ELIZABETH BRIGGS - PAYPAL AUSTRALIA

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Sydney and studied law at Macquarie University, graduating in 2009. Aside from one year in my professional working career, I have spent my entire legal career working in-house, primarily in financial services and banking. I am currently the Legal Director for PayPal in Australia and act as the Company Secretary for the PayPal Australia Board. I also have a deep passion for mentoring law students and newly admitted lawyers.

I wish I could say that I pursued a career in-house, but I think it pursued me. I always had a love of reading and writing. At school I had my heart set on working in media, perhaps as a journalist or in public relations. My first year of university I was enrolled in a media and communications degree. It was not until the second year of my degree that I added law after being convinced by a friend that we would have more fun if we were to navigate it together, and, very importantly at the time, to help with our car pool arrangements, as we would be on the same schedule. After one year of taking law subjects, I was fascinated, and I felt strongly that this is where I wanted to take my career when I graduated.

In the summer of 2007, I was enjoying university holidays and while laying on a beach soaking up the sun I received a call from a recruiter asking me if I was available that afternoon to answer telephones on the reception desk of a wholesale fund manager and property development firm. I quickly left the beach, put on the only corporate suit I had at the time and a few hours later I was answering phones in the most formal corporate office I had ever stepped in. At around 5pm, the Managing Director came out to the reception and asked me if I could stay and help him with a presentation that needed to be complete by the morning. His assistant had gone home sick. It was a fortuitous meeting and I ended up working with this company for almost five years from that day. When university resumed after the summer had ended, I switched to take my classes remotely for my final two years and worked full time in Funds Management. In the day I would work and at night I would listen to lectures online and write take home exams.

I went through the process of applying for summer clerkships, convinced that if I was not accepted to a top tier law firm, that my legal career would be over before it had even begun. My Managing Director at the time, who I am still great friends with to this day, convinced me that I would learn much more and really enjoy being part of building a business and offered me a role to stay on as a lawyer, which I accepted, turning down a few clerkship roles in the process. It ended up being one of the best career decisions I have ever made. I quickly found a love for working in-house as a lawyer and I was exposed to some of the most significant life and legal lessons navigating a fund manager and property developer through the Global Financial Crisis, in my first year out of law school. Many years later I realise how grateful I am that I made the decision to stay because that role really developed by passion for working in-house as a lawyer.

Since the start of my career I have sought out mentors who challenged and stretched me in new ways of thinking and didn’t just reaffirm what I wanted to hear. My first boss was extremely generous with his time and constantly invited me to meetings with very senior internal and external stakeholders to give me every opportunity to absorb and learn from some of Sydney’s successful lawyers, barristers and businesspeople. He expected a lot of me at a young age, which taught me how to swim calmly in the deep end of a pool in the first few years after completing my degree. The advice I’d share today with my younger self is “the way you approach “ and deliver legal advice is as important as the advice itself.”

I have been fortunate to meet a number of incredible women, both lawyers and non-lawyers, peers and senior executives, throughout my career, many of whom have become very dear friends. We share ideas, challenge and inspire each other, and above all make ourselves available to each other for a quick check in when it is most needed. Since joining PayPal, I have had the privilege of working closely with a number of senior women within the legal team including our International General Counsel.

I have been fortunate enough to mentor several brilliant law students and junior lawyers in the last seven or so years. The wisdom they impart and their passion to bring about positive change in the profession is inspiring. They continue to challenge and teach me. The time we spend together is always incredibly rewarding.

My mentors have persistently held me to a very high standard, which at times has felt overwhelming, but ultimately prepared me so well for the different legal roles I have taken over my career. They have also taught me the enormous value of listening and asking for help when you need it. Most importantly they have taught me the secret to being happy at work, which is to find a company and a role that aligns with who you are and that you are innately passionate about.

Being a part of a business and seeing the impact of your advice on its strategy and growth is incredibly fulfilling. Working in-house also allows you to work alongside people who are not lawyers and approach challenges in very different ways. It’s always exciting to be stretched and pushed on a particular approach. The work an in-house lawyer engages in has astonishing breadth. I feel like every day there is an interesting challenge and an opportunity to learn something new.

I find it disappointing that law students continue to feel that they must undertake a clerkship and graduate program at a top tier law firm to have a successful legal career. Whilst the training received during those programs is excellent, I do not believe that it’s a mandatory step. There is much work that we, as in-house lawyers need to do, to ensure that law students understand the incredible opportunities and varied career paths that are available to lawyers who train and work in-house. I think it is also incumbent on senior in-house lawyers to carve out junior roles in their teams to ensure these opportunities are available to junior lawyers.

The advice I’d share today with my younger self is “the way you approach and deliver legal advice is as important as the advice itself.” As an in-house lawyer your clients are often non-lawyers who have little legal training or background. The way you approach their legal dilemma and the way that a solution is presented, is just as critical as the advice that is ultimately provided. This feedback was hard to hear at the time (after I had just provided what I thought to be a very technical, precise piece of advice to an internal stakeholder in marketing) but it completely changed the way that I go about solving challenges and assisting business stakeholders to understand how to navigate complex legal issues.