The first day of Lawyers Weekly’s virtual conference for in-house lawyers was jam-packed with high-level insights and practical takeaways for attendees.
Corporate Counsel Summit 2020 – a huge success!
Day one of this year’s Corporate Counsel Summit is in the books, with five jam-packed sessions providing attendees with a plethora of guidance and practical tools to bolster one’s professional capabilities in-house.
785 professionals tuned in for day one.
The opening keynote saw Cliff Rosenberg (founder and former managing director of LinkedIn ANZ) and Anna Bagley (group general manager of risk and legal at Programmed) chat about the journey towards corporate leadership in the post-pandemic world, while the second keynote – featuring Relativity chief information officer Andrew Watts – outlined how best GCs can ensure they remain ahead of the game with technological trends, particularly in such a rapidly evolving professional marketplace.
In a spotlight session, LegalVision partnered with Lawyers Weekly to discuss the NewLaw provider’s newly released General Counsel Toolkit, with the firm’s head of legal transformation, Thomas Kaldor, espousing the benefits of three of the resource’s 30 cards to elevate the skills and strategic thinking of in-house legal leaders.
The first panel of the summit saw LOD (the principal partner for the Corporate Counsel Awards) moderate a discussion about the role of senior corporate lawyers in better managing junior professionals in the new normal so as to not only better foster the talents of the emerging generation, but garner a more collegiate and efficient workplace.
In the final session of the day, Lawyers Weekly deputy editor Jerome Doraisamy moderated a discussion with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood GC and chief privacy officer Marion Hemphill and Google Australia and New Zealand director of legal Shoshana Shields about how best legal departments can be navigating the choppy waters of COVID-19 and ensure teams are thriving as we enter a post-pandemic world, particularly with regards to looming regulatory changes and prospective class action proceedings.
Reflecting on the first day of CCS, Mr Doraisamy said: “The second annual summit has been a while coming, and we are thrilled that we’ve been able to get this event off the ground after such a turbulent and uncertain eight months. Our events team has done an extraordinary job in bringing the summit to life.”
“Today’s sessions were just as insightful and illuminating as they promised to be, and we can’t wait for what is to come on the second day of the summit,” he added.
Day one of CCS also saw Nina Komorowski of Deloitte win the daily $500 cash prize. A second cash prize will be up for grabs on day two.
DAY TWO
The second day of Lawyers Weekly’s virtual conference for in-house lawyers was a smorgasbord of tech, marketing, communication and wellness insights, together with some practical fun.
The day kicked off with a panel of “three stellar CEOs”, as Lawyers Weekly editor Emma Ryan put it, providing their insights into meaningful collaboration with the legal department.
Reflecting on the panel, Ms Ryan said: “Megan Motto of the Governance Institute, David Ritter of Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Peter Maloney of GlobalX each brought a unique and diverse background, and this session was able to grasp the many different facets of how best to operate as in-house counsel in the eyes of your employer.”
“Megan, David and Peter were able to utilise their vast experience to identify the top traits legal counsel exude – and the worst they can bring to the business. This provided attendees with key tips on how to enhance their service offering for both now and into the future.
“We thank Megan, David and Peter greatly for their insight.”
Another highlight of the day was The Legal Ethics Game Show, hosted by Julian Morrow from The Chaser, who led a trivia-style CPD session to help legal counsel brush up on their ethical and professional responsibility issues.
According to some of the feedback being received live during the session, it was the most enjoyable and relatable CPD seminar on ethics that attendees had experienced. Although, as Mr Morrow said to Lawyers Weekly deputy editor Jerome Doraisamy post-event, that might not be a very high bar.
The final panel of the two-day summit saw Mr Doraisamy moderate a discussion on in-house wellness with Canon Oceania chief legal counsel David Field, Croesus Holdings Group general counsel and chief strategy officer Garry Taylor and carsales.com.au GC and company secretary Nicole Birman.
“There is so much to talk about with regards to wellness right now, and how legal departments have had to rethink their approaches to staff maintenance in conjunction with broader upheaval to daily operations. Thankfully, GCs appear to be well versed in not only the fundamental importance of ensuring all legal counsel can thrive, but how best to do so across the broader business or organisation,” said Mr Doraisamy.
“Our three panellists were coming at the conversation from different experiences but all wholeheartedly agreed that wellness in the new normal cannot be sidelined or de-prioritised. This is hugely promising for the future.”
Day two of CCS also saw Katherine Staples win the daily $500 cash prize.
Thursday, 5 November also saw the hosting of the fourth annual Corporate Counsel Awards. Click here to see the full list of winners from that ceremony, hosted virtually from Sydney.