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

My role is very broad. I advise on legal issues relating to financial services, consumer law, data and privacy, marketing, IT contracts, digital product creation, IP protection, internal governance, M&A, and more. Significant successes in my role include advising on the creation and implementation of new flagship digital products, getting strategic partnerships in place, ensuring ongoing compliance with regulatory obligations, and being promoted to my current role. I lead the legal team and always strive to support my colleagues by being accessible, responsive, and open to new ideas. I ensure each person in the team gets opportunities to communicate with clients, take carriage of their own matters and continue to develop their areas of interest.

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

Strong in-house legal teams need to truly understand the business. It is a challenge being part of the team and also advising the team. Strong relationships are key. A strong legal team needs to understand the business’s objectives, priorities, and long-term strategic interests to enable it to advise the business effectively. In-house lawyers should be commercially minded and provide pragmatic advice. Managing risk exposure while achieving desired business outcomes is a delicate balance. Of course, strong drafting, negotiation and advocacy skills go a long way, as do a knack for problem solving, an ability to think quickly and a fair bit of resilience.

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

Data. Commercialising it to the extent appropriate while ensuring that protecting it is always a key priority. Keeping pace with ongoing regulatory reform, recent case law and the sector-by-sector roll out of the Consumer Data Right is essential for us. It is so important to keep data security front of mind while advising on new product development. I am always keeping up to date with best practice approaches, market insights and recent tech developments to help the business innovate in a privacy- and security-conscious manner.

Businesses should take care to invest appropriately in security technology, maintain appropriate data governance processes and ensure appropriate risk management systems are in place to manage cybersecurity risks. I proactively provide advice and guidance on how the business can navigate an increasingly complex and security-concerned environment.

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

It is easy to be distracted by the loudest voice or the constant stream of requests for advice. It is a challenge to focus my attention on the high priority matters, which the legal team can add real value to. Determining what to focus on and what to resource can be a challenge. Ensuring that I am well versed in the business’s priorities and strategic objectives, as well as keeping open lines of communication with senior executives is how I overcome this daily challenge.