2009 CLANZ Awards
All the right moves
Less than four years after moving in-house, Sarah Carstens found herself accepting the CLANZ - Bell Gully Young Corporate Lawyer of the Year Award. She talks to Craig Sisterson about the attraction of in-house work
Young lawyers need to discover what type of work they are truly passionate about, says Sarah Carstens, Corporate Counsel with ANZ National Financial Banking Group (ANZ). Four years ago, Carstens, who won the CLANZ – Bell Gully Young Corporate Lawyer of the Year Award (Young Lawyer Award) at the recent CLANZ Conference, was working in private practice. In hindsight, she sees that she was working hard and getting good performance reviews, but “wasn’t that passionate”. At the time, she just realised she wasn’t keen on finishing the road to partnership, so she looked around for other more fulfilling options, and settled on an in-house role with ANZ. “Now that I work in-house, I’m hugely passionate about … and really enjoy my role. It’s one of those things you probably only realise once you’re in a role you’re passionate about… how much more satisfying it is.”
Carstens’ quick rise amongst the in-house ranks of the legal profession shows what can be achieved when talent combines with passion. She was nominated for the prestigious Young Lawyer Award by Debra Blackett, General Counsel and Company Secretary for ANZ. “Sarah is an inspiration to young – and old – corporate counsel everywhere,” said Blackett in her nomination. “Her transition … from private practice lawyer to in-house counsel seemed effortless… [She] quickly developed the full range of non-legal skills required to excel in-house, and has gone from strength to strength, winning the confidence of senior executives and day-to-day client contacts alike.”
It is the importance of those ‘non-legal skills’ that Carstens particularly enjoys when it comes to working in-house. “I’m quite collaborative… I’m quite sort of strategic and big picture. And I really enjoy working with people.” She notes the traction that the legal team has with the management and business stakeholders of ANZ when it comes to managing legal risk, and even the identification of other risks. “The business is really buying into its risk management.”
She’s looking to further develop her own non-legal skills by using the $5000 prize for professional development, which accompanied the Young Lawyer Award trophy, on “a leadership-type course, as opposed to putting it towards postgraduate [legal] study”.
Many have already seen her growing leadership skills. Carstens “juggles an extremely demanding portfolio, acting (amongst other things) as de facto general counsel of two very active and significant subsidiaries of [ANZ]”, noted Blackett in her nomination. “Somehow she also manages to fit in an awful lot outside of work as well.” One part of that ‘awful lot’ of extracurricular activity is Carstens’ ongoing involvement with the Auckland Women Lawyers Association, of which she is the newly appointed President.
As well as passion, Carstens believes it’s important for lawyers to feel part of something bigger, and where possible “to give something back”.
Contributing to our communities
Cameron Madgwick, winner of the 2009 CLANZ Wigley Community Contribution Award, talks to Craig Sisterson about the possible reemergence of a volunteer culture
Lawyers are uniquely placed to make meaningful contributions to serve their communities, says Contact Energy Senior Legal Counsel Cameron Madgwick. The winner of the CLANZ Wigley & Company Community Contribution Award at the recent CLANZ Conference held in Christchurch, Madgwick himself volunteers at both the Wellington Community Law Centre and the Laura Ferguson Trust.
He first became involved with the Community Law Centre as a law student at Victoria University of Wellington, and 15 years on, is still rostered on “about once a month”. As well as serving as a volunteer in terms of providing legal advice, Madgwick now also assists the Community Law Centre from a governance standpoint, serving on the Board for the past two years and has recently been appointed Chair.
Madwick became involved in the Laura Ferguson Trust, established in 1967 to provide an alternative to institutionalised care for people with disabilities, through his sister-in-law, who is a resident in its Wellington-based hostel (which provides facilities and some assistance with day-to-day living, while allowing its residents to retain as much independence as possible). “For quite a while, I was involved in various social activities they were doing,” says Madwick, who then became involved at a Board level two years ago.
It was his longstanding and ongoing commitment to such community organisations, spending numerous hours of his time contributing his skills every month, that earned Madgwick the CLANZ Award. “There are definitely things we can all do,” he says.
He notes that lawyers can help community organisations in a wide variety of ways, but it is in the area of governance that those with legal training may be able to provide key assistance that isn’t otherwise readily available for such groups. “We all have some pretty valuable skills that we learn over time that most community organisations would gain benefit from.”
Many of his colleagues at Contact Energy are also involved in the community, from coaching youth sports teams to volunteering at the Community Law Centre. “Contact encourages staff helping out in the community and advocates a work life balance,” says Madgwick. Another member of Contact’s legal team, Rosemary Dixon, won the CLANZ award a couple of years ago.
Madgwick believes, or at least hopes, that New Zealand society as a whole is beginning to rediscover the importance of volunteerism, and individuals becoming more entwined within their local communities. “I do sense there is a growing desire for people to establish or reestablish relationships with their community,” he says.
As for the $7000 monetary prize that accompanied the CLANZ award, Madgwick has chosen to donate it to the Wellington Community Law Centre. Even with the Government’s recent reprieve in terms of the threat to community law centre funding levels, Madwick notes “this money will greatly assist the Wellington Community Law Centre to achieve its goals”.
More than technical expertise
Vanessa Oakley, winner of the 2009 CLANZ LexisNexis Corporate Lawyer of the Year Award, talks to Craig Sisterson
Technical expertise is merely one important ingredient in the recipe for becoming an exceptional corporate counsel, says Vanessa Oakley, General Counsel for Group Regulation, Competition and Litigation at Telecom. Oakley, who received the CLANZ LexisNexis Corporate Lawyer of the Year Award at the recent CLANZ Conference in Christchurch, says that having a great understanding of your organisation, and keeping a focus on creating, nurturing, and leading a highly skilled team, are key requirements for senior in-house counsel.
An inherent risk for lawyers, says Oakley, is that “they can get so into the technical issues that all their time is taken up on those, and they potentially don’t invest enough time in bringing the people in their teams along with them, and developing those people for their organisation”. One of the humbling things about the CLANZ award for Oakley was that it was a group of such people that submitted her name for the award; several current and former colleagues and employees got together and made the nomination.
“Her employees like working for her, respect her, and like her,” said the nomination, which noted the high level of support Oakley gives the teams reporting to her, even when she had to perform her own role and “fill the gap for an extended period” while the pending appointment of two senior staff was finalised. “She goes well and truly above and beyond the call of duty, working tirelessly to ensure that business receives high quality, timely legal advice and support. Her work ethic is legendary.”
Oakley, who started out doing prosecution work for the Ministry of Fisheries before shifting to telecommunications regulation roles while on her London OE, says she was drawn to practising as an in-house counsel by “the diversity of the people, and the ability to take a wider view than just the law”. But the law, and technical expertise in her specialised area, does still play a key part; even though she has returned to New Zealand, Oakley continues to co-write the EU Communications Law text.
Yet she finds the local telecommunications environment even more exciting and dynamic. “Over a seven-year period, we’ve gone from no regulation to regulation that’s more extensive in [many respects] than even the UK… [F]or that reason, you’re constantly challenged.” It’s an ever-changing technological and regulatory environment that Oakley and Telecom colleagues continually evaluate and learn to harness in ways both legal and practical. The CLANZ nomination noted Oakley “is known for getting straight to the heart of any issue very quickly and providing efficient, customer-focused and solution-oriented advice”.
When it comes to the monetary grant accompanying the CLANZ Award, Oakley is taking her own advice. Rather than enhancing her own expertise through postgraduate study or overseas conferences, she’s planning on investing the prize in “leadership type training” for her team.
NZLawyer, issue 113, 29 May 2009