Team size: Five

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

ARN acquired a regional radio business in early 2022 encompassing 46 stations across Australia. The business has grown and changed (for the better!) which brings new challenges. The broadened ARN Legal team has enjoyed learning from one another and about the different businesses.

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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will obviously be a major disruptor to many facets of legal work. It draws obvious comparisons of manufacturing workers in the 80s looking at how robots would alter factory lines. In law, AI will undertake much legal research, drafting and more, so the lawyers will need to adapt their role.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

Media is a relationship driven industry. In-house lawyers must navigate varying relationships with staff, on-air talent, audiences, regulators, shareholders and more. Understanding the full spectrum of risk is also important (especially given some colourful content ideas) and dealing with the pace of queries.