The Winners of the ACC Australia Corporate Lawyer Awards 2025 were announced on Thursday, 13 November 2025, at the Awards Gala Dinner & Ceremony, held at the prestigious JW Marriott, Gold Coast.
These awards honour the finest achievements in Australian in-house legal services.
We are Proud to Announce the
2025 Australian Corporate Lawyer of the Year Award Winners ...
IN-HOUSE LAWYER OF THE YEAR
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This award recognises the in-house lawyer who has shown highest excellence beyond the expectations of their role and demonstrated added value to their organisation.
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JOSHUA CAEIRO
Senior Corporate Counsel
RIO TINTO
Joshua Caeiro is a senior legal and business leader with extensive experience supporting complex procurement, construction and operational functions across the mining and energy sectors. He currently leads the legal team supporting Rio Tinto’s global procurement portfolio, working across strategic engagements, operational contracting and innovation-led transformation.
Joshua is recognised for delivering legal leadership that combines commercial pragmatism, clarity and continuous improvement. He is known for building trusted partnerships with the business and transforming legal functions from reactive support models into proactive, high-performing enablers of strategic outcomes. His work spans legal operations, contract simplification, digital tools and legal technology adoption, underpinned by a commitment to stakeholder empowerment and sustainable service delivery.
His leadership approach is grounded in curiosity, care and commercial acumen. He fosters psychologically safe, inclusive teams and champions legal solutions that are practical, scalable and strategically aligned. Josh was included on the 2024 APAC Kindness and Leadership List, nominated by both his current and former teams. He is a graduate of the 2024 University of Oxford’s Leading Sustainable Corporations program and is passionate about reshaping how legal teams operate and deliver value in complex business environments.
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NEW TO IN-HOUSE LAWYER OF THE YEAR
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This award recognises the in-house lawyer who has demonstrated the highest aptitude and achievement beyond the expectations of their role during their transition into an in-house legal career.
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Legal Counsel
INPEX Australia
Felicia is an unrestricted 5PQE lawyer. Prior to joining INPEX Australia as legal counsel she had extensive private practice experience as a front-end lawyer in the areas of projects, construction, infrastructure and property, acting for a broad range of clients, both private and government, on major transport and infrastructure projects, energy transmission and renewable infrastructure.
Felicia was named the 2024 Junior Woman Lawyer of the Year (Women Lawyers of Western Australia) and winner of the Emerging Lawyer of the Year Award 2023 (Law Society of WA).
Felicia is passionate about advocating for change in the legal profession, particularly in respect of cultural diversity, gender equality, intersectionality and the breaking down unconscious bias. She is an executive director of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association (National Branch) and committee member of the Association of Corporate Counsel Australia (WA Branch). Felicia also provides mentoring through various programs including the AALA, UWA Blackstone, Ardoch Literacy Buddies and Women in Law mentoring schemes.
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LEGAL INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
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This award recognises an individual or team who introduced and championed significant innovation through their role as an in-house counsel or in-house legal team: whether in the areas of thought leadership, legal operations, technology, substantive law, or ways of working that resulted in Legal Innovation.
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The PepsiCo APAC Legal Team is a small but high-performing team of 3 supporting one of the most complex FMCG portfolios in the world.
Leila Golchin (General Counsel – Senior Legal Director, APAC PO1 & Asia Foods), Dannica Alston (Senior Legal Counsel, APAC PO1) and Holly Leaton (Paralegal).
From the corn that becomes your favourite Doritos flavours, to the packaging that explains the electrolytes in your Gatorade, their remit covers goods and services agreements, procurement contracts, distribution deals, and more — across 20+ countries, dozens of languages, and a kaleidoscope of legal systems.
They safeguard and enable the supply chain for an iconic line-up of brands: Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, Pepsi, Gatorade, Aquafina, 7UP, and beyond.
Known for blending legal precision with commercial savvy, they balance global policy alignment with local market realities, ensuring contracts and processes meet business needs while reflecting PepsiCo’s pep+ sustainability vision.
They embody the principle that size is no barrier to impact, consistently punching above their weight to deliver legal excellence across the APAC region.
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NOT-FOR-PROFIT LAWYER OF THE YEAR
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This award recognises the in-house lawyer who has shown the highest excellence beyond expectations in the provision of legal services, leadership, and overall contribution in the NFP sector.
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KIRI-ANA LIBBESSON
Managing Legal Counsel
SETTLEMENT SERVICES INTERNATIONAL (SSI)
Kiri-Ana Libbesson is the Managing Legal Counsel at SSI, where she has worked for the past 7 years. SSI is a national charity providing dedicated human and social services people who have experienced vulnerability, including refugees, people seeking asylum and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, to build capacity and enable them to overcome inequality.
Kiri-Ana is deeply committed to social justice, supporting for-purpose organisations, and delivering high-quality legal services. Starting in Sydney and London as a commercial dispute resolution lawyer in private practice, she later transitioned to the Not-for-Profit sector, where some of her professional highlights included working in a refugee legal service in Mexico, a women’s legal service in Darwin, a human rights NGO in Cambodia, and leading a grassroots charity for refugee children.
At SSI, she leads the in-house legal team, a small, generalist team delivering strategic legal advice across all aspects of the organisation. She also drives legal practice innovation projects, and champions ESG initiatives in the organisation.
Beyond her professional life, Kiri-Ana enjoys photography, Latin dancing, scuba diving and world travel. She speaks Spanish, has visited 62 countries, lived on four continents, and brings a global perspective to her work and advocacy.
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ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE EXCELLENCE
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This award recognises the in-house lawyer who demonstrates the highest goal attainment, resulting from participation in the ACC Australia Future Leaders Mentoring Program.
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Stryker, a global leader in medical technologies, understands that human health depends on the health of our planet. This underpins Stryker South Pacific’s (SSP) commitment to building a resilient, responsible business that supports supply chain continuity, advances health outcomes, and meets evolving customer needs.
The SSP Legal team pioneered the idea of being Sustainable by Design, embedding sustainability into systems and decision-making. Informed by the World Economic Forum’s view that “embedding sustainability in strategy is essential to meet evolving investor pressure, consumer demand, and regulatory requirements”, the team led a deliberate program over the last 12 months to integrate ESG into corporate governance.
This approach recognises the importance of both hard wiring through strong governance and controls, and soft wiring by building capability and shaping culture.
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SOLE LEGAL OFFICER OF THE YEAR
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This award recognises the highest excellence beyond the expectations of their role and demonstrated added value to their organisation.
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Sarah Standen is the inaugural sole legal counsel at Procreate: a globally successful software company, developer of the App Store’s top selling iPad app for over seven years, and winner of three Apple Design Awards.
Sarah started legal life in a commercial law firm and soon developed an interest in IP, IT, privacy, and cyber security law, as well as an unshakeable, if questionable, love of contracts. These areas of interest led her to joining Procreate as the company’s first in-house lawyer.
In this role, Sarah juggles a diverse workload including managing the company’s contracting, overseeing a large international trade mark and patent portfolio, policy development, and privacy, WHS, and other compliance matters.
Sarah is passionate about equity, diversity, and inclusion and is a member of the board of management of the not-for-profit organisation, A Fairer World, and a committee member of Tasmanian Women Lawyers.
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SMALL LEGAL TEAM OF THE YEAR
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This is awarded to the small legal team showing the highest level of excellence, being recognised for effectiveness, integration with senior management, management of legal and commercial objectives and people development.
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Agile, embedded, and commercially sharp, the CyberCX legal team powers APAC’s largest cybersecurity services provider to scale and grow, commercially manage risk and partner with the leading government and enterprise customers throughout the region on their critical cyber security needs. Servicing over 2,500 customers globally, and supporting over 1,400 staff, the team of 7 delivers legal solutions and support across all areas of the business, having completed and integrated over 20 acquisitions since launching in late 2019, rolled out fit for purpose workspaces across 8 locations and seen turnover grow by over 400%.
In the ever changing landscape of cyber security, the team is relied upon to stay across the latest in cyber, data and privacy laws, shape deals, embrace safe genAI adoption, and exceed service commitments. Deeply integrated across 13 service lines, they are strategic partners, cultural leaders, and trusted advisors. Proving a small legal team can drive big impact.
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LARGE LEGAL TEAM OF THE YEAR
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This is awarded to the large legal team showing the highest level of excellence, being recognised for effectiveness, integration with senior management, management of legal and commercial objectives and people development.
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Legal Department
AustralianSuper is Australia’s largest super fund and the 16th largest pension fund in the world. The Fund has approximately AUD$394.8 billion in member assets under management, and we have over 3.5 million members. Our total headcount is 1999 across Australia, London and New York.
The Fund’s ambition is that all Australians live well in retirement, and our purpose is to help members achieve their best financial position in retirement.
Our Legal Department is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, where the majority of our team members are located. We also have team members in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and in London and New York.
AustralianSuper’s Legal Department is led by Marilyn Mather, General Counsel, and has 63 team members across four teams: Corporate Legal, Investments Legal, Company Secretariat and Legal Operations. Our organisational structure is as follows: Australia has 48 team members (1 General Counsel, 10 in Company Secretariat, 18 in Corporate Legal, 17 in Investments Legal and 2 in Legal Operations); 11 in London (6 in Investments Legal, 3 in Corporate Legal and 2 in Company Secretariat), and 4 in New York (all being in Investments Legal).
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MENTEE OF THE YEAR
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This is awarded to the in-house lawyer who demonstrates the highest goal attainment and positive promotion of mentoring, resulting from participation in the ACC Mentor Match Program.
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Senior Legal Counsel & Assistant Company Secretary
PEPPER MONEY Limited
Experienced financial services and banking lawyer with over 10 years of industry practice. Janani specialises in delivering expert legal counsel and advice while also providing comprehensive company secretarial services.
Janani ensure that all business units receive effective and timely legal guidance by thoroughly analysing and proactively reviewing legislative and regulatory requirements. She manages members of the team and regularly engages with the Board, Chair and Senior Leadership to ensure the business's strategy is executed effectively and in compliance with legislative and regulatory standards.
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MENTOR OF THE YEAR
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This is awarded to an in-house lawyer showing the highest level of excellence in mentoring and promoting the benefits of mentoring both inside and outside of ACC Australia.
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AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET COMMISSION (AEMC)
At the AEMC, Lily Mitchell is reforming the national energy rules to shape and support the energy market transformation. She has led legal teams on key reforms including consumer protections, energy storage, consumer energy resources, the two-sided market, demand response, and stand-alone power systems. She also leads key organisational initiatives such as embedding emissions considerations in AEMC decision-making and developing the AEMC's first Reconciliation Action Plan.
When required, Lily acts as General Counsel, responsible for the legal team as part of the AEMC's executive leadership team.
Prior to joining the AEMC, Lily worked in climate and energy law in Australia and the US with international law firm Baker McKenzie and specialist energy law firm Hanna and Morton, advising on a range of emission reduction and clean energy programs. She also worked at Herbert Smith Freehills on the development of major infrastructure projects. Lily has significant experience across the policy, regulatory and commercial spheres.
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GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE YEAR
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This award recognises the General Counsel who has shown the highest excellence beyond the expectations of their role and demonstrated added value to their organisation.
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LUKE MEEVE
General Counsel
PEXA Group Limited
Luke is an enterprise leader who turns strategy into performance through clarity, alignment, cultural change and disciplined execution. At PEXA, he has led major operational and strategic transformations, reshaping the company’s relationship with its Legal and Governance functions, once viewed as “the most hated team in the place”, into one of its most valued and high-performing, with the right people solving the right problems at the right time.
Luke’s leadership has delivered measurable commercial impact, with his team driving superior business-as-usual outcomes while leading major company-wide transformation projects. By building a modern and sophisticated Legal and Governance function, he has dramatically reduced reliance on external counsel and driven efficiency and resilience across PEXA.
In 2024, Luke was selected globally to attend the flagship leadership programme at the University of Oxford. Known for his calm, collaborative style, he is passionate about developing talent, simplifying complexity and delivering pragmatic, outcome-driven legal support.
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