Michael Guilday

HomeMichael Guilday

About

I have a passion for pursuing excellence in the delivery of in-house legal services and exploring the future of legal services delivery by advancing the role of technology adoption and digital transformation. I also enjoy motivating and mentoring teams, advocating for strategic regulatory and policy advancements, encouraging diversity and innovation, promoting robust and ethical decision making, recognising Australia’s First Nations People, and promoting workplace neurodiversity.

I am highly active within the legal community, being a regular speaker on in-house legal affairs and a member of the judging panels for the Lawyer’s Weekly Australian Law Awards and Corporate Counsel Awards. I am also a member of the Law Society In-House Corporate Lawyers Committee, a NSW Executive Committee member of the Association of Corporate Counsel and a Non-Executive Director of ADHD Australia, a national organisation which aims to improve the lives of people with ADHD and their supporters.

I will bring my wide ranging “in-house” experience to the Law Society Council, to ensure the Society is effective in meeting the needs of all lawyers as well as providing leadership and guidance in areas including governance, risk management and compliance frameworks, insurance, privacy, cybersecurity and data management.

My engagement with the in-house legal community has provided me with a sound appreciation of the issues facing in-house lawyers in particular, including in relation to health and wellbeing, reporting lines and role clarity, maintaining independence, ethical challenges, technology adoption and transformation, and lack of necessary budget and resources.

I also understand that in-house lawyers play a key role in helping organisations to behave legally, fairly and ethically, including by:

  • Maintaining high standards of integrity, honesty and fairness;
  • Supporting good corporate governance;
  • Improving accountability and managing risk;
  • Supporting robust evidence-based and lawful decision making;
  • Supporting good corporate culture and ethical values within the business; and
  • Generally helping businesses to solve problems the right way.

However, in-house lawyers need appropriate support to ensure they can perform their role properly, including by helping them comply with their regulatory obligations.

If elected, I will continue to advocate for realistic expectations to be set around the ability of in-house lawyers to perform their role effectively and independently in light of the overall challenges facing their business at any given time, for example by promoting the need for:

  • Adequate budget, resources, systems and processes to allow in-house lawyers to meet their regulatory obligations;
  • Appropriate reporting lines and governance structures which support the need for in-house lawyers to raise any concerns at Board level;
  • Realistic timeframes to be set for the delivery of legal advice;
  • Appropriate boundaries being put in place around the scope of the in-house legal function in the context of the business more broadly;
  • In-house lawyers to have visibility over the whole of the business, together with access to key decision makers and information which is necessary or relevant to the performance of their functions; and
  • Not penalising or disciplining an in-house lawyers for declining to participate in an activity which they consider poses a risk to infringing their regulatory obligations.

Top Priorities

  1. Supporting health, wellbeing and psychological safety in the profession
  2. Championing clear roles and reporting lines in legal practice
  3. Maintaining independence and resolving ethical challenges
  4. Assisting the profession with technology adoption and practice transformation
  5. Helping address the lack of necessary budget and resources (more for less paradigm)

To ensure the Law Society has diverse and expert leadership, I am seeking election to Council with 5 other lawyers that I encourage you to support.

When you receive the invitation to vote by email, please take a moment to vote for:

If you chose to vote using the ballot paper, when it arrives over the coming days please vote for the above with reference to this “How to Vote”.

Thank you for all you do to build our profession and support your local community!

www.councilelections.com.au
michael.guilday@councilelections.com.au