Q&A with Special Counsel Jenny Lau

We recently sat down with Special Counsel Jenny Lau to ask all the burning questions….

1. When did you start at Sierra Legal?
2. June 2011
3. What were you doing before Sierra Legal?
4. I was a senior associate at Middletons (now K&L Gates), where I was part of the M&A team. At them time of joining Sierra Legal, I was on maternity leave with my third baby, my oldest was about to start prep at a school near home in the following year.  With 3 young kids, the opportunity to do the work I enjoy from home with great flexibility came at the perfect time.
5. What is the most exciting thing you are working on right now?
6. I am currently on a secondment at Medibank, supporting their legal team and advising on a range of contracts and ACL issues.  I really enjoy secondments as they give me insights into how the client’s business works, what their pain points are and how we, as external advisers, can better support them.  Secondments also put me outside my comfort zone, and enable me to learn and grow to be a better lawyer, leader and person.
7. What do you do with your time when you aren’t advising on M&A deals and reviewing contracts?
8. Spending time with my family or catching up with friends – usually with lots of cooking and eating.  In the rare occasion when I can have some quiet time alone, I enjoy escaping with a book and a cup of tea, or doing some mindfulness meditation.
9. What was your first job?
10. Admin at a small law firm… boring…
11. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
12. I can’t really remember but it was probably something I can eat…
13. What was the last book you read?
14. I am currently reading The Road to Winter by Mark Smith.  The story is set in a town which has been wiped out by a virus – very fitting (and a little scary) in our current circumstances!
15. Favourite place?
16. Kyoto, Japan. I especially love the Nightingale Floor at Nijo Castle – it makes a very clever and romantic security alarm system!
17. Favourite food?
18. Dumplings – I love how the making and eating of them can bring family and friends together.
19. Least favourite food?
20. Celery and green capsicums – don’t put them in dumplings!
21. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you want with you?
22. Too hard to answer…
23. Best advice you have received?
24. “Be who you’re meant to be and you’ll set the world on fire.”