Team size: 350

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Telstra legal was involved in restructuring of the whole of Telstra group of companies into a contemporary structure with a holding company and component parts organised into domestic infrastructure, domestic customer focussed, and international businesses. Whilst supporting the development of new Telstra businesses, including the Telstra Health business and creation of the Telstra Energy business, we advised on the innovative network sharing agreement between Telstra and TPG to more efficient use spectrum assets and better service customers in urban, regional, and remote areas of Australia. Significant recent transactions have included sale of 49 percent of Telstra’s mobile tower business for $3bn, and acquisition with the Australian government of the Digicel mobile South Pacific business for $1.6bn.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

Prior to the pandemic, Telstra already had in place very flexible work practices, so we were well placed and well-practiced at working flexibly and remotely. The pandemic has driven better discipline into how we work in this way and particularly how we work in a hybrid way as some people return to working from the office. I have found that the pandemic has also provided a different perspective and allowed people to think about their work in different ways. This has led to loads of change in the way people want to work and what they want to do; some have decided to leave and pursue different experiences when others have taken up different roles with us to broaden their experience and others are looking to take long term leave to refresh. We support all these options and have seen great results in an employee engagement which is at an all-time high.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

One of the things that I am most excited about is far automatic of processes and decision making has come and how much more work we will be able to automate or use AI to increase our efficiency and productivity. The other thing that is a little way away but something to watch is how we use Digital Twin technology to better inform decisions with different scenario planning played out using technology. It is an exciting future. Aside from technology, we have seen a significant shift in the expectations of legal teams to advice not just on what we can and cannot do legally but what the organisation should do.