About

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 real desire to make the move in-house, to gain exposure to how a business runs and how commercial decisions are made. I wanted to find a role that would expose me to a number of different areas of the law, which is why the role at Sibelco, a global resources company, appealed to me’. He started at Sibelco in July 2015 as a legal advisor, before being promoted to associate general counsel in January 2017. Over the last year, outside of day-to-day matters, his focus has been on an internal restructure of Sibelco’s lime and limestone businesses, involving the carve out of the business from being an integrated part of the Sibelco Group into a stand-alone entity. This has involved the transferal of mining leases, land, processing facilities, plant and equipment, as well as systems and people. The internal restructure has been done in anticipation of a global sale of the Sibelco group’s lime and limestone business, which includes assets in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Argentina, and Chile. Recently, following a serious workplace injury, Staples has successfully negotiated a WHS undertaking with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. The outcome was an alternative to prosecution and will result in a number of positive initiatives including the production of an educational safety video which will be made available online, safety workshops, and funding to a public health facility. Commenting on the support he would like to see upcoming in-house lawyers receive from their peers, Staples says: ‘Getting constructive feedback is something that I am always eager to receive, whether it be from people in my team, the wider business, or from external counsel that I engage with. I am always looking to improve the way in which I operate’.