SESHANI BALA - CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

S E S H A N I BALA

G R O U P E X E C U T I V E , G E N E R A L C O U N S E L & CORPORATE ASSURANCE

C H A R T E R E D A C C O U N T A N T S AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

I’m of Sri Lankan descent and have lived in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Moving around so much while I was growing up made me develop a flexible and resilient approach to life and change in general. I love trying new things, doing things differently and I find innovation and disruption both exciting and energising! This has impacted my approach to work, being a lawyer and becoming an in-house lawyer.

When I was in school, I wanted to be a fashion designer! I loved art, design and photography. In school, I focused on the traditional maths and science subjects and then decided I needed a complete change when I started law school.

I assumed I would stay in private practice for the remainder of my career but when I got my first in-house offer, I was curious “ to find out about ‘life on the other side’! After I went in-house, I never looked back!”

After graduating law school and getting admitted to the bar in New Zealand, I worked at top tier corporate law firms in Auckland and Sydney as an M&A and private equity lawyer. I assumed I would stay in private practice for the remainder of my career but when I got my first in-house offer, I was curious to find out about ‘life on the other side’! After I went in-house, I never looked back! After several FMCG roles, I moved to my current in-house role in the professional services and education industry where I head the Corporate Assurance division (legal, governance, risk and compliance).

While I enjoyed the fast-paced deal work in private practice, I never had deep visibility of core commercial operations (e.g. supply chain, product delivery, etc) across their full business life cycle or experienced their enterprise impact. A couple of private practice clients suggested that I should go in-house. My first in-house role was in a global FMCG company where my remit extended across 43 countries. This was an uphill learning curve, but I loved the breadth of exposure to legal, risk, compliance and governance matters, the opportunities to gain a deep understanding of the relevant industry and provide holistic business solutions rather than siloed legal advice. Moving in-house forced me to give business-ready advice in a format that’s easy to digest, practical and timely. I had to quickly learn how to get comfortable with the ‘grey’ areas and help the business navigate a pathway that delivers commercial outcomes.

Three things that have had the biggest influence on my career are great mentors, my cultural background and upbringing and getting fantastic exposure to international work in offshore markets. I’ve been privileged to have had some great mentors throughout my career. They’ve been critical in providing words of wisdom, guidance and encouraging me to find my voice and make it heard. My cultural background has opened my eyes to embracing differences and pushing for change. This has shaped my views on how we can do law differently and has made me passionate about ensuring that my inhouse legal teams both champion and reflect diversity and inclusion to deliver the best outcomes for business. Having great exposure to international work helped reveal the importance of building cultural intelligence, relationships and soft skills to effectively influence and deliver successful business outcomes.

What I love most about working in-house is being able to push the boundaries! In-house lawyers are uniquely placed to drive change and champion issues that go to a corporation’s fundamental social licence to operate (e.g. ethics, trust, sustainability, corporate culture, etc). Lawyers who have multi-disciplinary The opportunities are endless for in-house lawyers that have a growth mindset and are passionate about being a strategic “ partner to their business.”

expertise across legal, governance, risk, compliance and technology can shape process synchronisation to drive efficiency, manage risk and leverage data and technology to enable quick scaling of operations. The opportunities are endless for in-house lawyers that have a growth mindset and are passionate about being a strategic partner to their business.

I also love working with all our amazing stakeholders. Being an in-house lawyer has given me opportunities to form long-term relationships with a wide range of stakeholders across the business. Relationship building is so important in-house. If there is a problem, or a potential problem, our business knows that we are their trusted advisers. It’s also a fantastic lifelong learning experience as our stakeholders teach us so much, beyond the law!

I enjoy solving problems, finding a clear path through chaos and working with the business to deliver strategic and operational roadmaps – being in-house offers endless opportunities to do this through a commercially pragmatic lens.

2020 has been a year like no other – COVID-19 has had a huge impact on people and businesses across the globe. We have seen the law change rapidly in such a short period of time in response to the pandemic. My in-house legal team operates across six jurisdictions in Asia-Pacific and the UK and we have never been so busy! I’ve loved working with our in-house lawyers – they have a wide purview, with industry, commercial and digital savvy, and have been critical in enabling our business to rapidly pivot to digital delivery while managing risk at pace.

In saying that, managing high volumes of work, competing priorities and risks is a constant challenge. I thought I would become an expert at managing this as my career progressed, but I haven’t found the answer yet, it’s a constant juggle! There are also lots of meetings, and in the current environment, we’re all experiencing general Zoom-fatigue! There’s definitely an opportunity to cut down meetings, create more ‘thinking time’ during the day and find a more efficient way of managing the inbox.

Often, the loudest voice in a room or at the decision-making table isn’t always the right one and the quieter voices aren’t heard “ – which is why we need to focus on creating more inclusive teams and workplaces!”

One piece of advice I would give my younger self is “trust your judgment.” If you have considered all the options and likely scenarios, assessed the risks and formed a view on an issue, voice your opinion and make sure it’s heard. Often, the loudest voice in a room or at the decision-making table isn’t always the right one and the quieter voices aren’t heard – which is why we need to focus on creating more inclusive teams and workplaces!