Join us on a journey as we dive into the legal realm with Corinna Mitchell. See the path that led her from Australia to the heart of London’s legal landscape and her experiences as a seasoned lawyer. In this interview, we’ll also look into how Corinna has leveraged TechGC to enhance her career and stay ahead in the ever-evolving legal landscape. Welcome to a world of legal innovation and inspiration!

Bold Move

Corinna Mitchell embarked on her legal journey in Australia, where she studied law and trained as an article clerk, a unique training system. She built her career as a lawyer in Australia before making a move to London in the nineties, working in private practice for law firms. However, a turning point came later in her forties when she transitioned to in-house counsel and eventually became a general counsel.

Corinna’s shift from private practice to an in-house counsel role was driven by a desire for greater diversity in her legal work and a longing to be actively involved in business decision-making. Her background as a banking and finance transactional lawyer led her to seek fresh challenges and perspective on legal matters.

Discovering TechGC

When asked how she came across TechGC, Corinna Mitchell had an interesting response. “That’s a good question,” she began, “Someone introduced me to it. It was actually before the London Chapter had formally started. So I think when TechGC was trying to see if there was enough interest, which obviously there was. I got an outreach email from someone.”

In her own words, she finds TechGC “incredibly useful” and expresses her love for all the programs it offers. Her enthusiasm during the dinners and conferences. While she values all aspects of TechGC, her top choice remains the in-person connections. Nevertheless, she actively leverages the available resources on an almost daily basis.

Leveraging TechGC Resources

Corinna Mitchell utilizes TechGC resources resourcefully. She primarily relies on the Forms library and frequently taps into the Brain Trust, even if she doesn’t ask many questions herself. Corinna actively reads through questions and answers, occasionally contributing her insights. She emphasizes the relevance of recent posts about China, which helps her inform her team at Symphony about critical issues. Additionally, Corinna’s practical approach extends to reviewing reseller forms, and aligning them with specific needs for potential new arrangements.

Interview Raw Transcript:

How’d you become a lawyer?

Corinna Mitchell: So I trained in Australia. I studied law at university in Australia, and qualified in Australia. So to do a law degree in Australia to qualify as a lawyer, not the same everywhere around the world. And I was an article clerk which is the training system that you have, and I qualified there, and I’ve worked as a lawyer all my professional career. So I came over to London in the nineties. That’s how old I am and worked for law firms, I was in private practice. And then I went in house and became general counsel. Much later in my career when I was in my forties actually. So after after 20 plus years in private practice, I decided I wanted to try being in house counsel. So that’s a nutshell of my career.

When and how did you decide to go in-house?

Yes, so I’ve been doing much the same thing for most of my career as a banking and finance transactional lawyer by background, and I started to find it a bit repetitive. Actually, even though I really enjoy doing deals and working with teams and get and getting all those things done. I wanted some more variety, which I think generally an in-house role provides, and I also wanted to help be more on the business decision-making side of things. So for me to be able to have some input on the business side was quite attractive, which you generally do have when you’re in House council. So that’s why I made the move.

How’d you hear about TGC?

That’s a good question. Someone introduced me to it. It was actually before the London Chapter had formally started. So I think when TechGC. was trying to see if there was enough interest which obviously there was. And and I got an outreach email from someone. It’s a good question. I don’t exactly know.

What has been your favorite/highlight at TGC?

Well, I find it all incredibly useful. Actually, I love all the programs. I probably say I get the biggest buzz out of going to the dinners and the conference. So the in-person interaction. But it’s all fantastic. I’d say, mostly my number one is in person interaction. But I really do use all of the resources on an almost daily basis.

Do you have an example of a time you had a work-related question and how you used TechGCs resources to find an answer?

So I use the Forms library and I use the brain trust a lot. Not so much the questions. I haven’t asked too many questions on the BrainsTrust, but I read a lot of the questions and answers and sometimes contribute. But, for example, there have been some recent posts about China, and a lot’s always happening in China, and that I have found incredibly relevant for our business and helping me to inform the rest of the the team here; The broader team at Symphony about different issues going on in China, but I can’t go into too much detail, but just even the general awareness of what’s happening. Even just yesterday I looked at the reseller forms for one of my team members and myself who, have been asked to consider a new reseller arrangement, and I was looking at the forms to see if there’s anything that fitted.

Off the record any thoughts on ways we could improve?

What I really think we could do one day. And this is super ambitious is I really like the written content that is put together in a more coherent, cohesive way, because there’s just so much information out there. So I don’t know whether it’s a book or you know, something that’s more pulled together and and synthesize. People might like. So I love the blog. They’re great, maybe even more in depth. I think that the conferences are fantastically in depth. But yeah, some more thematic stuff that’s pulled together in a in a really coherent way would be my next suggestion. Whether it be the threads and I know you started doing that with the the the precedent library. But maybe with threads or content and just pulling it together.

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