Robert Evans, who was a senior associate in our Commercial Litigation team in Melbourne from 2006-2010, is now General Counsel & GM Business Development at GFG Alliance – Australia. Rob spoke with us about the variety of his work and remembers an office prank that almost ended in disaster.
My career story...
I spent four fantastic years at Hall & Wilcox and was fortunate enough to be supervised by Gerard Magner and Noel Batrouney in the Commercial Litigation team.
I left Hall & Wilcox, to go in-house and return to my home State – Tasmania. While I remain as an in-house lawyer today, I am back in Melbourne after travelling all over the world for work.
I have had various roles in the mining and metals processing sector since leaving HW, from Regional Counsel supporting various base metal mines and smelters in Australia and the USA to Head of Corporate Development based out of head office in Zurich. Through my work, I have had the fortune to travel extensively through Europe, the Americas and Asia. I have also had exposure to some very large and complex transactions, varying from M&A, high yield bond issuances and large debt restructures. I still get involved in the odd legal dispute as well!
Today I am General Counsel for GFG Alliance in Australia. GFG owns and operates a number of mines and steel and manganese processing facilities in Australia. It also has an extensive distribution footprint. The group employs about 6500 people in Australia.
A typical day at work for me is...
One of the things I like most about my work is that there is not really a typical day. The breadth of issues I cover as a GC means it can be a bit of a lottery as to what I deal with next.
The thing that makes me get out of bed and go to work each morning is...
A desire to get the job done! I get a lot of reward from solving complex problems and working on projects with a variety of talented people.
I'm also passionate about...
My family!
The best bit of advice given to me was...
To be able to influence and lead people, they need to be able to relate to you. While as a lawyer it is important to be a professional, people need to be able to see your human side if you really want to have an impact.
The best part of my role is...
My colleagues and the variety / complexity of work. One of the best things about being an in-house lawyer is you don’t just deal with lawyers! On a daily basis I am engaging with professionals across so many disciplines, from engineers to shop workers.
My most memorable Hall & Wilcox moment was...
I have very fond memories of my time at HW. It had a great collegiate culture that promoted hard work and a bit of fun. There was a time that I got involved in an ‘office prank war’ with one of the partners – it ended fairly abruptly when my poor attempt at getting even nearly resulted in him missing a Court hearing. Thankfully everyone could see the funny side…
You can connect with Rob through LinkedIn here.
This article was published in October 2021.