Q&A: Gillian Wong – "With any disruption there will be opportunities created along with changes to existing ways of practising"

In our latest Q&A, Association of Corporate Counsel Australia (ACC) national president Gillian Wong discusses her goals as head of the in-house lawyers’ association, the importance of continuing to promote diversity, and why NewLaw firms need to do more to promote their services.

The shift in power from traditional law firms to in-house legal teams has been significant in recent years. What impact has this had on your members and their careers?

“It’s an exciting area to be in. I find that the lawyers who work in-house love the challenges that they’re presented with on a daily basis and they enjoy the satisfaction of being trusted business advisors.”

So satisfaction levels are very high?

“Yes. The ACC global survey of chief legal officers in 2016 found that 82 per cent of chief legal officers stated they were satisfied with their current roles, so there’s a really high level of professional job satisfaction within the sector. I think this is due to the fact that being in-house enables you to advise key executives, participate in strategic corporate issues and focus on strategy development – and, in general, being much closer to the business.”

You were appointed national president of ACC Australia late last year for a two-year term. How is the role going?

“It has been a wonderful experience. I feel very honoured to be national president, and it’s a very exciting time for the association following our alliance with ACC’s global body.”

Yes, the creation of ACC Australia last July through a merger between the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and Association of Corporate Counsel’s international network must give your group a lot of clout.

“Yes, in joining ACC Global we’ve now effectively joined an international network of more than 40,000 in-house counsels around the world, so it’s a great opportunity for our members to network with their global peers.”

As national president, what goals are you hoping to achieve?

“The issues I’d really like to focus on are promoting diversity and inclusion within the profession, and also promoting innovation and disruptive technologies within the legal sector.”

You must have a good sense of how we are faring on the diversity front, given your current role as Manager Legal & Deputy Company Secretary at gold producer St Barbara Limited and through previous legal positions at National Australia Bank and King & Wood Mallesons. What are you seeing?

“Diversity in the legal progression is something I’m really passionate about and I have a really strong commitment to challenging the status quo to increase diversity and inclusion in minority groups. In terms of gender diversity in the in-house profession, it’s much more favourable than in private practice. Forty-two per cent of organisations have a woman as their most senior legal officer, and within ASX 200 companies 33 per cent of the heads of the legal function are women. So the in-house profession is an exciting place to be in terms of diversity and I’d like to see the in-house profession play more of a major role in shaping the diversity landscape within the profession as a major purchaser of legal services.

We are already seeing organisations such as Telstra and Microsoft requiring their panel firms to report on diversity in male and female barrister briefings, and to demonstrate their commitment to flexible work practices and promotion of partners from more diverse backgrounds. This is consistent with trends in North America and I expect in-house counsel in Australia will start to demand more action in this space from private law firms who want to win more work.”

Why do you think the in-house legal profession is outperforming private practice in terms of diversity?

“There are a few things, but a really significant factor is flexible working practices within in-house teams. Firms that are committed to the traditional way of billing and timesheets, rather than focusing on results and outcomes, necessarily lead to less-flexible work practices. For a while now, corporate boards have been valuing diversity, including having more women on boards. Importantly, corporates understand there is additional business and value creation when you have a more diverse set of leaders.”

Diversity, of course, goes beyond gender. What other changes would you like to see?

“I agree that we also need to do more work to support other minority groups such as LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people). At ACC, my major focus initially will be on gender diversity but, for example, we have been working with the Asian Australian Lawyers Association on what we can do to improve awareness and inclusion of other minority groups.”

You mentioned innovation and disruption as another key focal point for your term. How are in-house legal teams responding to technology advances and challenges?

“We are already seeing in-house legal teams beginning to use a lot more legal operations staff and looking at legal software systems. For example, in our recent 2016 ACC Australia Trends Survey we found that 22 per cent of respondents have introduced a new software tool into the legal team in the past 12 months – and that’s huge. So it’s an area in which we are seeing our members really start to engage in terms of looking at technology to do more with less and to try to be more efficient in the work that we do.”

There has been a lot of discussion in the legal sector in the past couple of years about how technology could take over from legal jobs. Does that worry you?

“I don’t think it will necessarily cut down on legal jobs. What it will do is create new markets and new legal jobs. With any disruption, there will be opportunities created along with changes to existing ways of practising.”

The Trends Survey pointed to a lack of awareness within in-house legal teams of NewLaw service models. What role do you see for NewLaw firms?

“In this fast-paced environment, general counsels have to be flexible with how they manage their resources and legal teams so they can increase productivity and efficiency. But what the survey shows us is that many legal teams are finding it difficult to dedicate the time to understanding the choices that are available within the New Law model. Our survey shows that 70 per cent of respondents were not familiar with NewLaw models and only 14 per cent indicated that they used the NewLaw model within the past 12 months. So NewLaw firms need to be continually educating in-house counsels, not only about their offerings but also about the benefits of using their services.”

So it sounds as though the failure to embrace NewLaw firms is more about an education gap in the market, rather than a deliberate move by in-house legal teams to reject such firms.

“That’s right, and it’s a constantly evolving field. You only need to look at examples outside the legal industry, such as (car-sharing business) Uber, to see that it doesn’t take much for a tipping point to occur and for change to rapidly make its way through an industry.”

What other findings did your Trends Survey highlight?

“Clearly, the Asian Century is continuing and we are still seeing a lot of our members having to support their businesses in the Asia-Pacific region. Over 50 per cent of our member organisations who responded to the survey operate in the Asia-Pacific region, so that growing globalisation of businesses is going to play an important part of in-house legal practice.”

For more information on the Association of Corporate Counsel Australia, visit acla.acc.com.