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

At Vocus, I joined a high functioning legal team with strong, supportive, and caring leaders. As senior legal counsel, I stepped into and shaped a mentoring role, providing guidance and mentorship to more junior members of the team. Being recognised as a go-to person for sticky contractual negotiations, shaping broad indemnities or dealing with difficulty liability caps. I have had the opportunity to work on a variety of challenging matters including litigation, commercial and corporate work. I love my job, but my other passion is the work I do on the diversity and belonging – cultural awareness committee. I drive change through building engagement and thus increasing awareness about the importance of discussions which inform and celebrate our differences, challenging the status quo. Australia has one of the most diverse populations in the world. The onus is on us to create a workplace where people feel safe, valued, and counted and I am proud to be driving that change. Encouraging and valuing diversity of thought and the benefits that has for the legal team and the organisation more broadly.

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

A strong legal team is one that is aligned with the goals of the organisation and works with the business in achieving those goals, providing guardianship to doing business transparently and responsibly and playing a key role in helping to manage an organisation’s risk. A strong legal team is also one that pre-empts challenges, devising solutions before being asked to, and keeps an eye on the longer-term strategic trends that are shaping legal challenges for the future. A strong legal team thrives because each person is valued for their individual qualities, strengths and skills and each member is given opportunities to grow and develop. It is a team which builds strong relationships and engages proactively with other teams, partnering to achieve success.

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

Having moved country a number of times in the past few years, including back to Australia in 2014, I have had to establish myself professionally several times. This has included adjusting to different work practices and legal norms, for example across Egypt, the UK, India, and Australia. Working for fast-paced telecommunication operators, I have had to learn to be agile and adaptive to business pressures and constantly changing commercial circumstances, forcing me to become more versatile in my understanding of legal options and solutions. I have had to learn how to better collaborate with partners in the business and more widely, working to solve issues together but also learning to know when to be firm on matters of legal importance which cannot be underestimated. As a working mother and wife, I have also had to address important personal challenges, including a traumatic accident in India, moving countries several times, and finding the right way to settle back into the Australian market.