General Counsel - ourGC

General Counsel & Corporate Governance

ourGC services:

  • General Counsel and in-house counsel professional legal services and for law firms:

    • All areas of corporate, commercial, government and not-for-profit legal practice

    • Parental leave, holiday and unexpected cover, on-demand corporate counsel legal services

    • Locum in-house counsel placements - short, medium and long-term

    • Projects, investigations, inquiries and specific tasks

  • Commercial, outcomes-focussed, integrated and collaborative

  • Cost-effective, experienced and tailored

  • Highly competitive fee arrangements

  • Agile, flexible, complementary and supplementary to both in-house and firm legal teams or as sole in-house counsel

  • Confidential, strategic Executive, Board, C-suite, and government relations expertise

  • Cultural-awareness, diversity and indigenous affairs expertise

  • Continuing legal education, workplace training, policies and procedures, corporate governance and risk management

Experience

  • Admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1993, with over 30 years’ professional experience

  • Director and Company Secretary, Bar Chambers Pty Ltd (2003-10)

o    17 member barristers’ chambers, Adelaide, South Australia

  • President, Australian Insurance Law Association (SA) (2015-2019)

  • General Counsel & Head of Industrial Relations and Internal Audit, Peregrine Corporation (2016)

o    South Australia’s largest private corporation, 3,000 employees and turnover approx. $2 billion p.a.

  • General Counsel & Head of Governance, Indigenous Land Corporation (2017-18)

o    Commonwealth statutory corporation based in Adelaide, South Australia, 1,500 employees nationally

  • Director, Market Regulation, Government and Conveyance, Waterfind (2020-21)

o    Australian water markets specialists and delivery partner in Australian Government’s $1.5 billion environmental water efficiency and infrastructure programme

  • Senior Legal Advisor (former Deputy Chief Counsel), AAT Dispute Resolution & Litigation, National Disability Insurance Agency (2021-2022)

    • Corporate Commonwealth entity implementing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

  • Senior Lawyer - Practical Law (Corporate), Thomson Reuters (2022-2023)

    • International publisher for legal professionals

  • Senior Legal Counsel, Menzies School of Health Research (2023-)

    • Global and tropical diseases and indigenous health medical health research centre

  • Member of the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Law Council of Australia (LCA), LCA Competition and Consumer Law Committee, the Law Society of South Australia and industry legal professional associations

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Roles and Responsibilities

  • General Counsel/ Head of Legal – lead, in-house legal adviser to Boards, CEOs and C-suite Executives

  • Head of Governance and Company Secretary

  • Legal adviser regarding day-to-day operations and future planning for groups and subsidiaries (including to achieve operational efficiencies and governance improvements)

  • Liaison with, including budgeting for, external legal advisers, experts and consultants

  • Responsible for liaison with Australian regulatory agencies, including legislative reform and submissions, inquiries and investigations, indigenous consultation and State and Commonwealth Departments, Australian Senate, Australian Senate Estimates Committee

  • Responsible for liaison with research, University and administrative agencies, authorities and co-operative research councils (CRCs)

  • Government funding projects for infrastructure, construction, technology, environmental, indigenous and social benefit projects

  • Major publications and services, including annual reports, market analysis and valuation reports

  • Tenders, procurements and consultancies - national and international

  • Negotiation, drafting, performance review and implementation of standard and highly complex contracts, including agency, banking and finance, marketing, mergers and acquisitions, insurance, infrastructure, intellectual property, infrastructure, energy, environmental, information technology, employment, shared services, property, franchise, restructures sponsorship and philanthropy

  • Contracts review, automation and implementation

  • Intellectual property and brand protection

  • Litigation and investigations (internal and external), including commercial, debt, fraud, Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Counter-Terrorism Finance (CTF), Freedom of Information (FOI), public interest disclosure, intellectual property, data protection and privacy, workplace and environmental

  • Mentoring, development, team-building, change management and supervision of in-house Legal, Governance, Internal Audit, Market Regulation, Government Relations, Conveyance, Insurance and Industrial Relations teams

  • Strategic planning and strategic governance

  • Cultural awareness, diversity and inclusion training and programmes

  • Board meetings, minutes, agendas, papers and Ministerial communications

  • Board directors’ inductions, duties and obligations

  • Insurance portfolio and risk management, negotiation and liaison with national and international insurers, brokers, lawyers and claims assessors

  • Industrial Relations, incident response, workplace investigations, internal and external reporting and litigation

  • Internal Audit, process change, incident response, investigations, product liability, internal and external reporting and litigation

  • Workplace policies and protocols, including governance, whole of business reform, parent company/ subsidiary and divisional responsibilities