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

One of my significant successes has been the continued delivery of a high-quality legal function throughout the changes brought about by Covid-19. From the early days of uncertainty through to fatigue brought on by continued lockdowns, our team has stayed motivated to continue supporting our business through these changes. We have responded flexibly to ensure that the needs of individual team members are being met, while also ensuring that our service delivery has continued unabated (and in many cases, stepped up to meet new challenges facing our business). As a result, we have come through the pandemic as a stronger and more cohesive team, who are able to adapt more quickly to change on both the legal and work environment fronts. This has also allowed us to attract talented individuals who appreciate the support and flexibility our hybrid working model provides.

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

We are fortunate to have a legal team comprising highly talented and motivated lawyers with strong experience across our business needs. A key skill is being able to continue to drive and motivate the team to deliver excellent legal work, while at the same time achieving a good work-life balance to ensure that energy and focus levels are maintained. The past two and a half years have also demonstrated the need for flexibility and an adaptive mindset to respond not just to a challenging and developing legal and regulatory landscape, but also to changing work practices and increased remote working. Our success is attributable to ensuring that the team is supported through these changes, but also challenged to develop their skills and knowledge to respond to change.

What is the biggest risk to your industry or organisation and how are you contributing to prepare your organisation for this?

The energy industry is at the forefront of global decarbonisation efforts, and one of our biggest challenges is continuing to deliver affordable and reliable electricity supply through the transition to net zero. Our legal function has a key role to play, given the highly regulated nature of the electricity sector, and we are leading discussions around regulatory reform to enable grid innovation and prepare for decentralised energy generation. We are also key to developing the relationships with our procurement and R&D partners who are supporting us in the net zero journey. We also need to help the business prepare to meet new opportunities, such as the development of renewable energy, and manage the developing risks that come with those opportunities.

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

When I joined Ausgrid’s legal team, the legal function was not well respected in the organisation and had a reputation for creating blockages. I needed to completely turnaround our work practices to develop trust within the organisation for the legal function and earn us the right to take part in key conversations and decisions. This required me first to deliver on my promises and show that the legal function can be a facilitator by balancing risk with commerciality. Proving that the legal function can be trusted and help drive the business forward has led to us becoming a key partner to the strategic development of our organisation.