Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

I recently instituted a monthly external legal spend dashboard, utilising existing financial systems (no additional cost involved). This process identified potential savings of $500k per annum arising from work our team could internalise, instituting fixed fee or alternative fee arrangements, consolidation of work and closer management of external lawyers.  

I recently conducted a review of the high volume, low value works our legal team currently undertakes. This involved reviewing historical disputes and other data to understand the risk associated with various types of work the team is tasked with. Based on this review, I prepared a legal engagement policy which sets out golden rules for how we work as a team. These rules were designed to ensure that our team were focusing their time on strategic or high-risk work where our input was most valued and deprioritising work, which was low value, low risk and unlikely to lead to any sort of legal dispute. This ensured a consistent approach to legal service across the team and significant time savings by removing outdated modes of working that were still being utilised by some members of the team. 

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?  

I am passionate about sustainability. Outside work, I am a member of the advisory board for Frank Green, an Australian company whose mission is stop the manufacture and use of single use plastic. In this role, I have assisted Frank Green grow from a tiny company to one of Australia’s most loved brands, which continues to make a significant contribution to sustainable practices in this country. 

At work, I enjoy working on Cleanaway’s projects that are designed to modernise Australia’s approach to waste including a recent acquisition which is aimed at the possible recycling of used cooking oil into aviation fuel.