About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

I have provided leadership and advice in relation to group issues and also regarding the businesses of Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) in multiple geographies on regulatory matters, safety incidents, disputes and strategic opportunities.

Work relating to obtaining gas to ensure the ongoing operation of IPL’s Brisbane fertiliser plant, and the continued employment of several hundred people at the facility, has been a significant focus for the last few years. IPL was involved in an innovative gas tender process issued by the Queensland Government with the intent of releasing gas reserves for supply to Australian manufacturing. Through partnering with a gas producer and supplier, IPL has secured affordable gas to enable its plant to operate for another three years, and has formed a separate joint venture with a small gas producer to facilitate work on the acreage granted, which may provide a longer term viable gas supply to support IPL’s manufacturing operations. My team played a key role, as part of the project team advising on the innovative solutions and the complex negotiations, in these fast-moving transactions.

A once in 100 year rain event in North Queensland in January 2019 caused widespread damage to rail infrastructure, which ultimately caused IPL to lose in excess of A$100m in earnings. My role encompassed not only legal and compliance advice but also a broader involvement working with the team to implement alternative arrangements to mitigate the impacts of the situation.

Given the impending maturity of a 10 year US$800m 144A bond, IPL has in the last two years issued debt in the Euro Medium Term Note market, with a Singapore listing, and in the Australian Medium Term Note market. Additionally, a US$500m note issue is under way in the US private placement market, which will complete the refinancing of the 144A bond.

In your management of a multinational and multijurisdictional legal team, how do you ensure smooth communication and cooperation with employees based in different locations?

Collaboration, trust and respect are key to ensuring that legal matters in various parts of IPL’s operations are communicated and managed appropriately. It has been important to build a rapport with our lawyers in other jurisdictions, and to ensure that we discuss, as a broader team, issues that are of wider application.

I also have in place governance processes that ensure key legal and commercial matters are coordinated and communicated with key owners and other relevant people across the organisation and, importantly, we actively manage the forward risk of these matters.

What additional aspects, in addition to purely legal advice, do you think in-house lawyers should aim to provide to their respective businesses?

Legal advice and risk mitigation have always been core components of what lawyers do, but our role is far broader than that, in working with key stakeholders across the business and engaging with external parties.

My role involves providing advice having regard to legal, commercial, compliance, governance and ethical responsibilities across a multi-national business. I advise the IPL board, am a key influencer of IPL’s executive team, a mentor within my own team and the broader business and an adviser to people across the company on both legal and non-legal matters. All in-house lawyers have this broader role to some degree, and they need to regard commercial, ethical and reputational concerns beyond the limits of the law. Importantly, in-house lawyers can and should proactively support the businesses and be part of creating a better solution.

Some skills that lawyers tend to have through their training and experience are also particularly valuable, including negotiation skills, clear thinking, project planning and an ability to draw links between disparate issues in different parts of the organisation where others might not be privy to all pertinent information, or might not appreciate the connections between the issues.

What do you feel is the best way to get more women into in-house legal leadership positions?

Two critical factors are an appreciation of the value of diversity across an organisation, and flexibility.

Where an organisation truly appreciates the value of a diverse group of people, with diverse experiences and perspectives, it becomes both easier and more appealing for women to seek leadership positions. Where this is a priority for an organisation more broadly, it becomes easier to foster female leadership in the legal team. To be clear, diversity is not just a gender issue – the more broadly diversity is viewed, the better, and a vital facet of this is that primacy must always be given to having the best person for a role, and not selecting on the basis that people tick a particular diversity box; it is important to avoid a sense of tokenism. That can be helped by companies taking a longer-term view to this, by attracting and developing a diverse pool of people in more junior roles and investing in their development over time.

Flexibility has been very important to me, to enable a full commitment to work needs while also meeting personal responsibilities and commitments. I have always worked as hard as is needed, but without being chained to a desk at set hours that would have been unworkable from a personal perspective and also unsuited to a business that has global, 24/7 operations. In my case, a key part of flexibility has also been a willingness and ability on the part of my spouse to share domestic responsibilities equitably.

I have supported team members through periods where they are balancing the needs of young children, and also supported the navigation of caring responsibilities for ageing parents and more general desires to adjust the balance of work at different stages of life.

What are the most significant changes in the in-house legal sector you have observed during your time in practice, and what do you think will define the industry in years to come?

Significant changes I have seen are the rise of in-house legal teams, with a recognition of the value they can bring that external providers cannot, through a deep understanding of a complex business environment; the ever-increasing volume and complexity of regulatory requirements; and the challenges presented by technology particularly in terms of the volume of data being generated and speed of working, and on the flipside the benefits of technology in dealing with repetitive tasks.

In my view the appreciation of the value of in-house legal – in providing not only legal advice but also commercial and reputational advice – is a trend that will continue and be reinforced.