About

‘Taking on the role of general counsel at Vodafone was a big honour but also a challenge’, Trent Czinner says. ‘It meant shifting from operating as a task-focussed senior lawyer to being a member of an executive team, plus the leader of a large legal function. The requirements and expectations were very different’. With almost 20 years’ global telecommunications experience, Czinner heads a 28-strong legal and corporate security team supporting the leading mobile phone brand’s Australian operations, and plays a central role in strategic decision-making. ‘It’s an exciting time to be at Vodafone Australia’, he says. ‘There’s a great company culture and we’re seeing the business go from strength to strength. As the company grows, so do the opportunities for the legal team to support new and interesting projects’. During his time as legal head, Czinner says he has tried to shift focus to ‘outcomes’. ‘By always focussing on the ultimate implications of our work, we can improve the end result for our millions of customers, whilst achieving the legal protection we need. I think this focus will have the biggest impact on the value we deliver as an in-house legal team’. In the past, Czinner led a $2bn mobile network expansion deal during his time working in Europe. ‘The odds were stacked against the contract being finalised by the deadline and the pressure was on’, He says. ‘I am glad to say it was delivered on time, but not without some drama’. His other in-house experience has included INQ, a start-up handset company in London, and Salesforce.com in Australia and New Zealand. Having worked in private practice himself, Czinner values outside counsel who understand clients’ business and go the extra mile in the service they provide. ‘The real value from external counsel comes when you can pick up the phone about something unusual and, because they know your business so well, they can provide instant support’, he says, adding: ‘All of our firms have excellent lawyers but what we value is when they work seamlessly with the legal function’.