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? 

In our business, we have a contracts management team who manage the commercial contracts that are tenders related. Our two contract managers do the initial contract review of the commercial-related terms and then forward the contract to legal for legal review and to finalise the agreement. As an in-house counsel, my role is to review commercial contracts. I found that sometimes multiple agreements would be sent to legal for review, often all with urgent and tight and competing timeframes, and occasionally legal was being consulted unnecessarily. It was becoming challenging to do everything at the same time. So, I needed to make a change to ensure the workflow was done more efficiently so that I could continue to support the contract managers with their commercial contracts and the rest of the business with the general legal work. I initiated a number of meetings to discuss, brainstorm and plan a different way of working. The changes we implemented are: 1) Each request for legal review is made in an agreed and consistent manner. Each contract submitted to the legal team would be accompanied by a request form with key details of the proposed agreement, a clear timeline and whether there is an actual deadline for a tender submission; 2) we put in place bi-weekly calls with the contract management team to discuss any open items, agree on the priorities and be made aware of any anticipated contracts; 3) I also conducted many training sessions to our contract mangers to allow them more autonomy agreed legal terms, agreed deviations depending on specific deals and risk portfolios, so that legal is consulted on matters that are of actual legal risk rather than everything and non-legal items. This new way of working allowed us to have a more efficient workflow system whereby the contract managers are empowered to be more involved in commercial negotiations. Our regular bi-weekly cadence call will enable us to understand, as a team, the priorities and have agreed expectations, which everyone is aware of.  

Transacting within the healthcare industry in Australia is complex. Government procurement is done in various ways. It ranges from statewide panel agreements with the state health departments or the respective local health districts, or it may involve a construction company as the contractor managing the procurement, or it may even be a simple supply agreement with an individual hospital. In addition to this, different state health departments have other processes, contracts, and templates. This new process implemented has had a positive impact on the business, as funnelling and prioritising the work and upskilling our contract management team has meant I can now focus on the more complex healthcare government procurement contracts, given my expertise in this area. 

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

I was recently involved in a significant multimodality supply agreement whereby we supplied various medical equipment to a large hospital as part of its redevelopment. The differentiating factor in this transaction was that the contractor appointed by the hospital was a large construction company, and therefore, our dealings and negotiations were with the construction company. The agreement was a standard construction contract. The challenge and complexity of it was tailoring a construction contract to suit a medical equipment supply arrangement. Utilising my knowledge of the healthcare industry, experience in the supply of medical equipment to the public and private sector, and negotiation and communications skills with the other party, we were able to finalise the transaction successfully. 

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

I care about environmental sustainability and the impact of climate change on our health and planet. We all have a responsibility to consciously think about how we adopt sustainable practices in our daily activities, whether using reusable coffee mugs, opting for green energy or organisations introducing environmental sustainability in their supply chain and manufacturing. Climate change is a real concern, and it affects everyone. The actions we take will ensure we have a sustainable future. 

Recently, I have been fortunate to be involved in sustainability-related procurement contracts, including power purchase agreements. I am very excited about this new area in which I am gaining experience, especially given my interest in this area, and this is the way of the future for all companies and in-house counsel.