About

Australia’s largest telecommunications and media company, Telstra, has undergone significant transformation in recent years. As its group GC, Carmel Mulhern has made her name both inside and outside the company through her role in some of the sector’s biggest strategic transactions. These have included the business’ $9bn National Broadband Network (NBN) joint venture in 2008 and its $11bn renegotiation in 2011, a ‘very complex, political’ transaction. Sources also highlight her role in the launch of Telstra Digital in 2011. During her 15 years at Telstra, Mulhern has held multiple leadership roles, and taken centre stage on business strategy during a defining period of the company’s history. In her current role, Mulhern leads a global 200-strong team, working closely with the board, CEO and senior management. ‘I enjoy managing people and helping guide and develop my lawyers’ careers to bring out their potential’, Mulhern says. ‘I also enjoy being involved in the strategic decision-making at the CEO leadership team. I am called upon not just for legal expertise but for judgment and cross-company knowledge’. She has championed innovation, diversity and employee well-being in the legal function through a series of forward-thinking measures. These include introducing the Tristan Jepson Guidelines, which focus on psychological health and safety in legal organisations. The department’s ‘all roles flex’ policy means they begin from the assumption that complete working flexibility is authorised, unless there is a good reason opposing it. ‘This means, for example, that we can accommodate a lawyer whose husband moves to Malaysia – she can continue to work for us remotely’, Mulhern says. ‘It also means we have almost one-third of the team working part-time or job sharing. It also means that people who may not otherwise apply for roles because of their personal circumstances, may now do so in the comfort that flexibility will generally be available’.  Mulhern has also focused in developing specialist legal and business skills, as well as broad collaboration amongst different teams. The benefits of the approach are not only the personal development of the lawyers involved, but also more effective use of finite resources across the wider team. Mulhern is a member of Telstra’s Ethics Committee and founding Chair of the ACLA GC100. She has lectured at Monash University and authored two legal text books.