20 | ACC AUSTRALIA Women in the House
RUBY A N A N D A J AYA S E K E R A M SENIOR LEGAL COUNSEL G L O B A L L I T I G AT I O N ( A S I A PA C I F I C ) SHELL AUSTRALIA I consider myself a global citizen; I have Sri Lankan heritage, I was born in Canada, I spent my childhood in Africa, migrated to Australia when I was 13 and I’m lucky to call Australia home. I am married to Ned, an architect, and we have a wonderful daughter, Annika, who is now ten. We all work together to support and enable a dual career family. I love great coffee, food and wine, travel, walking, yoga, time with my family and have found a new hobby during the recent lockdowns in Melbourne, gardening. I am currently Senior Legal Counsel, Global Litigation (Asia Pacific) at Shell, responsible for managing disputes in Australia and NZ, as well as more complex matters in Asia Pacific. This role provides me with the opportunity to work with people from all around the world and learn about doing business in different cultures. The majority of my career has been at Shell in various legal roles, spanning international arbitrations, to cross-border M&A, as well as operational legal roles. Prior to Shell, I was at Allens Linklaters for five years, where I learned from some of the best lawyers in Australia. When I was young, I thought I wanted to be a doctor because my parents wanted me to be a doctor (they considered medicine to be the most noble
