‘Adam Cooper is a very experienced commercial general counsel and company secretary, heavily relied on by the executive at Flinders Ports Holdings, not just in respect of legal matters, but...

Adrian Quah, deputy general counsel and assistant company secretary at JB Hi-Fi, started his legal career in private practice with Clayton Utz, working his way up from an articled clerk...

Alethea Lee is a senior corporate transactional and commercial legal adviser, with extensive governance and company secretarial experience having developed an extraordinary amount of experience during her career to date....

Alex Butterworth serves as senior legal counsel at McDonald’s Australia, the Australian branch of the world’s leading foodservice retailer, working on legal issues around marketing, sponsorship, IT contracts, digital projects,...

Alexander Staples started his career working in private practice, with a focus on commercial litigation at TressCox (now HWL Ebsworth) and then at Russells. According to Staples, ‘I had a...

Since April 2012, Amanda Devonish has served as senior corporate lawyer and assistant company secretary of Santos, having previously worked in-house and in private practice in Abu Dhabi with Abu...

Having started her legal career in 2013 at Herbert Smith Freehills, Amy Jennings recently assumed the role of senior legal counsel at Tennis Australia, having first moved to Melbourne to...

Nissan is a global full-line vehicle manufacturer that sells more than 60 different models under the Nissan, INFINITI and Datsun brands. It is the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer,...

Barbara Carroll has gained experience as a banking and finance lawyer having acted on a range of high value and complex transactions. She currently serves as an associate director, at...

Bella Manias commenced her career at Golden Casket Lottery Corporation in 2005 as a corporate solicitor specliasing in intellectual property and consumer law matters, and then with Tatts Group in...

Ben Gilbert, a University of Waikato-trained and Sydney-based in-house lawyer, is a commercial attorney supporting global information technology giant Microsoft’s Australia subsidiary. In particular he supports the teams engaged in...

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Nova’s podcast partnership with Acast: at inception this strategic partnership created...

Dentsu Aegis Network is a multinational media and digital marketing communications company headquartered in London, operating in 145 countries worldwide, with more than 50,000 dedicated specialists. The Australian subsidiary of...

‘I would like to nominate Brooke Connell to be included in the GC Powerlist: Australia 2019. She is effectively responsible for the general counsel role at Velocity Frequent Flyer (which...

After six years as a solicitor at MinterEllison, Cameron Laughlin joined Uber in Sydney in January 2018 as an employment counsel covering Australia and New Zealand. In this short time...

Catherine Morrongiello Conte is the senior corporate counsel and privacy officer at Toyota Motor Corporation Australia. She is an experienced lawyer, with over 10 years PQE, largely in corporate in-house...

‘Craig Emery has led a team through significant restructure and change, with a strong focus on the legal function supporting the strategic vision of the business into the future’.

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? For BT’s Australian business, we are very happy with the work...

‘One of the most important financial entities in the Australian economy, the ASX is the primary securities exchange in Australia and is one the world’s most notable, being listed amongst...

Daniel Wall is the senior legal counsel and company secretary at Infomedia, a publicly-listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange and a leading supplier of information solutions to the parts...

‘David Dwyer is general counsel of all of Unilever’s Southeast Asia and Australasian businesses, and is a member the legal leadership team and Southeast Asia leadership team. He manages the...

Serving as senior legal counsel – manufacturing and logistics at Cochlear, a listed medical device company, Deeksha Kumar is a corporate lawyer with rich cross-jurisdictional experience. Her career began at...

Pernod Ricard Winemakers is the premium wine division of Pernod Ricard, one of the largest alcoholic beverage companies in the world. Edwina Stevenson joined the company in 2017 and has...

Elisabeth White is responsible for legal matters in her position as legal counsel at Diageo, the global leader in alcoholic beverages with over 200 brands, old and new, large and...

After a number of years in private practice, Emma Roberts found what she calls her ‘natural fit’ as an in-house counsel, first on secondment at BP in Scotland, to AngloGold...

In March 2018, Gary Segal started his current role as senior legal counsel, global banking at HSBC Bank Australia. His in-house career experience is relatively recent but he carries with...

KAPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of KUFPEC, an international oil company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas outside of Kuwait and active...

Gemma Stabler serves as legal manager for shipping and marketing at Fortescue Metals Group, a global leader in the iron ore industry. Stabler worked as a senior associate in the...

Hannah McMurtrie, executive manager, legal at IAG started her career as an articled clerk at King & Wood Mallesons. There, after various rotations throughout the firm, she settled in the...

Haylen Pong’s in-house experience began in Salmat, an ASX-listed marketing company. ‘Very early into my tenure I became an integral part of the legal team, created enduring working relationships across...

With over 15 years’ professional experience specialising in commercial, consumer, competition, IT, IP, privacy, and franchising law, Jaime Frasca is a senior legal counsel at Dell Technologies, covering Australia and...

Jake Elsworthy is a managing counsel at leading global resources company BHP. In this role, Elsworthy provides legal support for strategic commercial activities and transformational projects across BHP’s Australian businesses,...

‘James Hebron now leads one of the largest government departments in New South Wales with the recent merger of the Department of Industry into DPE’.

‘Jaron McVicar joined The a2 Milk Company in November 2016 as its inaugural general counsel. Since that time he has built up a legal team of six lawyers and managed...

Jarrod Woodward works as senior legal counsel at ENGIE, a multinational electric utility company, covering Australia and New Zealand. He started his legal career at international law firm Allens, a...

Employed at Westpac since 2016, Jessica Do – an in-house lawyer specialising in dispute resolution within the company’s in-house legal team – has greatly impressed in her three years at...

Jessie Porteus has served as the legal counsel for Coca-Cola Amatil for four years, working with a multitude of departments in several business units across Australia, advising on everything legal-related...

‘Leads passionate causes within their teams, including the importance of mental health and well-being. [She has been a] key note presenter on tackling the challenges around progressing women in the...

Kate Hasbani, director, real estate and special counsel at WeWork, began working for the company in London in July 2018, and moved home to Sydney with the company in November...

Katie Dillon is a legal counsel at Telstra. Recognised in the industry press as a notable young in-house lawyer, she is a rising star among corporate in-house counsel in Australia....

Kelly Xiao began as a paralegal and then solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills in Sydney and then moved to Alice Yang & Associates Solicitors before taking up her current position...

Kim Schoeman qualified as an attorney at law in South Africa in 2008 and moved to the UK the year after. Whilst in London, she worked in-house at dunnhumby, a...

Kirsty Cargill has been described by nominators as ‘a talented lawyer’ who has led large telecommunications projects including a global data and analytics platform, global telecommunications deals and transformation projects....

Prior to joining Westpac, Kylie Gray was part of the team at King & Wood Mallesons, specialising in technology and telecommunications law. In the last eight years she has held...

During his five years at Newcrest Mining, Lachlan McMurtrie has advised on almost all aspects of the company’s business including exploration and M&A growth activities across a wide range of...

‘Leigh Holder is an exceptionally capable general counsel and has led the process of integrating the Yara Pilbara Group into the broader Yara International Group. This has involved a wide...

Lena Chapple is a part of the Thales Group legal and contracts team, an international network of commercial, contracts, trade, compliance, and legal professionals, who are at the heart of...

Lily Wong joined PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand in 2016 and was soon promoted to senior legal manager in 2017, a leadership role supporting the sales and beverage teams, as...

Goodman is a global industrial property group which owns, develops, and manages industrial real estate in 17 countries including logistics facilities, warehouses and business parks. It is the largest industrial...

Lisa Nguyen, an associate counsel at American Express, has demonstrated excellence in her almost four years at the company and has been recognised as a rising star in the industry...

Healius is one of Australia’s leading listed healthcare companies with a commitment to supporting quality, affordable and accessible healthcare. Its senior legal counsel for employment law Louisa Manfre started her...

Capturing the attention of nominators as well as recently assuming a more senior role within his organisation, Mark Paige has distinguished himself as a member of the Transport for NSW...

Martha Maiorana, senior legal counsel at Axicom Pty Ltd, started her career as a property paralegal and spent 15 years at firms such as Makinson d’Apice, Herbert Smith Freehills, and...

Navitas is a leading global education provider that offers an extensive range of educational services to over 70,000 students across its global network. Rumpus is currently a senior legal counsel...

Matthew Thompson is a highly skilled transactional legal specialist, and leads the corporate advisory internal legal team at the Bank of Queensland. He has a primary responsibility for corporate development...

Having always possessed a passion for sports due to his prior spell as an athlete, Michael Napoli knew he ‘wanted to forge a career as a sports lawyer, as it...

Michael Pinczuk, vice president intellectual property and business partner strategy and ventures at medical equipment company ResMed is a highly skilled lawyer with multinational jurisdictional experience and is a true...

As a member of AIA’s executive committee in Australia and New Zealand – what unique attributes do lawyers bring to this level of management? Historically, the role of general counsel...

Coca-Cola Amatil is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of ready-to-drink non-alcohol and alcohol beverages, coffee and food snacks in the Asia Pacific region, and one of the world’s...

In her current role as legal counsel in the retail Insurance team, Nicole Diepenhorst provides support to the retail and health insurance distribution channels of AIA Australia, which includes the...

Niva Sivakumar, senior legal counsel at Mesoblast, a world leading innovative cellular medicine company, is a talented commercial and IP lawyer from a strong corporate private practice background with a...

WesTrac, a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven Group Holdings, is one of the largest Caterpillar dealers and heavy mobile equipment solution companies in the world. As the senior legal counsel,...

Ria Manguray has been a legal counsel at Tourism Australia since October 2017, supporting the Australian Government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia, both for leisure and business...

‘I would like to nominate Robert Tran to be included in this GC Powerlist. Tran is the general counsel for Nearmap, a fast growing ASX listed company recently admitted to...

In an extremely short space of time – having only undertaken her first in-house legal position in 2014 – Samantha Walker has hugely impressed her peers and the wider in-house...

Sara Hughes serves as a senior legal counsel and in-house lawyer at AccorHotels, one of the world’s leading hotel management companies. She is a commercial lawyer who advises on a...

Sarah Croft began her career at King & Wood Mallesons in Melbourne in 2009 (then Mallesons Stephen Jaques). After three years at KWM, she relocated to Perth and joined Clayton...

AIA’s Australia legal department is brimming with legal talent at all levels, and senior legal counsel Saul Lazar has drawn praise from nominators and colleagues alike for his talent, persistence...

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The acquisition of Catch Group Holdings Limited in June 2019 for...

Simon Kalinowski, senior legal counsel for Springfield City Group, has already demonstrated the potential required for a high-level general counsel role during his time with the public planning and development...

Stefani Russo is a highly skilled commercial technology lawyer at IRESS, an ASX 200, listed global leader in financial technology. She is considered an upcoming lawyer in the technology, media...

Steve Clayton works as a legal counsel at AIA Australia, and is described by a nominating source as a ‘leadership focused corporate lawyer who specialises in group life insurance and...

‘Since commencing operations in 2000, Virgin Australia Group has developed into a real alternative to Qantas. Selected as the acting chief legal officer for the Group while Dayna Field was...

Sylvia Hands, senior legal counsel at Medibank, is an experienced and motivated corporate counsel. She manages a team of three lawyers, providing support to the marketing, sales, product, digital, and...

Tammi Chau is the legal head of property at McDonald’s Australia, providing legal advice on a range of matters, including overseeing and supporting the national development group (NDG) on all...

Theo Dorizac started his legal career in private practice in a small boutique litigation and commercial firm in Wellington, New Zealand where he states he was ‘fortunate to work with...

Theo Kapodistrias, an in-house lawyer supporting the University of Tasmania, has a demonstrated passion for educational and public law which first started during his studies. He was the 2013 president...

Tina Davey joined AIA Australia (AIAA) as senior legal counsel in April 2016. She provides strategic legal support to AIAA’s group insurance channel and shared services teams, and is also...

Toby Yiu joined Australian publicly listed media company Nine Entertainment in 2013 as corporate counsel, and has been working across a number of aspects of the Nine business, including content...

Verity White is a multitalented legal counsel within enterprise consumer contracting at Telstra, supporting large “whole of business” tenders for some of the largest Australian banks and other service providers....

‘Vivian Faraj was appointed general counsel for Svitzer Australia in July 2016. She is responsible for providing legal advice to the board of directors and senior management, as well as...

‘[She is] instrumental in driving strategy. Hub24 is a next-generation service with state-of-the art portfolio management, transaction, and reporting solutions for licensees, financial advisors, accountants, stockbrokers, and institutions’.