GEORGETTE APOSTOLOPOULOS - DELIVEROO AUSTRALIA

I am a Melbourne based lawyer with a colourful and interesting history in government and commercial in-house roles. My current role as the principal legal counsel at Deliveroo Australia allows me to combine my passion for the law with my interest in contributing to policy and legislative reform. It’s exciting and challenging (for which I am very grateful especially in a year where hobbies are ‘cancelled’). Although I am the only commercial counsel in Australia, I am surrounded by a vibrant global team of Deliveroo in-house counsel.

Aside from a fleeting moment as a child when I thought I would grow up to be an inventor (of ‘cool things’), the first pivotal moment in my legal career occurred when I was eight years old. Rather than always getting into trouble for debating with my parents, my family planted the seed that if I became a lawyer, I would get paid to argue. This sounded like a great idea to my eight-year-old self and it stuck!

After spending my childhood waiting to become a lawyer, followed by five years at law school, I graduated in the usual fashion. Yet despite setting out on a straight and narrow journey to fulfil my destiny working at commercial law firm (with a great view of the city), I found myself on a very different path.

Much to the dismay of my family and others who knew me, I joined Customs (Border Force). Over the next few years, I worked as a customs investigator, pursuing the evidence in relation to various illegal activities concerning the Australian border. Whether it was the unauthorised importation of weapons, steroids or other banned ingredients, I was involved in obtaining and executing warrants, interviewing persons of interest and making arrests. I even had a badge (and no, I was never on Border Security).

Once an investigation was complete, I would often be required to brief counsel if charges were justified. After all, that part of the case - preparing the legal arguments for the court - was a task for the lawyers. Yet letting the matter go so that a lawyer could take carriage of the case didn’t sit well with me; and my interest in intellectual property had continued to grow in spite of my exposure to criminal law. Being connected to the legal system was not enough. I decided it was time to get back on track with my goal of being a lawyer.

My interest in working as an in-house lawyer certainly was not by my own making or design; nor is it where my days as a lawyer began. I started at the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office (VGSO) where I had the opportunity to contribute to high profile commercial matters. Not only were the matters interesting, I had great exposure to clients and drew on my previous experience at Customs to build trusted relationships.

Eventually, the law firm required me to undertake a part-time secondment with a client (and at the time I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted an in-house experience – the fact is I’d never contemplated an in-house role). Once based at the client’s office, I realised how much fun it was to practice law when working alongside my clients, in an One of the great challenges of in-house roles is juggling the balance of being a trusted, commercially savvy business “ partner, with the key obligation of providing frank and independent legal advice to the company and its employees – who are also your colleagues.”

environment that allowed me to see the outcomes of the legal advice I was providing on a daily basis. Once I’d had a taste of law in-house, I didn’t look back.

Three things that have had the biggest influence on my career have been taking a chance on interesting opportunities, having great mentors and working with people who believed in me.

At the VGSO, I was allocated to work with special counsel, Isabel Parsons, an accomplished IP expert with a remarkable legal career as a partner in a top tier firm, as a barrister, as an in-house lawyer and then in government. Isabel wasn’t just my boss – she became my mentor, and remains my mentor and friend to this day, even though we haven’t worked together for almost 10 years (when you find a good mentor, hang on to them). Isabel taught me the value of genuinely collaborating and connecting with clients and colleagues at all levels.

When I joined Macquarie Media (now Nine Radio) in an in-house role some years after VGSO and with a wealth of experience in commercial government in-house roles, it was my first legal role completely outside the public sector. Looking back, I need not have been nervous at the switch I was making. Alessandra Steele, my manager and general counsel at the time, always made me feel capable and believed in me. If you manage people, do it with this type of positivity.

One of the great challenges of in-house roles is juggling the balance of being a trusted, commercially savvy business partner, with the key obligation of providing frank and independent legal advice to the company and its employees – who are also your colleagues. A reason that I love working in-house is that I am often involved in the action rather than providing discrete or detached advice. But working inhouse adds an additional layer of involvement (and complexity) in supporting the business with its commercial decisions.

Our responsibility to provide sound legal advice, that both protect the interests of the company (who is also your employer) and facilitates its commercial and innovative endeavours, can lead to some wellmeaning tensions on occasion.

If I could go back in time and share one piece of advice with my younger self, I’d remind myself not to take it personally if a colleague isn’t thrilled about adjusting their plans to take into account the legal advice– after all, they are probably just as passionate about their work as you are about yours!

Oh and one other thing: take up more opportunities to attend conferences and training on areas of law you are interested in or need to learn more about – you will always have too much on ‘at the moment’ and your colleague will almost invariably need that contract yesterday.