporting transparency reporting and complaint handling. There have also been digital-specific laws in specific spaces, like defamation, that have been particularly challenging, especially with the change of Government in 2021, where priorities and approaches to internet regulation shifted to reflect the approach of a new political party, but also continued apace. Supporting the local company, advising our global teams on these matters, and helping to shape the debate and inform the law-making process has been incredibly challenging over the last 12 months — but also really exciting and engaging for a lawyer working in the tech space.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

As a technology company, we talk a lot about the role of technology. AI will likely be the next giant leap for in-house legal teams too. We use AI in our products; for example, we use AI to enforce our policies for users, removing content that undermines their experience in products like Facebook and Instagram. The use case for language-based problem solving and efficiency building using AI is immense. The advent of language decoding AI like ChatGPT will impact the role of lawyers in the future. The real challenge will be deciding where the opportunities lie for legal teams and how they can be sensibly deployed. There must be numerous use cases for AI in developing precedents, arranging ideas and summarising complex texts. But only time will tell how and where such technology will work for lawyers – fascinating times ahead.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

Working in technology, you must be foremostly curious and comfortable operating in an environment with lots of questions and no ‘neat’ answers. I would also say that working in this space, you need to have a passion for the positive role that tech can play in the world and an ability to understand the language of software engineers and translate it into sensible legal concepts. Working on complex legal issues in the tech space, often on greenfields issues, means the lawyers who are most likely to succeed sit at the nexus between law and public policy development – and are comfortable moving between both.

I would also say that the best lawyers I have worked with are at Meta – they are all these things but also confident, humble, and focused on the company’s and their peers’ success. And that is what sets them apart.