Could you tell us a bit about your significant successes in your role?

In May 2020 I was appointed as acting general counsel for REA Group. The first six months in this role I successfully led the legal team and supported the board, the CEO, the executive leadership team and the wider business through a period of unprecedented change and uncertainty at the height of Covid-19.

During this critical period, I excelled in the role, leading the legal team through the departure of the previous general counsel, navigating the legal implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on the business, and remote working. Even with these factors I improved the team’s engagement scores to 94%. We maintained our high standard of support for the business, an achievement that was regularly acknowledged by the CEO. In addition to day-to-day support for the business I advised the board on key governance matters, negotiated complex cross-border M&A transactions, advised on annual results, continuous disclosure and listing rule requirements, defended employee litigation and managed data breaches and regulator engagement.

As part of my core responsibilities, I have advised on a period of transformative M&A activity, including gaining control of housing.com in India; merging our SE Asia business with Property Guru to form the largest SE Asian Proptech company and subsequent $1.8bn de-SPAC listing on the NYSE; the $244m public takeover of Mortgage Choice; and numerous minority investments in Proptech and other start-ups.

I helped to drive the legal team’s functions and awareness, including identifying and contributing to legal team process and learning, improving team culture, articulating team strategy and goals, resourcing and hiring decisions and promoting awareness of the legal team throughout the business.

In your opinion, what are the qualities and skills needed to form a strong legal team?

Communication is an essential skill. Each legal team member directly supports a line of business and operates autonomously. Therefore, communicating current business and legal issues, learnings and solutions across the team not only helps drive greater connection and engagement, but also helps drive better outcomes for our stakeholders.

In addition, the ability to offer strategic, commercial and ethical advice are skills which make our legal team so valued by the business. It requires a different set of skills from those traditionally seen to be remit of in-house lawyers such as creativity, deep commercial understanding, courage and exceptional relationship building and stakeholder management skills.

What challenges have you overcome to get to the position you are in today?

When performing the role of acting general counsel, it was during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic where we transitioned to a fully remote work environment. It was a challenge to start managing a legal team and build new relationships with the executive leadership team — including the CEO— in a fully remote and virtual environment. At the same time, at a personal level, we had recently welcomed our first child, and so I had to navigate a more senior and demanding role whilst juggling new parent responsibilities.