About

Lawrence Kim joined ENGIE in 2010 as a legal counsel and was appointed general counsel of the Australia and New Zealand region of the global electricity utilities group in 2014. In 2017, his role was expanded to cover corporate affairs, regulation and corporate social responsibility. ENGIE’s Australia and New Zealand business is undergoing rapid change, and changes in energy market fundamentals, regulatory environment and increased competition coupled with long-term “megatrends” encompassing the increased urbanisation of populations, the dependency on natural resources and the effects of climate change all have an impact on ENGIE’s business objectives.

Within these issues Kim identifies that the rise of technology within our everyday lives threatens traditional business but also allows it to capture new opportunities. He says that ‘as our business evolves, so must the legal function’, and in this vein Kim has recently restructured the legal team to better align with and support the company’s strategic objectives. This comprised of breaking down all the internal silos that existed within the legal function so that rather than individual lawyers working solely in certain business units, Kim implemented a pooled structure where lawyers now work cross-functionally across all businesses units. This promotes greater co-operation within the broader team, increases the team’s agility, provides more flexibility in resourcing work and provides a great opportunity for lawyers to continue to learn and challenge themselves in new areas. Kim expects that these changes will have a positive impact on the business and lawyers within the team, and he identifies that he is motivated by helping to address climate change needs from within the energy sector. He says, ‘global warming and climate change have forced us to rethink the global energy landscape.

The urgent need to reduce its environmental impact means that implementing a more decarbonised, more decentralised, more digital and more energy-efficient system is necessary. Over the past three years, I am proud to have been involved in successfully implementing ENGIE’s strategic objective of achieving low carbon or zero carbon energy generation. In Australia, this has included the closure or sale of over 2,600MW of brown coal fired generation and the development of new renewable wind and solar projects’. Prior to joining ENGIE, Kim worked as a corporate lawyer at Ashurst in Melbourne and Clifford Chance in London, affording him the experience and nous he utilises in his current position as one of Australia’s most notable in-house energy and utilities lawyers.