An interview with Courtenay Willis, Chief Counsel ANZ at Nando’s in Australia.
What are the biggest external forces or trends currently shaping your role as General Counsel and how are you responding to them?
Legislative changes (e.g. privacy, climate change reporting, franchising code). To manage this I often pull together working groups within the business to review, understand and operationalise the changes until they can form part of business as usual.
How are you balancing the increasing demands of legal risk management with the expectation to drive business value and strategic insight?
I am part of the Executive Leadership Team in the business which I find crucial to help shape and understand strategy, preferred approach and tolerances which allows me to deliver better insight and manage risks within this framework, particularly with a small team. Understanding the business is foundational to support commercial outcomes and objectives.
What’s one lesson or insight from your in-house journey that you wish you’d known earlier and would share with a fellow GC today?
Relationships, visibility, approachability and accessibility are key. Knowing the law is expected but having the relationships that allow vulnerable, authentic and safe discussions across all areas of the business is what drives success.
