About

McDonald’s Australia operates a vast network of both directly-owned and franchised fast-food restaurants. Australia is something of a test-bed for new products for the fast-food giant, and recently meal innovations created and rolled out in Australia – including those based around providing more expensive premium burgers – proved so successful they were replicated internationally. In part due to innovations like these the company reported a 6.6% increase in sales globally for the six months leading up to June 2017. Craig Cawood, senior vice president and general counsel, is in charge of the McDonald’s Australia legal team and enjoys vast experience in the field, having had over six years with McDonald’s, prior to which he was chief legal officer for Australia, New Zealand and Asia for competitor Yum! Restaurants. In addition to his contribution, other standout members of the legal team include senior legal counsel Tammi Chau and Alex Butterworth, both of whom manage sub-teams of other lawyers within the legal department. Chau’s specialist expertise lies in real estate acquisition, asset management and portfolio issues, while Butterworth and his team focus on the commercial side of the McDonald’s Australia business, though he is also touted as a digital and IT specialist. The varied skillset of these and other members of the McDonald’s Australia in-house legal team mark them out as among the standout legal functions within Australia.